Page 43

"You're doing great." Travis squeezed her shoulder. "Let Huk help. You're not going to win awards for wearing yourself out."

My writer-brain had immediately picked up on how close Jackson, Karis, and Travis were, wondering if there was some secret brother's-best-friend romance there, but the dynamic was much closer to brother and sister. She teased both Jackson and Travis like they teased her. There were no longing glances, she didn't lean into his touch the way I had with Jackson earlier.

I looked around Karis's home as Travis tried to convince her to let them help more. It was small but cozy. The kitchen flowed into the living room with the dinner table in between. There was a hallway off the other side of the kitchen that led to bedrooms and there was a small backyard outside the bank of windows beside us.

The style was haphazard. A little bit country, a little bit modern, with a splash of bohemian to bring it all together. There were blank spots where photographs had clearly been removed. A space in the living room where a chair or table used to sit. Empty shelves. There were signs of her old life everywhere in the form of scars. Or maybe even open wounds.

That was something I could relate to.

"Life should be more than drudgery," she sighed. "It's all so much work. Wake up, put one foot in front of the other, teach kids all day and come home to chores. I used to take Gus to the park. I can't remember the last time we went. I used to put on my favorite movies and act out scenes to make Gus laugh. I haven't made it through a movie since Asshole left."

"You need to have some fun," Travis said.

Her face fell. "Do you know how exhausting fun sounds?"

Karis wasn't just exhausted physically; she was exhausted emotionally. And as an emotionally exhausted person myself, I knew she probably needed the same kick in the pants Charley had just given me. "Travis has the right idea, wrong execution. You need to start over."

She blinked at me. "I...am?"

Karis didn't need me to point out all the ways she wasn't. I didn't want to bring her down any more than she already was. "I'm not saying you should get bangs or anything crazy like that but do something for yourself. Just you. Forget Gus, your ex, and anything else that's pulling you in a hundred directions and figure out something that would make you happy. Just you."

"But," she sputtered.

Travis put his big paw over hers. "She's right. Whatever it is, we've got Gus. Go to the spa at the resort or take a week off or have Scottie make all your favorite foods. Anything that will remind you whoyouare."

Travis was shockingly wise for a playboy. Maybe my opinion of him was tainted by that Pretty Boy act of his.

Even Karis blinked at him, mouth slightly ajar. "Um, that's very evolved of you, Trav."

He shrugged his wide shoulders. "You have no idea how many people we meet at ODX who are going through something. Sometimes we take our guests on the ride of a lifetime, sometimes we hold them while they cry. I've learned a lot. And I've seen what happens when people don't take care of themselves." He shot Karis the most big brotherly look ever.

Tears sprang up in her eyes.

"It's hard," I said quietly, "but trust me, you need to do it sooner than later."

Karis and Travis both shot me curious glances as Jackson came bouncing back to the table with a very sleepy Gus on his shoulder. "I'm going to put him down."

Karis reached up and squeezed his hand before rubbing her son's back. "Thank you."

"I like doing it." He winked at me and then disappeared down the hallway.

I hadn't spent much time considering whether I wanted kids one day or not, mostly on account of being perpetually single and stressed, but seeing Jackson with Gus made my ovaries wake up and take notice.

That man was sexy as it was, but taking so much care with a child? Nuclear levels of hot.

"So, what do you do, Marley?" Travis leaned back in the chair that was too small for him and grinned.

"Back to your troublemaking, I see." Karis swatted him with her napkin.

It was like I'd turned the spotlight on myself with a single, albeit well-intentioned, sentence.

"It's a basic question. You're a teacher, I'm a guide, and Marley is a...?"

"Writer." My brain quickly began calculating how open I wanted to be with these strangers. I liked them. They were nice and as far as I could tell, they were safe. But I couldn't risk my location getting out either. Not even accidentally. Not only would it mean having to find somewhere else to write this book, but it would mean leaving Jackson.

And I wasn't ready to do that.

"Anything we'd know?" Karis asked.