She forced a weak smile. “Hi.”
Travis’s shoulders fell in relief. “Why did you leave the station?” he asked, moving to place his hands on her shoulders.
Rachel took a slow step back. “I left a message with the front desk,” she lied. “They didn’t tell you?”
He shook his head and studied her. He knew something was wrong, she could see it in his face. It was time to recite the speech she’d practiced on her way back to the office, but the trembling of her hands caused her to question whether she could truly go through with it.
She lifted her chin and forced a casual air. “I’m really sorry. When I called Suzanna, she told me the fabric wasn’t going to be here in time for the show. I had to get over here and make new selections.” She took another breath. “I didn’t want to bother you. I’m sorry they didn’t relay the message.”
His concern seemed to ease, but only slightly. She wondered if Travis was blessed with natural instinct, or if it was just her who he could see through so well.
He lifted a hand to her arm and she tried not to jerk away. She didn’t want the sensation of his touch. She couldn’t handle the reminder of what she would be missing.
“Well,” he said. “No harm done.” He gave her arm a squeeze and released his grasp. “Will you have to work late? Maybe we’ll go to dinner later, or I can bring it here.”
Her smile sobered as the chokehold tightened on her throat. “Travis, we need to talk.”
A plump yellow sofa sat a few feet away, and she stepped over the deep brown hardwood floor toward it. She sank down on the plush cushions, needing to relieve the weight from her shaky legs. His face washed with concern, Travis followed, but stopped short of taking a seat next to her.
“What is it, babe? What’s wrong?”
Tremors began to sweep through her nerves, but she stiffened her stance and lifted her chin. She lowered her gaze, not able to look into those soft brown eyes. His expression was concerned, and she had to replay everything she’d heard in order to muster her strength.
Travis didn’t love her. She was just another project, apparently one among a series of many. She was the damsel in distress he apparently needed to rescue before he moved on to the next.
Well, Rachel was officially saved, and now it was time for him to move on.
Time for both of them to move on.
“Travis,” she started. “I’ll never be able to repay you for everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
She forced a smile and continued. “But now I really need to get back to focusing on my work, especially with this show coming up.”
She clasped her hands together and swallowed the boulder in her throat. She’d never imagined this was going to be so hard, and Travis’s silence was deafening. Even his breath seemed to hold in his lungs, and though she fought against it, she couldn’t help but raise her eyes to meet his gaze.
He just stood there, the caring concern on his face quickly draining away with the realization of what she was attempting to say.
“Travis, I’ve got this show next week, and when I get back, I need to focus on clearing out my mother’s house and selling it.”
She took another breath. “I’m thinking seriously about moving to New York. It’s time I put the past behind me.”
“And I’m part of that past,” he said, his voice low and defensively steady.
“I’m sorry, Travis. I just think it’s best if we broke this off now, before we get involved.”
His brow coiled. His lips formed a tight line across his mouth, and a flinch of muscles clenched in his jaw. “You don’t think we’re already involved?”
She fisted her hands together on her lap and swallowed away the tears that threatened to flow from her eyes. “I need to start over. I need to get out of Chicago and begin a new life.”
“And you don’t see me as part of that new life.”
The air grew scarce. Every nerve in her body begged her to break down, to pull him into her arms and release the pain that ripped through her chest. She wanted Travis to be a part of her new life. She didn’t want to leave Chicago. She wanted to stay, to become his wife, to begin a life together now that her past could finally be put to rest.
But despite the obvious hurt and anger that seeped from his gaze, she had to remember that she wasn’t part of his plans. She was just a temporary distraction, another victory in his quest to save the world.
“I think, given my plans, it’s best we end this now.”
His lips twitched. His hands clenched at his sides. “I see,” he said stiffly.
“I’m sorry, Travis.”
His legs rigid, his eyes dark and vacant, he stepped to the entry and pushed open the door. “Don’t be,” he said.
And then he was gone.
The tears she had suppressed came flooding to the surface like water through a broken levee.