Win Some, Lose Some

“Oh, yeah, that makes all the difference!” Travis stood up. “Now let me finish!”

He took a deep breath and ran his hands up and down his cheeks.

“I’m going against what makes sense,” he said, “because this feels right. You really do seem to give a shit about him, and he’s never talked to anyone else about his folks except his therapist and me. He doesn’t even talk to my wife about that shit, and we’ve been married six years.”

“Were you shitty to her when she first met Matthew?” Mayra snapped.

“Actually, yeah,” Travis replied. He had been, too.

“Well, I guess it’s good he has someone looking out for him,” she said, “but you don’t have to protect him from me.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s so.”

I heard Travis huff out a short breath.

“Don’t you hurt him,” Travis said, “because if you do, I will hunt you down, Trevino. I was always taught not to hit a girl, so I’d probably have to resort to letting all the air out of your tires instead, but don’t think that won’t be as annoying as dog shit on your shoes after the fifteenth time.”

“I won’t,” Mayra said as she shook her head back and forth. “I promise.”

“Yeah, you will,” Travis muttered, “but I don’t think it will be intentional.”

I moved myself into a sitting position and waited for the dizziness to pass.

“Hey there, sleeping beauty!” Travis called out. “You been listening?”

“Yes,” I r

eplied. “Leave her tires alone.”

Travis laughed.

I couldn’t just lie there anymore, so I pushed myself up and joined them at the table.

Very little was said as Travis ordered a pizza for us all, and we chowed down. Mayra and Travis kept looking at each other, but I wasn’t in any condition to try to figure out what the looks meant. Even on a good day, I wasn’t all that adept at reading body language.

“I’m heading out,” Travis said as he finished dipping his crust in garlic butter, effectively finishing off the last of the pizza. “Bethany will be back tomorrow, and we’ll have to figure out what to do with the car. We’ll work it out, though. I can always drive her to work, and you can use hers until your car is fixed, all right?”

“Okay,” I said.

“I can drive Matthew to school,” Mayra said. She glanced over at me from behind her half-eaten piece of pizza. “I mean, if that would be okay with you. I don’t mind, and it’s not really out of the way.”

I looked down at my empty plate and thought about that for a minute.

“You’ve been in my car before,” Mayra said, reminding me.

“You went the speed limit,” I recalled.

“Yes, I did,” Mayra said with a tight lipped smile. “I would again, too.”

I picked up my plate and went to wash it in the sink. When I grabbed for a dishtowel, Mayra was standing next to me and holding one up in her hand.

“I can dry, if you want.”

Looking at the towel in her hand, I wondered if she could get all the water marks off the plate. Travis wasn’t too bad at that, and Mayra was pretty careful about such things. I could always wash and dry them again when she was gone.

“Okay,” I said, and I handed her the plate.