Breathing hard, Risa hugged his weight over her, a little stunned by how quick things had been. He knew just how to touch her to bring her to an almost immediate pleasure. That was incredible.
Travis leaned in and gave her a light, lingering kiss, just as the doorbell rang.
His eyes gleamed and he seemed almost boyish. “That’ll be dinner.”
For the rest of the evening, Travis was hers. They ate pizza, drank wine, and made love again in his bed. After making love, she told him all about what to expect as a pig owner, determined to hold up her end of the bargain. And she told him about Gregory’s more amusing antics, hoping that he’d start to love the pig as much as she did. They spent hours in bed, just talking and caressing each other, before making love one final time. As she drifted off to sleep, Risa thought that this Travis, this one in bed with her, just might be the perfect man.
It was the businessman part of Travis that she had no idea what to do with.
* * *
After a week of living in his apartment, though, it was clear to Risa that the businessman side of Travis seemed to be the dominant one. She enjoyed his company—his laugh, his smile, his conversation. She loved his body, loved the way he touched her and brought her pleasure.
She hated his BlackBerry.
He was never further than a phone call away from his job, and that drove her crazy. Even when they were in bed at night, twined together, if the phone buzzed with an incoming message, he’d roll over, grab it, and start typing away.
Risa had to remind herself that this wasn’t a real relationship. It was a sexual interlude, nothing more. Travis hadn’t promised her more than two weeks of his time. He’d promised her money and that was it.
Strangely enough, the money wasn’t really a factor anymore. After spending a week with him, she didn’t care about the money as much as she just wanted him to spend some genuine time with her.
And with Gregory.
The pig adored Travis. There was something about him that Gregory had immediately taken a shine to, and whenever Travis was busy working, Gregory would lay at his feet to keep him company, or butt his head against Travis’s leg, demanding to be petted. Travis, for his part, seemed to be coming around on the pig. He petted Gregory and occasionally threw a chew toy for the pig to chase. Risa had even talked Travis into taking an early morning walk with her and the pig, and he’d carried the leash while they’d wandered a nearby park, hand in hand.
But then his phone rang and the moment was over.
She’d been doing her best to show Travis how to take care of Gregory, but it was hard to teach someone who was too busy for any sort of animal, much less an intelligent pig. She knew that Gregory liked to chew things when he was bored, so she took him on multiple walks a day to wear him out, but she wondered what it would be like when she left.
And she wondered why the thought made her so sad.
* * *
Risa checked her watch and drummed her fingers on the arm of the movie theater seat. She stared up at the small screen, willing Travis to show up.
His apartment building had a private movie theater that showed new releases. You simply signed up to have the theater for a few hours. Once Risa had learned about that, she’d been excited at the prospect of having an actual date night with Travis. And he’d agreed, once she’d talked him into it with kisses. He’d even moved a meeting for her.
Now date night had arrived and she had the room reserved, but he wasn’t there. The popcorn she’d popped had gotten cold, and she sat in the dark, waiting. She’d left him an hour ago in the apartment. He was reviewing a contract, and had promised to run down to grab them a few sodas at the corner store and meet her in the movie theater.
She checked her watch one more time and then stood up from the chair, worried. Surely nothing had happened to him on the way to the store?
On a hunch, she went to the elevator and punched the button for Travis’s floor. She slid her key in the lock and opened the door.
There was Travis, on the phone, his computer open in front of him. Exactly in the last place she’d left him.
“Are you f**king kidding me, Peters? Have you seen these suggestions they made? They’re a joke,” he said into the phone. “Did you see clause eighteen? No? Go look at it. I’ll wait.” He glanced at her as she walked in, and then turned back to his computer. His hand reached down to absently stroke Gregory’s velvety ear. “Did you see it? Exactly. That is absolutely not part of the deal.”
Risa felt cold. Little by little, her fantasy of him was crumbling. She wanted to have this time with him. So much. She wanted the memory of their short time together to be an incredible one that she could look back on with fondness. Her silly heart wanted Travis to grab her by the waist, nuzzle her neck, and beg her to stay with him forever.
But he was a busy man. Too busy for a pig. Much too busy for a relationship of any kind.
She’d been foolish to ever hope for one.
Very calmly, she went to his room and began to pack her bag. She took her clothes off hangers, folded them neatly, and then closed her small suitcase. She paused when she turned and saw that he had Pearl’s old photo album out on a nearby dresser.
So he’d taken a memento from his grandmother’s house after all? Risa moved toward it, compelled, and turned the pages. There was a picture of Travis as a young boy, with that same serious expression on his face, holding up a fish. Travis reading a book in a bay window. Travis playing fetch with a dog, a wide smile on his face. Her heart skipped a beat.
Travis with Pearl, his arm around her waist, as he wore a graduation cap. Travis and his grandmother sitting on her porch, smoking cigars as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Underneath the picture was a caption: First major business deal.
Where had that Travis gone? Suddenly sad for herself and for him, she left the photo album open to the picture of him and the dog. That was the Travis she wanted.
She picked up her suitcase and headed back into the living room, dropping it by the door. She suddenly realized that her car was still in Bluebonnet, still at Pearl’s house. Maybe she’d ask Travis if she could rent the place. Maybe there was a teaching job or two in Bluebonnet. She loved that little town.
“I’ll call you back,” Travis said suddenly, and she heard his phone click off. “Risa, what are you doing?”
She braced herself and turned around, a wide smile on her face. “I’m sorry, Travis, but I’m leaving.”