stared at him. “Because you kept asking her about me.”
Ryan fell silent.
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But the real question remained.
What was he actually afraid of?
I turned to Travis. “You should have told me.”
He nodded immediately.
“You’re right. I thought he’d fix it,” Travis said. “I was wrong.”
Ryan began pacing.
“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?” I asked.
He turned toward me.
“He’s always there.” Ryan’s words came faster. “Your car broke down when you were a teenager? Travis fixed it. Your dad died? Travis helped your mom. Something breaks? Travis can fix it. You need help with Emma? Travis is available.”
His face twisted.
“Every time I can’t be there, somehow HE is.”
Ryan glanced at Travis before looking back at me.
“Sometimes I think you’ve been in love with him this whole time.”
The room fell silent.
Even Ryan seemed stunned by what he’d
said.
At last, I understood.
“You’re jealous of him.”
Ryan stared at me.
“No. This is about Emma.”
“No, it isn’t. Because if it were about Emma, you wouldn’t replace a reliable, authorized adult with someone we already agreed couldn’t manage regular pickup. You wouldn’t question Emma until she felt like she was lying.”
Ryan’s face fell. He sank into a kitchen chair as if his legs had stopped working.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Then he said quietly, “I hate hearing her talk about him.”
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I waited.
“I get home late. She’s already eaten half the time. She tells me Travis showed her something, Travis taught her something, Travis said something funny.” He swallowed. “I feel like I’m missing everything.”
His voice cracked. “And he’s just… there.”
My anger faded, but the hurt remained.
Travis shifted beside the doorway.
“She talks about you the whole walk,”
