Chapter 19
Two days later, while Maverick went in for a few hours to check in on the horses and prepare for the week ahead, Nina stayed at the ranch house with Poppy. Upstairs, Markus was packing his bag to head back to LA.
At first, the five-year-old had seemed content to watch TV, but after an hour, she started getting restless. Still dressed in her PJs and dragging her teddy bear along by one arm, she came to where Nina sat at the kitchen island, drinking her coffee.
Without a word, she passed Nina the teddy bear and when she took it, Poppy used both hands to pull out the bar stool next to Nina’s. Seeing what Poppy intended, Nina used one foot to hold the stool in place as Poppy climbed – literally – into the seat.
‘Do you want some juice?’
Poppy shook her head. ‘Where did my dad go?’
‘I think he’s checking on the horses,’ Nina replied. But because Mav had specifically asked her to keep an eye on Poppy if she woke up, Nina added, ‘Maybe we can all go for a ride later?’
Poppy instantly brightened at that. ‘Yeah!’
‘Which horse is your favourite?’ Nina asked.
‘Zeph. She’s Daddy’s horse. The black one.’
‘I know Zeph. Your dad is teaching me how to ride on her.’
‘How come you don’t know how already?’ Poppy asked. ‘You’re old.’
Nina laughed lightly at that. But she replied, ‘I live in the city, so there aren’t many horses around to learn on.’
This news seemed to genuinely upset Poppy. ‘No horses?’
‘Not many.’
‘You should move here,’ Poppy decided. ‘We have lots for you to ride,’ she added exuberantly. ‘Zeph and Spud and Spirit and Diablo and Moon and Princess and Spot.’
‘That’s a lot of horses,’ Nina affirmed.
Poppy nodded, her smile bright. ‘If you lived here, you could ride them all the time.’ Using one little hand, Poppy pushed her tangled hair away from her face. ‘And I can ride with you.’
The childish argument shouldn’t have held so much appeal for Nina. But it did. She thought about what Mav had told her – that she’d always have a place there. And she remembered the lyrics to the song. And only remembering had a warm glow rising within her and spreading throughout her body.
She thought back on what Shannon Carlyle had told her, and alarmingly found herself easily bashing through any arguments she’d made against her and Maverick working out.
She and Shannon might have both been career women, but Nina had something with Mav that Shannon self-admittedly never had. That counted for something. Didn’t it?
‘Can I ask you a really important question?’ Nina asked and turned in her chair so that she was facing Poppy fully.
Poppy nodded.
‘Would it be okay if I asked your dad on a date?’
‘A date?’
‘Yeah. You know, when two people like each other and want to spend time getting to know each other better.’
Poppy seemed to think about this very seriously for a moment before asking, ‘Can I come?’ Her eyes narrowed on Nina’s face.
Nina hesitated, but only because she knew that inviting Poppy would complicate things for Mav, who always thought about his daughter’s heart before his own.
But she also wanted him to know that she understood that, and that she would do her best to leave Poppy’s heart intact.
‘I think that would be so fun,’ she said. ‘Like a two-for-one deal.’
‘Yeah!’
‘What do you want to do on our date?’
‘Hmm, I dunno.’
‘Do you like movies?’ Nina asked.
Poppy nodded her head vigorously. ‘Yeah! Daddy and I like Barbie. Maybe we can go watch that?’
‘I think that one’s done in theatres. But we can see what else is playing. And then maybe we can go and get dinner afterwards.’
‘Pizza!’ Poppy declared.
‘Pizza.’ Nina smiled. ‘Pizza’s my favourite.’
‘Mine too!’
‘Okay.’ Nina exhaled. Who knew that asking a five-year-old for permission to date her dad would be so nerve-racking. ‘Movie and pizza date. I’ll ask your dad and let you know what he says.’
‘He’ll say yes,’ Poppy predicted. ‘He loves pizza.’
Nina couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up and out of her mouth. There was no point in telling Poppy that dating was a little more complicated than that. But the little girl’s simple acceptance also had her wondering: why couldn’t it be simple?
A date was hardly a marriage proposal, after all. People dated and broke up every day, and though their situation was admittedly more complicated, they both deserved just one evening of simple, good fun.
Needing a distraction from her own thoughts and hoping to entertain Poppy too, she asked, ‘Do you want to bake some cookies?’
Poppy’s eyes rounded with delight. ‘Yeah!’ She hopped off the bar stool and went to the little bookshelf to the side of the kitchen cabinets.
Without waiting, she climbed onto the counter and, kneeling on the granite top, fished through the recipe books until she found one with a blue cover.
‘This one has cookies in it!’ she declared and waved the book in Nina’s direction.
