Travis

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears – Rudyard Kipling

"Are you still leaving this afternoon?" Ginger Lacroix asked.

She leaned across the diner counter, throwing down the rag she'd been using to wipe away a few spare breadcrumbs that someone had left behind. A few wayward dark curls fell into her brown eyes but Ginger brushed them back – a routine gesture.

Perched on a stool across from her, Travis Grant nodded. He paused to take a sip from the glass of ice-cold water she'd dropped in front of him when he'd entered Annie's Diner in downtown Tishomingo, Oklahoma, a few minutes earlier.

"Yeah. I'll get there tonight and relax in the hotel tomorrow before competing on Sunday. I want to give myself a full day in Austin before I have to compete so that I'm not all stiff after sitting in my truck for five hours. The last thing I want to do before climbing onto the back of a bucking bronc is to be stiff as a board."

Which was the truth. Travis was a professional saddle bronc rider and competed in rodeos all across the country. He travelled far and wide from his home in Tishomingo, not caring about the distance spent on the road. He liked the driving. But he liked the buckles and the purse money he won on the circuit even more.

It helped that Travis was a great rider. He'd started off with mutton busting when he was four years old and had progressed steadily since. Rodeo was in his blood. Travis' father, Rob Grant, had been an award-winning cowboy in his day and had started both of his sons early in training so that they may follow in his footsteps. Even Travis' younger sister, Bailey, had competed in barrel racing for a couple of years so as not to be left out of the fun of the rodeo.

But Travis and his older brother Jake had stuck with it longer than Bailey had. She was a gifted musician, taking after their late grandmother Camille Grant, and had quit the rodeo for the Nashville city lights. Though her career had gone through some ups-and-downs over the past year – following the dissolution of her band – she was now taking the country music scene by storm as a successful solo artist. It had been a year and a half since she'd signed with her new record label and there was no denying that she was off to a strong start as her label's top artist.

As Bailey had pursued dreams of music, Jake too had moved on to other things. He'd traded his spurs for a stethoscope and had recently finished his studies in veterinary medicine at the Oklahoma State University. Now, Jake was working with Dr. Madison Reeves, his mentor and the Tishomingo town veterinarian, at her clinic. Occasionally, Travis could still persuade Jake to compete in the odd rodeo, but those events were growing fewer and farther between.

Which left Travis on the rodeo circuit alone. Travelling by himself to events near and far. Never taking his eyes off of the prize. Often, he followed the circuit, not bothering to come home for weeks on end. But the Austin rodeo was close and there was still plenty of the season to go so he'd opted to pick a few events closer to home in order to take a break from travelling.

"Is that how long the drive is going to take you?" Ginger asked. She cocked her head to the side and raised a brow. "Five hours?"

Another curl fell across her face and she brushed it away absentmindedly – a familiar and unconscious gesture. Something she probably didn't even notice that she was doing. It happened frequently, Travis had noticed. Not surprising since Ginger had the wildest curls Travis had ever seen. Voluminous and dark but rarely frizzy.

He still wasn't sure how Ginger managed to keep her curls tamed in such a way considering the humidity that the state was prone to getting. His sister's curls were rarely that tamed. Bailey had a tendency to get a frizz so bad that her hair almost resembled a lion's mane.

Travis rubbed his jaw, the skin on his palm scratching against the stubble of his chin. "Probably. But that's with no breaks so if I stop it'll take me a bit longer."

Ginger opened her mouth, about to say more, but was side-tracked by an elderly couple sitting in the far corner of the diner. They flagged her over but she paused long enough to say to Travis, "Be right back," before flitting away.

Travis watched her go, smiling when the couple said something that made her laugh. Ginger had a nice laugh – infectious – and it was one of those things that changed her entire face when she did it.

They'd been going out for a few weeks. Nothing serious but Travis could see it heading that way if they let it. Ginger was a nice girl. Friendly and personable. She had a bit of a temper but Travis liked that. There were a lot of strong women in his life – his sister and his mom were only two examples, but hell if they weren't great examples – and Travis had never envisioned himself with someone who was meek and quiet.

He liked to be challenged. Someone like Ginger, who had a bit of fire to her, was exactly the kind of girl that he ought to end up with.

"Sorry about that," Ginger said as she popped back over. She flicked a speck of dust off of her green diner apron and propped a hip against the counter.

"Don't worry about it. Technically, I am interrupting your workday."

"You're right. If Annie comes in here and gets mad at me for slacking off, I'm blaming you."

"Do your worst, Lacroix," Travis said, grinning.

Ginger winked. "Oh, I will, Grant. You can be the one to deal with Annie Eckhart when she's in a state. We'll see if you're still laughing then."

He leaned back in his stool. "Come on. Annie's not that bad. She's a sweetheart."

"She is," Ginger agreed and a fond look crossed her face. "Unless I've forgotten to sweep and mop at closing because someone decides to come in right as I'm closing up shop and completely distracts me."

"Now, who would do a thing like that?" Travis looked aghast.

