Page 87 of Wrench

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him, leaving him in a puff of smoke, yelling behind. ¡°Go¡­ go watch the game, Dad!¡±

¡°All right,¡± he said with hesitation. ¡°Lemme know if you need me, I guess.¡±

¡°Yeah!¡± I answered back to show I heard him, and before I ran down the stairs, I heard

him grumble, ¡°Friggin¡¯ soap opera tonight¡­¡± I¡¯d be sure to thank him later for putting up

with the drama.

Zooming down the stairs without giving myself time to overthink, I stopped dead in

my tracks when I saw my dad hadn¡¯t lost my mind. Travis, wearing the same black

professional coat I bought him two years earlier, was standing in my entrance. I was

dizzy, my mouth numb, and adrenaline spiked through the roof when I shouted, ¡°Travis!¡±

¡°Sammy,¡± he said tenderly, his arms open wide, ready to clutch me. ¡°I¡¯m so happy to s

¡ª¡±

¡°What the fuck are you doing here, Travis?¡±

¡°I needed to talk to you.¡±

¡°So, you drove eighteen hours to see me?¡±

¡°You weren¡¯t answering your phone¡­¡±

¡°Yeah, because I didn¡¯t want to talk to you, Travis,¡± I snapped. ¡°If someone ignores

you, you don¡¯t drive across the country to talk to them!¡±

¡°I know, I should have told¡ª¡±

¡°Yes! You should have!¡±

¡°You told me that I had to figure out on my own how to prove that I was worth talking

to,¡± he said. ¡°And that it wasn¡¯t by calling you. So, here I am.¡±

I didn¡¯t know what to say. He had a point. When I said that to him, I didn¡¯t expect him

to actually follow up. But realistically, driving to Mascid to talk face to face was exactly

what I meant. He figured it out before I did.

¡°I thought it would be romantic.¡±

My jaw dropped.

Romantic?

So many emotions filled through me. Just hours earlier I was longing for comfort and

then Travis showed up. What was happening? All I could say was, ¡°I need a drink.¡±

¡°Why don¡¯t we go for a couple drinks and we can talk?¡± he said. ¡°Please.¡±

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