Travis slept in the guest room that night.<\/p>\n
He did not announce the decision.<\/p>\n
I discovered it when I went upstairs to collect my phone charger and found his duffel opened across the spare bed.<\/p>\n
His clothes were stacked neatly beside it.<\/p>\n
The master bedroom door stood open.<\/p>\n
Nothing prevented him from sleeping there.<\/p>\n
He had simply chosen not to.<\/p>\n
Once, that gesture would have devastated me.<\/p>\n
I would have interpreted it as proof I had pushed too hard.<\/p>\n
Instead, I took my charger and returned downstairs.<\/p>\n
At seven the next morning, I woke to the smell of coffee.<\/p>\n
Travis was standing beside the kitchen counter in jeans and a gray T-shirt, scrolling through his phone.<\/p>\n
For half a second, the scene was so familiar that my body responded before my mind did.<\/p>\n
Morning.<\/p>\n
Home.<\/p>\n
Husband.<\/p>\n
Coffee.<\/p>\n
Then I saw the folder still sitting beside my notebook.<\/p>\n
The familiarity broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s coffee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had poured mine into the blue mug I used most mornings.<\/p>\n
Milk already added.<\/p>\n
No sugar.<\/p>\n
He remembered exactly how I drank it.<\/p>\n
That was the difficulty with betrayal.<\/p>\n
The person who could remove your access to money could also remember precisely how much milk you liked in coffee.<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
Travis placed the mug in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we start over?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mouth tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can continue it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sat opposite me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought about what you said.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand why the account change upset you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou understand why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew it would before you did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t tell me because you knew I would object.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t tell you because I knew you\u2019d react emotionally before hearing the reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
I picked up the coffee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich reason?\u201d<\/p>\n
He frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve given me several. Simplifying finances. Because you earn the money. Long-term savings. A business investment. Which reason explains closing the checking account?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them are connected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
He leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI needed liquidity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word sounded rehearsed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you. Maybe eighty thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou already had more than that between the hidden account and the certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not liquid in the way I need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne was a bank account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJune.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re picking apart every sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause yesterday I learned your sentences change.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared into his coffee.<\/p>\n
The front of his left wrist had a pale line where his work glove usually ended.<\/p>\n
I had noticed that line hundreds of times.<\/p>\n
I wondered how many statements had arrived while those hands were offshore and I was home repairing fences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly is the business?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndustrial equipment brokerage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s different from industrial supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt overlaps.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMatch companies with equipment. Parts. Components. Procurement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Darren?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGulf Coast operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWork.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSame rig?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSame employer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot currently.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wrote.<\/p>\n
Travis watched the pen.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you stop doing that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause later I want to remember exactly what you told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you think I\u2019m lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think accuracy matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stood abruptly and carried his mug to the sink.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not spending my whole break in an interrogation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll stop when I understand why you tried to put my home behind an eighty-thousand-dollar investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not put your home behind anything. The financing didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the records blocked it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep saying that like I committed some crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m saying you tried to use property you didn\u2019t own.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re married.\u201d<\/p>\n
The circle again.<\/p>\n
I closed the notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me the business documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe partnership agreement. Investment proposal. Forecasts. Anything Darren gave you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnline.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019m not doing this on demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
A phone vibrated.<\/p>\n
Not mine.<\/p>\n
Travis looked down at his screen.<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
Barely.<\/p>\n
But I had become attentive to barely.<\/p>\n
He picked up the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to take this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWork.\u201d<\/p>\n
He walked toward the porch.<\/p>\n
Through the kitchen window I could see him move away from the house toward the oak tree near the driveway.<\/p>\n
He answered only after reaching it.<\/p>\n
That made no sense if the caller were work.<\/p>\n
Cell reception was better inside.<\/p>\n
I walked to the sink as though rinsing my cup.<\/p>\n
His voice came faintly through the closed window.<\/p>\n
I could not hear words.<\/p>\n
Only tone.<\/p>\n
Low.<\/p>\n
Urgent.<\/p>\n
Then he turned his back toward the house.<\/p>\n
I stopped trying to listen.<\/p>\n
I did not want to become someone hiding behind curtains to catch pieces of conversation.<\/p>\n
I wanted documents.<\/p>\n
Facts.<\/p>\n
My phone rang while Travis was still outside.<\/p>\n
Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you speak?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrivately?\u201d<\/p>\n
I walked into Daddy\u2019s old study and closed the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI checked the name.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse rose.<\/p>\n
