Gulf Coast Wedding by Maggie Miller
Chapter Eight
Travis opened his front door and suddenly had a better understanding of what Lavinia had meant when she’d said she wasn’t going to let Sam and Levi’s marriage happen.
Jillian, his ex-wife, stood on the cottage porch. He stared at her, trying not to let the irritation coursing through him show in his expression. Lavinia had done this. There was no question about that. In the hopes of saving the rest of his evening, he did his best to act like her arrival was no big deal. “Hello, Jillian. What brings you to Blackbird Beach?”
She sneered at him. “Like you don’t know.”
“Outside of the fact that I’m sure your mother called you, I don’t specifically know why you’re here. Please feel free to share.” He was pretty sure he’d just gotten a whiff of alcohol. Jillian always had been partial to her tequila.
She crossed her arms, her too-small sweater riding up to show the few inches of bare midriff not covered by her low rider jeans. “So what if my mother did call me. It was for a very good reason. Do you really think letting Sam marry the boy who caused all of her trouble is such smart move? Not that you’re known for smart decisions.”
Travis sighed. He was a hundred percent not interested in doing this tonight. Or any night, truth be told. “Samantha is an adult. No one’s letting her do anything. She makes her own decisions. And while Levi was a part of the pregnancy for sure, her real trouble was caused by Levi’s idiot father and your idiot mother.”
Jillian put a hand out to lean on the door frame. “How dare you call my mother an idiot.”
Behind him, the sliders shushed open. The sound of Georgia coming back inside. He really needed to end this.
Thankfully, Jillian’s glassy eyes stayed fixed on Travis. “Where’s Sam? I need to talk to her.”
“She’s not here and I don’t know when she’ll be back. She’s out with Clayton, trick or treating. You want to talk to her, try calling.” He had a feeling she’d done that already and Sam had ignored it.
“Oh, I will.”
His frown deepened. He’d had enough. “Now that your questions have been answered, I’ll assume we’re all done here.” He started to close the door.
Jillian slapped her hand against the door, smacking the wood, and preventing it from going any further. “Not by a long shot, buster.”
“If you want to talk, you can call or email me. Right now, you’re trespassing on private property and if you don’t remove yourself from my door, I’m going to call the cops and let them deal with you. We’re divorced. Our child is grown. There is no legal reason for us to speak to each other.”
Jillian leaned in farther, giving him a better whiff of what was fueling her mood. “You’re pretty full of yourself for a guy who’s sleeping with his boss.”
Lavinia and her lies. Travis started to see red, especially because Georgia had to have heard that. “You’ve been drinking. You need to give me your keys. I’ll call you a cab.”
Jillian jerked back and snorted. “Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Then I’m dialing the police station. I’m sure they’ll be interested in talking to you, considering you clearly drove here and there’s alcohol on your breath.”
Jillian took a step back, but not quite enough for Travis to shut the door. “That’s just my perfume.”
He doubted that. He let the call go through. “If you really want to talk some more, you can call or email. When you’re sober. Then we’ll chat if I’m not busy otherwise.”
He didn’t think she or Lavinia knew about the wedding on Wednesday night, but he couldn’t be sure.
Jillian finally stepped out of the doorway and onto the porch. “We aren’t done, Travis.”
He shut the door and didn’t bother to answer her. As he did that, the reception desk at the police station answered.
“Blackbird Beach police non-emergency number, how can I help?”
He gave them the make, model, and license plate of Jillian’s car along with the information that she might be driving intoxicated. He answered a few more questions, then hung up.
He turned to see Georgia behind him, leaning on the wall between the kitchen and living room. He sighed. “Was that a petty thing to do?”
“Was she really drunk?”
“She smelled like booze. And it’s Halloween night. There are a lot of kids out there. Parents, too. But you know what I mean.”
“I think it was the responsible thing to do. If something happened to one of those kids because of her and you hadn’t called, you’d never forgive yourself.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“I take it that was Jillian?”
“Yeah. Sorry I didn’t introduce you.”
Georgia laughed. “I’ll get over it.”
He laughed too. “I guess you will.”
She came to him then, putting her arms around him and pulling him into a hug. “Did Lavinia call her?”
He shook his head. “She must have. She must think Jillian can talk Sam out of marrying Levi. That’s my best guess as to what she meant when she told Sam she wasn’t going to let the marriage happen.”
“You think she and Lavinia know about Wednesday night?”
“It’s possible. Anything is with Lavinia. Plus she is on the town council and I’m sure this license becomes public record once it’s filed.”
Georgia sighed. “Well, the good news is the inn is not yet open for business, which means it’s still basically private property. If either one of them comes barging in, trying to stop the ceremony, we’ll do exactly what you did this evening. Call the cops.”
He nodded. “Of course, Coffee will also be there and he’s pretty good at persuading people to do the right thing.”
Georgia grinned. “He is.” Then her eyes narrowed. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Are you?”
“I’m just fine. Although I have a confession to make.”
Here it comes, Travis thought. She’d had enough of his baggage. He braced himself. “What’s that?”
“I ate all of your ice cream.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “That is not what I thought you were going to say.”
She leaned back. “What did you think I was going to say?”
“Something about…I don’t know. Jillian.”
She nodded as if giving that great consideration. “There’s a lot I could say about Jillian, but we have church tomorrow so I’d better not. Although, I will say this. I feel sorry for her.”
He frowned. Once again, she’d said the unexpected. “You do?”
“Yes. She seems like a very unhappy woman.”
“Well, she is. Sam just up and left, taking Clayton with her, and leaving Jillian behind. That would upset a lot of people.”
“It’s not just that. I mean generally as a person she seems unhappy. Just the way she was dressed. Kind of like a teenager, you know what I mean? Like she’s trying to be someone else. Or just not okay with who she is. I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it.”
“She’s always been that way.” Travis thought back. “Always wanted the next best thing, the next hot thing, whatever was popular and celebrity-endorsed and sure to improve every aspect of her life. And then when she got it, she’d be happy for a minute. Or until the next hot thing came along.”
“That’s sad to me. To be always searching like that. Never content.” She smiled at him. “If there’s anything I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older, it’s to love who I am as a person and how easy it is to be content with whatever life brings me. Doesn’t mean I’ve always been walking on sunshine. Life has been very hard at times. But I’ve still had that inner peace that comes from knowing who I am. Being secure in my faith helps too.”
Everything Georgia had just said was a big part of why Travis had fallen for her. There was something very appealing about a woman with that kind of inner self confidence. “Jillian will never have that. She’s not quiet or still long enough to get there. She flies from one thing to the next, and she likes to be surrounded by people who will let her be the center of attention.”
“So like mother like daughter? Because that sounds a lot like Lavinia.”
He exhaled. “In a lot of ways it does, yes.” He took her hand. “Is that fire pit still burning?”
“It is. Mostly because I have no idea how to turn it off.”
“What do you say we head back out there and forget we were ever interrupted?”
She nodded. “I’m game.”
“Good.” With her hand in his, he started for the door. “You’ll be happy to know I’ve come up with a solution for the Adirondack chairs too.”
“You mean so we can sit next to each other?”
“Something like that.” He pushed the slider open, letting in the tang of the sea and the sound of the distant waves, then looked at her and gave her a wink as he waggled his eyebrows. “You can just sit on my lap.”