She lifted her gaze to his, full of longing. “I reckon I’m just about done waiting. How about you?”
He studied her, his gaze traveling every inch of her face. “I reckon you’re right. And I want to do this the right way.”
She nodded, expecting nothing less from him.
Then he stepped back and took her hand. “Let’s get to BJs so I can show off my pleasantly mussed and well-kissed girlfriend.”
She laughed, reaching a hand up to her hair. “Am I…”
“Gorgeous. Just how I like you.”
“Then that’s all that matters.” She stepped in beside him, and they swung their hands back and forth as they made their way to his truck.
When they pulled in front of BJs, the place shook with music. Bailey grinned. “Just like old times!”
“Just like old times.”
They hopped out of the truck and ran to the building. They flung open the door and pressed through the crowd to the middle of the dance floor.
The place looked just as it always had. Thick dark wood made up the walls and the furniture, and the tables lined the edges of the room. The place was packed. Bailey glanced around at the faces; most looked familiar, but she couldn’t place them all.
Maverick pulled her into his arms, and they danced long into the night, one song after another.
He swung her around in a circle, brought her back into his arms, and Maverick murmured in her ear, “I’ve never been happier.”
Bailey didn’t think her life could be any sweeter.
Maverick dropped her off at home with a long, lingering kiss full of promises. She was so full of courage, of hope, of desire for a happy future that she didn’t think anything could disrupt her happiness.
Until Daniel called again that night. And this time, because she was full of courage and confidence, she answered him.
Chapter 16
Maverick picked up a bouquet of daisies and headed to the middle school. He knew it had only been two days since he’d last seen her, but in his mind, that was two days too long. He had a pile of paperwork on his desk and some tough decisions to make on the ranch, but first, he wanted to see his woman. He grinned. Bailey was his woman again. What an awesome thought.
He had already thought about proposing. She seemed as much in love with him as he was her. But the thought brought out a shuddering fear through him, so he’d pushed it off to think about later. Last time, he’d been certain she loved him, and he’d fully expected a beautiful bride to walk down the aisle toward him. But she hadn’t.
Would she do it again? Nothing was certain, ever. And at least for now, he had a willing, fun Bailey. He didn’t want to risk changing things.
He stopped by the front office. “Hey, Peggy.” The woman sitting at the front desk was a friend of theirs from high school.
“Oh, she’s gonna love those.” Peggy leaned forward, almost pouring herself onto the table between them. The girl’s starry eyes made him smile and step back toward the door. “You just take those right on in. Do you know where she is?”
He shook his head. “The choir room, right?”
She gave him directions, and he scooted out of there as quickly as he could. As he walked through the halls, he considered his fears. He had good reason to be afraid she would walk out again. He’d been so blindsided the first time, he had no reason to think it wouldn’t happen again. Except that it couldn’t. Bailey would never do that a second time. Would she?
He rounded the corner and stopped in front of the choir room door. He could hear the kids singing. So he peeked in, careful not to let Bailey see him. She stood at the front, waving her arms at them like he’d seen all conductors do. She was leaning in, her face intent, her smile genuine, and the kids watched her, their eyes shining with hope. Maverick grinned. She loved this, and the kids loved her.
Then she stopped them. “That was beautiful. So good, in fact, that I want to give you something special to try. Only the really good singers can handle it, but I think you guys can do it no problem.” Even Maverick was intrigued. She sang, and her whole face transformed. While she was enjoying leading the kids, she was full of joy when she sang. Her heart seemed to fill her song. She swayed for a minute and then stopped. “Did you see what I did there? Who can tell me?”
The kids raised their hands, and she continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but Maverick felt changed. He knew singing was her passion. Using her voice in the way she just had made Bailey who she was. But she’d been beaten down enough to give it up. She’d put her daughter first and worked so that they could survive.
But her voice was part of what made Bailey who she was. He’d like to pound some sense into that man Daniel for more reasons than one. And into his past self. He was grateful to realize now what he hadn’t seen when they were younger. They needed to focus on her dreams as well as his.
The class worked on repeating what she had done. After a minute of mediocre attempts, she told them to take a break. And as she turned to walk back to her desk, he smiled through the window at her.
She stepped back in surprise, and Maverick was gratified to see just how happy she was to see him. She rushed to the door, flung it open, glanced over her shoulder, and then stepped out into the hall. “Maverick, hi.”
“Hi yourself.” He held up the flowers. “I just wanted to drop these by.”
She took them from him. “My favorite.” But her eyes held questions.
“Really I just wanted to see you.”
Her grin melted him further. “Good, ’cause I wasn’t gonna survive another day without seeing you.”
“Come over after work. Let’s ride.”
Her eyes lit. “Oh, I’d love that. Can I bring Gracie?”
“Gracie is always welcome. I want to see her almost as much as I want to see you. Besides, I have some tricks I want her to work on with her pig.”
“Has she named it yet? She won’t tell me.”