\u201cDarren Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are several with that name, so I\u2019m not telling you this is definitely the same person until we verify. But one Darren Cole is associated with a dissolved equipment company that operated in this region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCivil litigation. Unpaid vendors. A judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSignificant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Darren?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst the company and, in at least one filing, individuals connected to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Travis connected?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t established that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I lowered my voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says Darren is someone from work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may be true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did the name sound familiar?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI represented a supplier years ago in an unrelated dispute. I saw his name in industry records. Again, I do not know whether this is your husband\u2019s Darren Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was the company called?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBayland Industrial Services.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wrote it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould I ask Travis?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause first I want to verify identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Footsteps crossed the porch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCall me later.\u201d<\/p>\n
I ended the call and returned to the kitchen just before Travis entered.<\/p>\n
His phone disappeared into his pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything okay?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWork?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n
He avoided my eyes.<\/p>\n
I looked at the clock.<\/p>\n
His employer rarely called at 7:36 the morning after he returned from rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you needed to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA scheduling question.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat schedule?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere you go again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked a question.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m allowed to have a phone conversation without reporting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word surprised him.<\/p>\n
I added, \u201cAnd I\u2019m allowed to notice when something doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
He grabbed his keys from the counter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going into town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
Then laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou asked me where I went repeatedly when you were offshore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I care.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen assume I care.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me with the exhausted expression he usually reserved for malfunctioning machinery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m getting breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s food here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to get out of the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
That, at least, sounded true.<\/p>\n
He left.<\/p>\n
I waited until his truck disappeared beyond the oak trees.<\/p>\n
Then I opened the laptop.<\/p>\n
Bayland Industrial Services.<\/p>\n
I did not need to search long.<\/p>\n
Old business listings appeared.<\/p>\n
Industry directories.<\/p>\n
State records.<\/p>\n
A lawsuit summary.<\/p>\n
The name Darren Cole appeared beside two others.<\/p>\n
None were Travis.<\/p>\n
Relief came too quickly.<\/p>\n
Then I found a cached corporate filing listing an address.<\/p>\n
A town less than forty miles away.<\/p>\n
I recognized it.<\/p>\n
Not the street.<\/p>\n
The town.<\/p>\n
Three years earlier, Travis had spent six consecutive weekends there.<\/p>\n
He said a coworker was renovating a fishing camp.<\/p>\n
I remembered because I had teased him about becoming free labor.<\/p>\n
He had come home smelling like sawdust and diesel.<\/p>\n
At the time I never questioned it.<\/p>\n
I searched deeper.<\/p>\n
Bayland\u2019s company timeline suggested its troubles began roughly four years earlier.<\/p>\n
A successor entity appeared later under another name.<\/p>\n
Gulf Arc Procurement LLC.<\/p>\n
The registered agent was not Darren.<\/p>\n
But the mailing address matched one of the strange transfer destinations I had seen abbreviated on an old bank record.<\/p>\n
I froze.<\/p>\n
Maybe coincidence.<\/p>\n
I pulled the paper statement from my folder.<\/p>\n
One of the circled transfers ended with a notation I had assumed belonged to another bank.<\/p>\n
GAP LLC.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
Gulf Arc Procurement.<\/p>\n
GAP.<\/p>\n
The transfer was $12,000.<\/p>\n
Another six months later: $8,500.<\/p>\n
Then $5,000.<\/p>\n
I photographed the pages and sent them to Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Her reply arrived almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Call me.<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see transfers marked GAP LLC.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould that be Gulf Arc Procurement?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly. Don\u2019t assume until we obtain bank information or corporate records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much did we send?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe?\u201d<\/p>\n
The correction mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney came from an account with both our names.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. That\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
I totaled the visible transfers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-five thousand five hundred.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be others.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Travis send money to Darren\u2019s company years before this new eighty-thousand-dollar investment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he already be involved?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould the eighty thousand be covering old losses?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he be trying to repay debt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every answer worsened the next question.<\/p>\n
Rebecca said, \u201cJune, I need you to avoid confrontation until we identify the company and determine whether Travis has any ownership interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll move quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I heard Travis\u2019s truck returning before we finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPreserve everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n
He came inside carrying two breakfast sandwiches.<\/p>\n
One he placed in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got you sausage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTake it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gesture felt almost absurdly intimate.<\/p>\n
He knew I preferred sausage to bacon.<\/p>\n
I unwrapped it because refusing would create another conversation.<\/p>\n
For several minutes we ate in silence.<\/p>\n
