Red Dirt Heart 3 by N.R. Walker

Author:N.R. Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hewlett-Packard

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sounds like home to me.

The drive into Alice was kinda quiet. We left at six, after the dogs and horses were fed, breakfast was done and everyone had their jobs for the day. Everyone was excited, myself included.

Ma was coming home today.

Driving with my cut hand was too awkward, so Travis was behind the wheel, which I knew he hated, but he didn’t argue. Not once. He never once bitched about what side of the car he was sitting on, what side of the road he was driving on. It was so unlike him.

He’d been a little quiet since I’d told him I wouldn’t be finishing my uni degree. He’d said he understood—I was just too busy, and he reasoned that of all the things I was dealing with, if one had to go, then it was the sensible choice.

He’d said he understood. But his silence told me otherwise.

So, with a three-hour trip ahead of us and our new rule of talkin’ shit through, I started the conversation. “You wanna tell me what’s bothering you?”

Trav glanced from the road, to me, and back to the road. “Nothing really.”

I snorted. “You can’t lie for shit. And, I might add, was it not you who insisted on the complete-disclosure rule?”

“Complete disclosure?”

“Yeah. You know, talking about stuff. I mean, if I can do it, anyone can. There is still shit I’d prefer not to say out loud, but I do. Because you told me I had to. We have a complete-honesty thing happening, do we not?”

He smiled at me. “We do. And what shit do you say out loud that you’d prefer not to?”

I shrugged. “Most everything.”

He laughed. “Well, you’re getting very good at it. For someone who just twelve months ago didn’t speak to anyone about anything—unless it was work related—I think you’re doing pretty good.”

“I tell you everything.”

He smiled at me. “And I am very grateful.”

“So tell me what’s bothering you.”

Trav sighed. “I just… I just feel like I pushed you into finishing your degree.”

“You did,” I said. He quickly turned his head to look at me. I laughed at his expression. “You re-enrolled me without telling me. That’s not pushing me to finish it, that’s throwing me right in.”

He seemed stuck for words for a second. “I did, didn’t I? I’m really sorry, Charlie. I hate knowing that I made things worse for you.”

“Worse for me?” I scoffed. “Trav, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever.”

He smiled at me this time, almost shyly. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me too, Charlie.” Then, because he’s a funny bastard, he added, “Ever.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled.

“Will you reconsider?” he asked. “I mean, I know I pushed you into it and all, but don’t just quit. I’ll help you do it, or something. I’d just hate to see you throw it away when you’re so close to being done.”

When I didn’t say anything, he added, “Just think about it. Don’t tell them you’re quitting and if by the end of it we didn’t get it finished, then you can defer.

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