She rolled her eyes and leaned in. For a second, Travis thought that Ginger might kiss him and his heart lurched in his chest. But she only breathed, "You are so full of shit, Travis Grant."

"Maybe," he said, laughing as she pulled back, a hint of humour on her face. "At least I've got the good looks to make up for it."

"And you've got that dark, edgy, bronc rider attitude going on. That's hot. Much better than being a lowly vet."

"I'll make sure that my brother knows that you think his career as a veterinarian makes him less hot than me."

Ginger stared at him with amusement before she was once again forced away. She darted to the kitchen window where a few plates had just been set down. Expertly, Ginger piled them onto a serving tray and dashed past Travis towards a young family that had stopped in at the diner for lunch.

Travis watched her go, taking a moment to admire her. The warm brown skin with undertones of gold and red. The brown eyes set within the heart-shaped face that were above the straight, slightly rounded, nose and the soft lips.

It wasn't the features on her face; however, that made Ginger's beauty stand out. It was the way that she animated them. How her lips stretched in a smile as she laughed, the way that her eyes lit up when she was excited, and the gentleness that softened her face when she was languidly happy.

When she came back, some of that softness was present on her face as she asked, "How's the wedding planning going? Anyone ducking out with cold feet?"

Travis shook his head and sipped again from his water. "You kidding? Jake and Piper are solid. Nothing is going to disrupt their nuptials. Especially if my mother and Piper's mama have anything to say about it."

"They're that excited?"

Travis stared at her flatly. "They're already talking about grandbabies, Ginger. The two of them are hoping that Piper comes home from the honeymoon with a few buns in the oven."

Ginger bit back a laugh. "Do Piper and Jake even want kids?"

"Eventually, or so Jake tells me. But not right away. He's gonna have some school debts once he finishes up and Piper's only working part-time right now at the high school. There are a few retirements coming soon so she's hopeful that she'll get a full-time teaching position but she's not quite there yet. I think they both want to be a bit more settled before bringing a kid into the mix."

It made perfect sense to Travis. At twenty-four, he was nowhere near ready to be a parent. The thought of having his own kid basically crippled him with horror. He barely knew how to take care of himself! He and a baby were sure to be a train wreck.

That was part of the reason he was so eager to let his older brother take the lead and be the first to take the marriage step. Because surely – no matter how much time they wanted to wait – eventually the kid step would come for Jake and Piper.

Travis thought that he needed to take a spin at being the fun uncle before he even considered becoming a responsible dad.

Though, Travis supposed, of the Grant siblings, he was probably the one destined to be the last to take the marriage and the kids step. Without a doubt, Jake was going to beat him but as time went on, Travis was certain that his younger sister would too.

Not that it was surprising exactly. Bailey had dated as little as Travis had until she'd come home from Nashville for a stint and met Noah Hartley. Everything between those two was just so gods-damned cataclysmic that no one could deny they were a match made in heaven. Really, it was just a matter of time until Noah popped the question.

Which left Travis as the single sibling.

He didn't mind it per se. Well, he hadn't until his best friend Stephen Mackey had started dating Noah Hartley's little sister, Caroline. Even then Travis' gripe wasn't with being single.

It was being the only single person in a sea full of couples.

If it wasn't for the boredom that ensued, Travis could have borne being single. But Jake was always off with Piper. Stephen came to work – he worked for Travis' father on the Grant ranch – and then promptly took off to go hang out with Caroline at the house she shared with her brother. Bailey was almost always at Noah's these days and if she wasn't there then she was away in Nashville, meeting with music executives and label representatives as she worked out the kinks that went along with writing and recording her second solo album.

And while Travis didn't begrudge his siblings their happiness, he sometimes did feel as if he were behind them, somehow.

It was why he'd asked Ginger out on a date to begin with. Bailey had mentioned that Ginger thought Travis was cute – how Bailey knew this, Travis still had no clue for Bailey had refused to divulge her source and Ginger was adamant that she'd never had that sort of conversation with Bailey – and he'd decided to take a leap of faith.

That was how, six months after that leap, Travis found himself sitting across from Ginger at Annie's Diner where she worked.

"That makes sense," Ginger agreed, bringing Travis back to the topic of grandbabies.

"I think so too," he said and they shared a smile.

"Not that I don't like having you here," Ginger said, leaning across the counter again, "but since you're also on a tight schedule today I thought it might be best to remind you that you have somewhere you're supposed to be in five minutes."

Travis glanced at the time on his phone and his eyes flew wide. "Shit!" He hopped down from the stool and was halfway to the door when he called back over his shoulder, "Thanks, Ginge. I'll see you later!"

Her laughter echoed behind him, chasing Travis out of the diner.

Travis was lucky that Hayes Men's Wear was located on a three-minute walk from Annie's. If it had been any farther, he most definitely would have been late. As it were, he breezed into the shop with a minute to spare, though he was still later than the rest of the group he was there to meet.

"Told you he'd be on time," Stephen said to Jake as Travis entered. "You owe me ten bucks."