Then I asked casually, \u201cHow long have you known Darren?\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis stopped chewing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust wondering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five.<\/p>\n
Not someone he had recently met at work.<\/p>\n
I took another bite.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas he involved with Bayland Industrial?\u201d<\/p>\n
The effect was immediate.<\/p>\n
Travis put the sandwich down.<\/p>\n
His eyes fixed on mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you hear that?\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t ask what Bayland was.\u201d<\/p>\n
His chair moved backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you been investigating my friends?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI searched a name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me you planned to invest eighty thousand dollars with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had no right.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost smiled from disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo right to search the person you wanted to use my house to finance?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Darren part of Bayland?\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis looked toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid it fail?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere there judgments?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you lose money in it?\u201d<\/p>\n
His silence answered before his mouth did.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJune.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI invested a little.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much is a little?\u201d<\/p>\n
He rubbed the back of his neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe twenty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty thousand?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom our joint savings?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was investment money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably mentioned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t remember everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember you telling me berries were an unnecessary expense.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much did you put into Bayland?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hand tightened around the wrapper.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five thousand.<\/p>\n
The amount almost exactly matched the GAP transfers I had found.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t lose twenty-five thousand in Bayland.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou transferred twenty-five thousand five hundred to Gulf Arc Procurement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
The question was barely audible.<\/p>\n
\u201cStatements.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pushed away from the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose records are old.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat money was invested.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Gulf Arc the successor company?\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when Bayland had problems, Darren started Gulf Arc?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you an owner?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPartner?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestor?\u201d<\/p>\n
His pause lasted long enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJune, for God\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much money have you given Darren Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes dropped.<\/p>\n
The silence stretched.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cI don\u2019t know the total.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer was worse than any number.<\/p>\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you not know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it happened over years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears?\u201d<\/p>\n
He realized the mistake instantly.<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many years?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSit down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many years, Travis?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive. Maybe six.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six years.<\/p>\n
Two-thirds of our marriage.<\/p>\n
While I postponed repairs.<\/p>\n
While I clipped coupons.<\/p>\n
While he told me we had to be disciplined.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere the hidden accounts for Darren too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what are they for?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the eighty thousand new money or money you already owe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
His head came up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t owe him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he owe you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another silence.<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe owes you money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much, Travis?\u201d<\/p>\n
He walked toward the porch.<\/p>\n
I followed only as far as the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty?\u201d I asked. \u201cFifty?\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped with his back to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore?\u201d<\/p>\n
His shoulders lowered.<\/p>\n
Then he said something so quietly I almost missed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout ninety-two.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gripped the doorframe.<\/p>\n
\u201cNinety-two thousand dollars?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross several things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn top of the twenty-five?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of that is included.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the money gone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you get it back today?\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not turn around.<\/p>\n
That was the answer.<\/p>\n
My husband had spent years telling me we had no money because he had been sending it somewhere I could not see.<\/p>\n
And the eighty-thousand-dollar loan against my house was not the beginning of a new investment.<\/p>\n
It was an attempt to put still more money into an old one.<\/p>\n
I reached for my phone.<\/p>\n
Travis turned sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you calling?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
His expression changed.<\/p>\n
Not anger.<\/p>\n
Fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cJune, don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
That single word contained more honesty than anything he had said since walking through the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
He swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there\u2019s something else you need to know first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis slept in the guest room that night. He did not announce the decision. I discovered it when I went upstairs to collect my phone charger and found his duffel … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20628,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584\/revisions\/20628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}