The next morning she awoke to the smell of cooking, and her only thought was Travis! She rapidly dressed and put on a bit too much eye makeup, but then her brows and lashes had always been too pale. She cursed herself for not having them dyed before the wedding. But then, she had an idea that Travis liked women who could pull off the no-makeup look. It took three shades of brown to achieve that look.
She had on nice black slacks and a crisp linen shirt when she went into the kitchen. Pausing in the doorway, she saw Travis with his back to her as he cooked something on her new Wolf range. He had on jeans and a denim shirt. She wasn’t sure, but he looked to have a truly magnificent body under his clothes.
“Good morning,” she said.
Travis turned, skillet in hand, and smiled at her. She so badly wanted to put her arms around him. For a moment he seemed amenable to that idea, but then he broke eye contact.
“It’s my turn to feed you,” he said and nodded toward the island that had one place setting.
“You aren’t eating?”
“I got up a couple of hours ago and ate then. I hope you don’t mind that I did laps in your pool.”
Kim was very, very sorry that she’d missed seeing him in swim trunks. “I’m glad someone is using the pool. That was my only hesitation about buying this house. I liked the layout and I loved the three-car garage for my work, but I don’t know how to take care of a swimming pool.”
He slid an omelet onto her plate. “I thought maybe that was the case, so I did a little cleaning for you and checked the pH. There were some chemicals in a closet, so I used some of them. I hope I wasn’t being presumptuous.”
“Presume all you want,” Kim said as she looked at her plate. There was an omelet with peppers and onions in it and two pieces of whole wheat toast. “I’ll put on weight eating like this,” she said, then waited for him to say something nice.
But there was no way Travis was going to comment on the state of Kim’s body. She looked great! She’d grown taller than he’d expected; she was the perfect height for him. Her white blouse clung to her, and the black pants curved around her bottom half.
His silence at her hint made her tell herself that Travis really didn’t know how to act around a woman. “So what are you planning to do today?” she asked.
This morning, Travis’s first thought had been to call his mother and tell her he was in Edilean. He should arrange to meet with her somewhere private where they could talk about the divorce, the man she wanted to marry, and what she planned to do with her life. He should then spend the next three weeks getting ready for the divorce case that would, no doubt, make all the newspapers.
But as he looked at Kim, he tried to think of a reason to take as long as he could to postpone all the bad that was coming. “What were you going to do today?”
“Church if I got out of bed early enough.” She looked at the clock. She still had time to get ready and go, but that would mean leaving Travis behind. She thought it was entirely possible that when she returned, he’d be gone. He’d probably talk to his mother, be reassured that Joe Layton was a good man, then Travis would go back to . . . to wherever he lived. To whomever he lived with but wasn’t married to.
She searched her mind for a reason to make him stay—and for her to be with him. “I’m sure you want to see your mother, but maybe you should see Mr. Layton’s new hardware store before you do.”
Travis smiled as though she’d said something brilliant. “I think that’s a great idea. You can tell a lot about a man when you see where he works.” Which is why Travis’s office had no personal items in it, he thought but didn’t say. “Would you mind going with me? If you’re too busy to go, you could draw a map. I could—”
“I would love to!” she said. “We’ll take my car. Could you excuse me for a little bit? I have to make a phone call first, then I’ll be ready to go.”
The minute Kim closed her bedroom door, she called Carla, her assistant.
“Hello?” Carla asked, obviously half-asleep.
“It’s me,” Kim whispered as loudly as she could. “I need you to finish the Johnson rings today.”
“What? I can’t hear you.”
Kim went into her closet and shut the door. “Carla, please wake up. I need you to finish a couple of rings for me today.”
“Kim, it’s Sunday. I was at the wedding until after midnight. I drank too much.”
“I did too,” Kim said, “but those rings need to be done today. The wedding is tomorrow.”
“But you were going to do those and—”
“I know,” Kim said. “I’m a rotten, lazy boss, but something’s come up. An emergency. I need for you to come over here to do them. They’ve been cast. They just need sanding and polishing.”
Carla groaned. “That’s hours of work, and it’s Sunday.”
“Time and a half.”
Carla was silent.