‘Okay.’ But because she was terrified Poppy might fall, she hurried over to her, plucked her off the counter, and put her back down on the floor before taking the recipe book. ‘What type of cookies are we going to make?’
‘Chocolate chip.’
‘Good choice.’ Nina started flipping through the recipe book, hoping she’d find the recipe. She saw recipes for potato salad, beef stroganoff, and pineapple upside down cake. She even saw one for something called Bombe Alaska and promised herself she’d google what it was later.
When she found the chocolate chip cookie recipe, she saw the smudges on the pages and noted the slightly faded ink. ‘Do you guys make these often?’
‘Yeah, they’re my favourite,’ Poppy replied.
Nina scanned the ingredients. ‘Let’s check we have everything before we start.’
Maverick frowned when he walked into Sierra’s office at the resort and found her white as a ghost, a single piece of paper in her hand. ‘Sierra?’
‘Did you know about this?’ she asked quietly and passed him the paper.
Maverick knew what it was before he even looked down to confirm it. ‘Yeah, I knew.’
Still, he felt the blow as surely as Sierra had. He supposed he’d started hoping that Benji would change his mind and stay.
‘Benji wanted to tell you himself. And I think he had that right.’
‘You’re my brother, Maverick. You’re supposed to be on my side.’
He could see those cracks forming in the dam wall, growing wider with every second that passed. Her eyes flooded, and though she tried to resist the tears, once the first one fell, the rest followed.
He knew it was time, but he hated that he couldn’t help, couldn’t do more to take the pain away from his little sister. He rounded the desk, wrapped her trembling body in his arms, and he said, ‘Honey, if I was on his side, I wouldn’t let him leave at all.’
‘Oh God.’ The sob that tore from her had him bracing his own body against the violent shudders.
Mav didn’t hush her. He didn’t tell her it would be okay because he knew how heavy those empty promises landed. He held her, his hand circling her back for minutes until she calmed.
When she finally took a huge breath and stepped back, her puffy, red eyes hit him like a punch to the stomach. And when she started to apologize, he stopped her with one hand. ‘Don’t. You’re allowed to be sad. Confused.’
‘Am I?’ she asked and plucked a tissue from her drawer. She dabbed her eyes, wiping away smudges of mascara. ‘I was the one who ended things,’ she reminded him.
‘You did what you had to do to survive,’ Mav said quietly. ‘To move on. Do you think Benji doesn’t know that?’
‘I hate myself for hating him.’ She sat down heavily and stared at her dark computer screen. ‘Every time I snap at him or say something hurtful, I hate myself for it. And, still, I can’t seem to stop. Every time I look at him, I …’ She shook her head.
Maverick wanted to tell her that she didn’t hate him, and that she only needed to keep that distance between her and Benji because she knew in her heart that he was the only one who understood – who shared – her pain.
Pain that she wasn’t ready to face yet. But he didn’t.
Some things people needed to unpack themselves.
Sierra picked up the piece of paper again. ‘Two weeks. He gave me two weeks’ notice. Came in here and spoke to me like I was nothing but his employer, said he’d received an offer he couldn’t refuse.
‘And I said, “Okay.”’ She released a watery laugh. ‘And now all I can think is that it’s the strangest thing to have no words for a man you’ve known your entire life and loved for over half of it.’
‘Sometimes you don’t need words. Sometimes a person knows your heart enough to know everything you want to say but can’t.’
Sierra laughed sadly. ‘You’re getting sentimental in your old age, Mav.’
‘Maybe. Or maybe I’ve known both of you your entire lives, too.’
Taking a chance, he pulled out the chair opposite her desk and sat. ‘Do you know when Benji asked for my permission to marry you, I asked him why? I told him, “If you’re only doing it because she’s pregnant, don’t.” I suppose I knew from experience how wrong that could go.’
Sierra didn’t look at him, but he knew she was listening.
‘Benji just laughed, and he said, “You know it’s always been her, even when you pretended not to.”’
‘Why did it bother you so much?’
‘You started chasing him when you were fifteen!’ Mav laughed, remembering how Sierra had hounded his best friend. ‘You were a kid. Benji was twenty. He was too old for you – and he thought so too.’
‘Maybe,’ she ceded. ‘But I made him think about it plenty.’
‘I don’t want to know.’
‘He made me wait until I was nineteen.’ She smiled though her eyes remained so sad. ‘Probably would have made me wait longer if I hadn’t told him I was going to sleep with Kyle Channing.’
‘Kyle Channing?’
‘I made him up,’ Sierra said. ‘Got all dressed up for this imaginary date, and then made sure I left my car keys down at the stables so that Benji would see me leaving.’
‘Smart.’