“I don’t know. For now, she calls it Pig.”
The students were getting restless, so she stepped back toward the door.
But Maverick pulled her closer. When their faces were kissably close, he murmured, “I love you.” Then he pressed his lips to hers, their softness making him only want her more. “See you soon.”
She swayed, dazed for a minute, and then smiled a soft, sleepy smile. “See you soon.”
“Who was that?” Maverick heard as he walked back down the hallway, satisfied for a moment that he’d seen her.
His mind moved to the paperwork for the ranch. As he pulled up to the house and made his way into his office, he thought about the losses and the stress on all the brothers, and he wasn’t sure what he would do about any of it. If the ranch became no one’s priority and everyone’s chore, then it wasn’t what his dad had meant for them.
A stack of mail waited. His books and financials waited. Decker had written up a plan to bring in some more money that he needed to look at. And his own pending decisions waited.
One letter sat on top, from a real estate developer. He suspected he knew what it said. They got these all the time, people hoping to buy pieces of the property and build them out. But he’d tossed every other letter in the trash. Not only did he not want to sell his father’s land, he didn’t want the ranch to be surrounded by new developments.
But he opened this one, wondering if it was time to start at least considering it. As he glanced through the proposal, he was happy to see they would subdivide into larger acreage plots with nicer homes. He felt better about that than a set of stores, a strip mall, or high-density housing.
He set the letter aside. Then he pulled out a letter from their accountant. The details were way more discouraging than he’d thought. He reached for Decker’s report, then he groaned. His brother had known the numbers were this bad, knew it was gonna take more than a few simple fixes to change things. He’d come to tell him last week not because he was just being lazy, but because this problem was larger than what
he could handle alone. And Maverick had thrown it back in his brother’s face.
He picked up his phone. When Decker answered, Maverick said, “Hey, I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I’m just now looking at the numbers, really looking, and you were right to come to me. This is a bigger issue than I realized.”
“Yeah, but you needed to preen your feathers for a minute before you realized it.”
“Very funny. I looked through your suggestions. They’re good.”
“But…”
“I don’t know. It might not be enough. Maybe we should talk about selling some land.”
“Hay just isn’t a viable income for the land. Maybe we plant enough for our own livestock, but that’s it.”
“And up the cattle. We could earn more doing cattle.”
“But not as much as we could if we sell the land.”
The quiet on the other end brought the corners of his mouth down. He hated to say it, but they should consider all their options. What would be a viable income for their mother? How much could she manage? Or how much would Maverick want to continue with his own family, with…he almost didn’t dare think their names…with Bailey and Gracie?
Finally, Decker said, “We should bring it up to everyone.”
“Do you think we should?”
“You’re afraid they’re all gonna want to sell.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe ask Mama first.”
His mother stood in the doorway.
“And here she is. Okay, Deck, thank you. Talk to you soon.”
Mama held a plate of food and a tall glass of lemonade.
“Hmm. Did you make all that for me?”
“I sure did.” She entered the room and placed it on the tiny corner of his desk without piles of papers.
He shifted things around and moved his lunch right in front of him.
“Talk to me, Maverick.”
He took a bite of his sandwich. “Mmm. You make the best sandwiches.”
She waited, love in her eyes. “Every woman should know how to reach a man’s heart. I’ll give Bailey the recipe.”
His gaze lifted, and he dared to ask what concerned him most. “Do you think she’ll stick around this time?” The next bite went down slowly, rubbing his throat the whole way.
She sighed. “I think so. But I thought so last time too.”
He nodded and gazed out the window. “I keep telling myself to be careful, to watch myself, but she already had my heart even before she came back. There was nothing I could do about it.”
She patted his hand. “Then we’ll just all hope she is more careful with it this go-round.” She watched him eat for a few more minutes then said, “But that’s not the only thing weighing on you, is it?”
He shook his head. “Decker and I don’t know what to do about our financial situation.”
“Tell me.”
He hated to burden her, but he knew she was his father’s closest business partner as well as his wife. So he told her how they were losing money, more every year, how the Dawson cows weren’t getting picked up for premium prices as much anymore, and how they lost money on their hay crops.
“Have you considered leasing more of the land?”
“Or selling it.”
The pain that crossed her face was brief, but it was enough for him to clench his fists.
“We should bring up the solutions to everyone and see if they can think of anything else.” She stood. “I’m sorry you bear so much on your own.”
He shrugged. “Despite what I was acting like the other day, I really can handle it. I just don’t always like my solutions.”
She nodded. “You know, the best thing for our Dawson Ranch was when you were out riding and winning championships. That’s what brought our name to the national stage.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
“Absolutely. You boys doing really well on the circuit did a lot to help sell cows.”
He toyed with his pencil. “Do you think Nash can pull off a win?”
“I can’t be sure, but certainly nothing like you could do. I know Decker will likely win again, though, and that will help.”
“And our sponsorship of the state fair. Our show. That will help.”
