The Bet (The Bet #1)(48)

A little tear ran down her cheek, but she pushed it away with her wrinkled hand. “I haven’t given up on Jake, so don’t for a second think that, but you, you’re different.” She looked up, her eyes glassy. “You remind me of your grandfather so much, Travis. You need a good strong woman, a good woman by your side. I think Kacey is that woman. I’ve always thought so and now I know it. Do yourself a favor and talk to her.”

Travis laughed bitterly. “And say what exactly? That I’m in love with her and have been for as long as I can remember? Beg her to not love my brother, but love me, be with me?”

“That’s a start,” his grandma said. “Besides, there is something neither of you boys know.”

“Oh?”

“Kacey was like a granddaughter to me. I’ve kept in touch with her as much as possible over the years, though I admit I’ve been lazy in my writing. These old hands don’t work as well as they used to.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “When her parents died… Oh Travis, it was the worst tragedy. She became a shell of the girl I once knew. I figured if I let her heal and deal with it on her own, she’d find her way back. I knew her well enough to know that if I coddled her, she’d push away. It didn’t help matters that Jake lied to all of us about how close they truly were these past four years.”

Travis’s blood ran cold. “I figured. I mean, she hinted as much earlier.”

“Oh honey, Jake and Kacey haven’t spoken in years. He kept tabs on her, but they never got together. Ever since her parents’ death she’s been nothing but a childhood friend, an acquaintance. I used to send her newspaper clippings from her parents’ business, but I don’t know if she ever truly read them or looked. It was as if she died right along with them.”

“That explains a lot.” He was suddenly sick with worry. What the hell had really happened between those two? It couldn’t have been just her parents’ death. No. There was something else, some underlying tension.

“In their will they named me her guardian.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Travis was sure he wasn’t hearing his grandmother correctly.

Grandma chuckled. “I’m her legal guardian. Naturally she’s an adult now, so it hardly matters. They drew up the papers when she was still quite small. But Kacey is just as much mine as she was theirs. I’ve always watched out for her, always wanted what was best for her, and in my mind the best was for her to be part of our family.”

“Just not by way of Jake?” Travis nudged his grandmother.

“Heavens, no.” She chuckled. “Kacey knew there was something going on, knew I wasn’t really sick. I told her to use this time to find herself, and I think she was beginning to.”

“Until I kept screwing it up?” Travis asked.

“I wouldn’t say you screwed it up, but you did make a mess of things. You’re so hot and cold around her. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you exactly twenty-four hours alone with the girl to figure things out.”

Travis laughed and reached behind his neck to rub a sore spot. “Yeah, and how are you going to do that?”

She rose to her full height and pulled at her tight jacket. “I’m Grandma. I can do anything I want.”

The woman had a point.

“Be happy, Travis.” She kissed his nose and walked toward the door. “Your parents and I will be gone within the hour. I hear the cottage at Seaside is lovely this time of year. I may even take pity on your brother and let him tag along rather than rot in that dratted condo downtown.”

Travis lay back against the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Manipulative little thing, his grandma. To think she went to such extremes just because she wanted him to be happy, well, him and Kacey.

He wasn’t sure how long he stared at the ceiling fan, but it was a while before he managed to jump in the shower and get ready for the day.

Travis bounded down the hall. The house was eerily quiet. He silently hoped Kacey hadn’t somehow run off, leaving him alone in the house.

He knocked on her door.

No answer.

He knocked again then pushed it open.

Her bags were still in the room but she wasn’t there. Her perfume, however, danced off the walls, filling his nose with her scent. Great, now he’d be uncomfortable for the entire search.

“Kacey?” he called as he went down the stairs. He went into the living room, the kitchen… Where was she?

The door to the patio was open. He went outside and called for her again.

“I’m in here!” she answered, then waved from the tree house.

Of course she was. If he would have been thinking rationally, he would have realized that the first place to look should have been the tree house.

Whenever she’d had a bad day at school she would rush over to their house, drop her backpack onto the kitchen counter, snatch a cookie from the jar, and climb up into the tree house.

Sometimes it was hours before she’d emerge.

But when she did, Kacey was always happier, as if the day at school no longer mattered.

He sighed and climbed slowly up the ladder until he pulled himself up into the tree house.

Kacey was sitting in the corner, her arms wrapped around her knees.

“Sorry.” She bit down on her lip and sighed. “I just needed to think, so I came out here.”