Secret

As Angel parked the truck, Travis didn't understand why, but didn't bother asking. He was too upset to care. Being pulled into a hug was the last thing he expected, and while a part of him felt too awkward for this, the rest of him simply melted into the love that was being offered. Curling into her embrace, he hid his face against her shoulder as he cried. 

He felt stupid, manipulated and ashamed. Ashamed that his mother was the type of person she was, ashamed that he had never had guts enough to end it, and ashamed now, to feel such a need for Angel's comfort. 

Time didn't seem to matter, but eventually Travis' tears were spent. Shrinking back a little, he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, his face slightly flushed from embarrassment as he stared at the floor. His hat had fallen off at some point, and he now played with it in his lap. "You can't tell Dad," he begged quietly. "If he knew..." He swallowed hard. "If he knew how long this had been going on, he'd...he'd blame himself." 

He finally looked up at Angel, his eyes swollen and bloodshot. "She didn't want me to take anything. Said she bought it all anyway...so I mostly just grabbed clothes. I...I can just tell Dad that's all I wanted." His gaze begged her to keep his secret. "Please...for his sake."


Garret followed Maggie over to the small tree and nodded. "Okay." He glanced around, then gestured back to the house. "You go get the bird...and I'll meet you back here." He patted her shoulder, then wandered to the tool shed where he'd been before when helping Nate fix the sprinkler. It was easy to find a little garden trowel. That's all he would need. 

Meeting Maggie back at the tree as promised, he knelt down and dug a small hole, but deep enough no neighborhood cats would come dig it up. He let Maggie place the bird in the hole, then had her help fill it back in, which took all of a minute or two, tops. 

Standing again, he fiddled with the trowel before looking over at her sad face again. He sighed, then took the edge of his shirt and wiped her face with it, to clean off the tears. "There... you'll be okay... I promise."