“I think so.” She turned to walk through the door. “Bring it up to everyone in a nice voice, and we’ll see if we can come up with a plan.”
His mouth lifted at the corner. “A nice voice. Have I been that terrible to live with?”
“I think you’re just finally noticing that you put yourself on hold all this time.”
“Probably.”
Her eyes looked tired, but her face was full of years of happiness.
“You doing okay, Mama?”
“I’m just fine. What mother wouldn’t be with a family of men like I’ve raised?”
He nodded, and she left him to ponder his thoughts, which were now much more hopeful. Even if they had to make changes, or sell some land, he felt like everything was gonna work out.
He worked through all the other, less challenging decisions and then checked his watch. Bailey and Gracie would be coming soon.
He walked back through the house toward the kitchen. His mama’s signature chocolate chip cookies were obviously in the oven. “Mmm. Mama, what’s the occasion?”
“My granddaughter is coming over, that’s what.” She smiled, and he warmed at the thought.
“She’s such a good little girl. Bailey has done a great job so far.”
“She really has. But you know, Gracie Faith acts just like her. I remember when our Bailey was little.”
Maverick nodded. “I don’t remember her that little. But that just goes to show parenting is all about example.”
“And love and trust.” His mama moved around the kitchen. “Even though you don’t see it, you’re just like your father.”
He warmed in happy disbelief. His good mama could praise him all day, and even if he didn’t believe her, she still made him feel better. “What are you doing in here?”
“Well, I’ve got the cookies cooking, but then I got to thinking she might want some soup. It’s chilly out there. And then I knew she’d want a grilled cheese sandwich, because what child doesn’t want that with their soup?”
He moved toward her, arms out. “You’re the best grandma in the world, just like you’ve always been the best mama.”
She accepted his hug, squeezing him back with a fierceness he had come to appreciate. “Now, I’ve got to hurry. Unless you want to help, step over there so I can get my work done.”
He laughed. “I’d be happy to help.”
Then a little girl’s voice shouted through the house, “Grandma! Grandma!”
They both laughed.
Gracie came running into the kitchen. “It smells so good in here!” She looked around until she found the plate of cookies. “Ooohhh.”
“Would you like one?”
“Yes!”
Then Bailey entered the room, and Maverick’s world felt whole again. He pulled her into his arms. “Mama and I were just talking about what a good girl Gracie Faith is.” They watched her savor the hot, melty chocolate chip cookie.
Bailey smiled, and the pride was evident in her eyes. “You are a good girl, aren’t you, Gracie?”
She nodded. “Mm-hmm.” She stepped up to Mama Dawson and placed her hand inside the welcoming reach of her grandmother.
“Would you like to come see the flowers I planted?”
“Yes!” She squealed, and the two headed out back.
Maverick leaned back against the kitchen counter and pulled Bailey to him. “This is what I’ve been missing since I last saw you.”
She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Me too.” She lifted her chin, and he immediately captured her lips with his own. Hungry for more of her, he kissed away as much of that hunger as he could, but her eager response only made him want her more.
Li
ngering as long as he dared with his mother and Gracie right around the corner, he kissed her once more and then tugged her hand. “Let’s get you on a horse.”
“I can’t believe we’re going to do this again.”
“You can’t mess with genius. The crowd’s gonna love it.”
“I’m gonna love it. I think. If I don’t fall off.”
He pulled her close and wrapped an arm across her shoulder. “I’ll catch you. You’ve got me, Bailey.”
As her smaller arm hugged him around the waist, he knew it was true.
Chapter 17
After Bailey and Maverick rode for a solid hour to much clapping and cheering from Gracie and Mama, he hopped off his horse and ran to her daughter. “And now, Gracie Faith. Are you ready to work with your little piggy?”
“Yes!” she shouted, jumping up and down.
Bailey loved them together. “I’ll take care of the horses in just a minute. I want to ride a little longer.”
Maverick’s eyes met hers. A thrill rushed through her at their intensity. “You know I love you best up there. And singing…and with Gracie Faith.”
She laughed. “Anywhere else?”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
Then he hopped over the fence before he reached for Gracie. The two of them headed for the barn. Bailey rode over by Mama Dawson. “Thank you for being her grandma. She really loves you.”
“I think she was meant to be ours all along.”
Bailey tried to swallow her tears. “I think so too.”
They shared a moment together where Bailey wanted to apologize all over again for ever leaving such a beautiful family.
But then Mama said, “I know you had to leave. You got something inside you that wants to sing and share your voice. I saw it every time you sang.”
“But I should have said something.”
“That you should. Just like you should do so now, if you got something to share.” Her eyes saw more than Bailey thought she was revealing. And then thoughts of Daniel crowded her mind, thoughts she’d been pushing away. She nodded, suddenly uncomfortable, and nudged her horse to take her out into the wider paddock area. Maybe if she ran fast enough, the ghosts of her past would leave her alone.
Coming Home to Maverick Page 13
