Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Was that awkward?” Maverick asked a few minutes later when he and I were standing together in the back of the gym, which had been turned into an art and project gallery for the night. “I had no idea the girls had been talking about us at school.”
“A little awkward, but I’m not hiding.” I kept my voice firm. Mr. Snider’s grateful reaction underscored that being out was the only way to go. And like Aunt Georgia had said, my being in love with Maverick Lovelorn was the least surprising county event in its long history.
“What about the next election?” Maverick whispered, concern evident in his eyes.
“I don’t know. I like to think the county will look at my track record.” I shrugged. I wouldn’t say I was much better at not worrying these days, but I was trying. Other people’s reactions were out of my control, and if I’d learned anything from Aunt Georgia’s story, it was to not let speculation over those reactions stop me from living my life. “If not, I’ll try to get hired on as a deputy again. Or I’ll speak to your foreman about whether he needs a stable hand.”
I laughed, but Maverick turned unduly serious. “You’ll always have a place at the ranch. Always.”
“Thank you.” A little more privacy and I might have chanced a kiss, but as it was, I reached for his hand. No one was looking our way, yet from the way Maverick gasped, one would have thought I’d done it onstage.
“Colt Jennings is holding my hand in the school gym,” he whispered with a giddy smile and vulnerability rising in his eyes.
Huh. I’d focused so much on how he could hurt me by leaving again that sometimes I forgot he had a fragile heart too. If moments like this meant so much to Maverick, then I wanted to give him a lifetime’s worth of memories. I used our linked hands to pull him closer and put my arm around him. Let people talk. I’d earned the heart of Maverick Lovelorn, and I wasn’t going to hide.
“Colt Jennings is gonna kiss you goodnight later,” I playfully threatened.
“Good.” His cheeks were bright pink, but he looked as happy as I’d ever seen him. “You staying for the Friday night sleepover? They’ve picked a triple header of movies.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” We’d fallen into a little routine of letting the girls talk their way into weekend sleepovers, which meant Maverick and I got a sleepover as well. Adler was back in California, preparing to move to the ranch and be Maverick’s assistant on the dude ranch project, but he’d left his cookie recipe collection behind. We’d fumbled our way through baking together and finding a new normal while Faith was off at treatment. She’d gone from the hospital to a physical rehabilitation facility to a well-known place for addiction recovery.
“Look at that picture.” Maverick pointed to a nearby pencil sketch of two boys sitting in front of a campfire. They weren’t touching, and there was nothing overtly romantic about the picture, but at the same time, so much of our past flashed before my eyes. I glanced back at Maverick, who had a soft, misty expression. My past and my present rolled up in one person.
My future too. I took a deep breath. If I really counted, I’d been all-in with Maverick Lovelorn since that first arcade game. How could I not believe in him now?
“I want you to stay forever,” I said softly, voicing my most private wish aloud for the first time, centering myself in a way I hadn’t before. My worries were always for Maverick, my family, for everyone else but me. But for a moment, I let what I wanted most matter. And what I wanted was the happy ending we’d deserved all along. “I want to be here together in this gym in five years when the girls graduate.”
“Don’t make me cry.” Maverick squeezed my hand. “I don’t want to think about them growing up.”
“I know. But we’ll be right here for their last Back to School Night, okay?”
“It’s a date.”
Chapter 38
Maverick
A chilly wind whipped through the ranch, an unwelcome reminder that winter would soon be on the way. October was full of pumpkins and Halloween prep as the girls endlessly debated costume ideas. And each Friday brought Willow and Colt to the ranch, something I never took for granted. Tonight, Colt had arrived early in jeans and a thick flannel jacket, allowing enough time for me to walk him around the ranch, sharing the progress on my big plans.
“So the bunkhouse makeover will start in a few weeks.” The phrase “it takes money to make money” was never more true than when starting any hospitality project. A survey of the current bunkhouse situation had revealed plenty of room for upgrades to make the facilities more appealing to potential guests. Some might stay in one of the guest suites in the big house, but the idea was that we’d only take on a select few guests and house them in the actual bunkhouse for the complete ranch experience. Eventually, I wanted to turn a few of the outbuildings into little cabin rentals. I swung Colt’s hand as we walked. “The goal is to be up and running for guests by spring, once Adler finishes training.”