"You bet on whether I'd make it here?" Travis gaped at them.

Jake Grant – the eldest child of Rob and Maryse Grant – grinned at his younger brother. Where Travis had inherited his father's dark hair and brown eyes, Jake had gotten more of their mother's colouring. There were a few shades difference to his hair – where Maryse had locks of strawberry blonde, Jake's was more of a sandy blond – but their eyes were the same. A rich jade green.

"Well, more accurately we were betting on whether you'd be late to the appointment because you were too busy gazing into Ginger Lacroix's eyes at the diner." Jake smirked in a hard, mocking way.

"Technically, they were betting on you," said the other member of their party. "I said that I didn't know you well enough to make assumptions on your punctuality."

Travis didn't recognize the man but he knew who he was. Patrick Vickers was a friend of Jake's from veterinary school who Jake had asked to be a groomsman alongside Stephen. Travis was serving as the best man.

Jake and Stephen were still chuckling.

"Oh, shut the hell up," Travis said to them. It only made them laugh louder. "If either of you had been chatting up Piper or Caroline, you know that you would have been late."

But they didn't have the chance to respond before Mr. Hayes – a short, balding man in an immaculately dressed suit – came walking in from the back room.

"Ah, I see everyone is here and ready. Follow me."

He led them deeper into the shop and went about explaining the different styles for the tuxedo ensemble they were all shopping for. Travis listened as he offered options for vests and ties. He was quite sure that he'd never seen so many different colours and patterns for such things in his entire life.

When Jake had decided what he wanted them all to wear, Raymond went about sizing them. As the shopkeeper left to grab a tape measure, Travis turned to his brother and asked, "Does Piper know where you are today? Or is she giving you free rein with the design choices for the groomsmen?"

"We talked about it for over three hours the other day. I know more about pocket squares and cufflinks than I ever thought that I would," Jake said and there was a slightly traumatized look to his face as he walked into one of the dressing rooms.

Travis snorted. "Rather you than me."

"You'll know all about it one day too. Just you wait."

"Oh, I will. I'll just let you and Stephen end your bachelor days first."

Stephen blinked, his eyes going wide and with a hint of panic. "Hey, don't bring me into this. Caroline and I have not even discussed the idea of marriage. We've only been officially dating for ten months."

"Are you bringing Ginger to the wedding?" Jake asked as he stepped out of the dressing room in a standard black tuxedo. Mr. Hayes fluttered around Jake with his tape measure.

Travis had never seen his brother in something so formal. "Nice," he commented. And then rubbed his jaw. "I think I'll invite Ginger, but I haven't talked to her about it yet."

"Really?"

"We haven't been together that long," Travis said. "And the wedding isn't until the end of August. What if we stop seeing each other between now and then? I'd rather wait until a bit closer to the date to ask her to come."

Jake fidgeted in the suit, yanking at the collar. "Well, for what it's worth, I hope things work out for the two of you. Ginger's a sweet girl."

"She is."

"I can't believe she's still hanging around this town, though. Hasn't she been fantasizing about leaving since she graduated high school? I swear every time I went into Annie's she was looking at travel magazines. Though, I haven't seen her doing that much lately." Jake gave Travis a pointed look at that, as if Travis had a reason for the lack of magazine browsing that Ginger had been doing.

Travis shrugged. "It's something we've talked about. Her parents want her to stick close to home, I think, and Ginger still doesn't know what she wants to do as a career. She doesn't want to stick at Annie's forever but is still trying to figure the rest out."

"She'll be twenty-three this year, right? A year younger than Bailey?" Jake clarified as Mr. Raymond indicated that he could step back into the change room to return to his normal clothes.

"Yeah, they were a year apart in school. Her birthday is in December."

A moment later, Jake stepped out of the dressing room. Stephen, looking slightly terrified, had already taken up Jake's spot in front of Mr. Hayes and was going through the same measurement process that Jake had gone through. Travis knew it would be his turn soon.

"Speaking of Bailey, which we only kind of were, did you hear that she's agreed to host Piper's bachelorette party?" Jake asked.

Travis shook his head.

"I'm trying to decide if I should be scared."

Stephen chimed in, "I wouldn't worry about it. Last thing I heard, it was just going to be the girls and Noah acting as the stripper entertainment."

"Shut up, Stephen," Jake said without even looking at him. "Or I'll ask Mr. Raymond to stick you really hard with a pin."

Mr. Raymond, who was indeed in the process of pinning a piece of clothing to Stephen's specifications, offered a weak smile.

In the mirror, Stephen met Travis' eye and sniggered. There was not a chance in hell that Noah had agreed to such a thing – that much was obvious. But considering the way that many of the town's women had fawned over Noah when he and his sister had moved to Tishomingo – mostly due to his status as a top-ranking rodeo bull rider – it was an easy way to get a rise out of Jake. Especially since Piper had, on more than one occasion, gossiped with Bailey about how muscular Noah's chest was.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Stephen said with a grin that was the farthest thing from reassuring. "It's Bailey. How much trouble could she really cause?"