Page 98 of Wrench
move on. There, sitting across from me, his face highlighted by the neon glow of the
outdoor sign, I saw it. I saw the sadness. I wasn¡¯t nothing to him.
The waitress quickly dropped off the beers, and after one last attempt to sell food, she
left, and I turned to Travis. A bit of my resentment managed to fade, and I gently said,
¡°Okay. Let¡¯s get back on topic. About Gina, you were saying¡¡±
¡°She¡¯s gone, I ended it.¡± He swallowed a swig of beer. ¡°A couple weeks ago¡ It was like
I finally woke up. She was just talking and talking and talking. I don¡¯t even know what
she¡¯d talk about. Just¡ words¡ always coming from her mouth.¡± He groaned and rubbed
his eyes with his finger and thumb. ¡°I¡ I have no excuse for what I did to you. I don¡¯t
know how to explain it. It¡ it wasn¡¯t going on for three years. It started as friends, the¡
the ¡®other¡¯ stuff only started a few months ago.¡±
¡°Okay¡¡± I said to show I was following.
¡°And this doesn¡¯t make things better. Might make them worse, actually, but I¡¯ll tell
you the truth,¡± he said. ¡°I didn¡¯t¡ I wasn¡¯t ever in love with her. I wasn¡¯t planning on
leaving you for her. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t even planning on sleeping with her.¡± I folded my
arms, tilted my head, raised a brow and he backtracked. ¡°I mean, I was¡ worried it would
happen. I know, I know, that in itself is wrong. But a week before it all happened, she told
me she was driving through Sturgis and we should meet for the first time. I kept telling
myself it wasn¡¯t going to happen, it¡¯d be impossible because I loved you so much, but
then¡ it did. And I¡¯ve got no excuse.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t,¡± I confirmed as I absorbed all the information, bit by bit. ¡°And you¡¯re right,
it doesn¡¯t make it better. But¡ go on.¡±
¡°And then you walked in and caught us and left. Everything happened so fast. And
Gina just assumed that because you were gone, she was just gonna¡ move in. And I was
so confused about how everything changed so fast and it was all my fault so I was trying
to lie in my own mess and make the best of it but¡¡± he took a deep breath after his long
rant, exhaling, and shook his head. ¡°I just¡ I love you, Sammy.¡±
I lowered my gaze to my lap, feeling my throat grow warm and tight. What Travis said
shouldn¡¯t have made his actions better, but it really did ease my pain. His version of the
story was far worse than the three-year online affair I had been imagining in my head.
