Page 21 of Maverick

“Have a seat. I’m going to change if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.” He stood beside the sofa, and she smiled as she realized he wouldn’t sit until she left the room. With a nod, she headed to the bedroom.

She changed into a T-shirt and leggings, then pulled on a pair of socks, and left the bedroom. When she entered the living room, Maverick stood, causing her to grin.

“You don’t need to stand up every time I enter a room,” she said.

“Sure, I do.” He grinned. So handsome!

“Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thanks. Come sit down and we’ll talk.” He put his hand out to her. She took it and walked around the sofa and sat down, then he sat beside her.

“I’m not sure where to begin…”

“The beginning is always a good place.”

Parker sighed. “Yes, I suppose it is. I met Brad when we were in college. He was studying to become a lawyer and I was goofing off.” She smiled when Maverick laughed. “I didn’t want to go at all, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Once I met Brad, school no longer mattered. We fell in love right away and got married when we were both twenty-three. He still had a lot of schooling left, but he did it. I worked part-time jobs to help. His parents also helped us a good bit, so we didn’t hurt for money. Brad passed the bar exam, right after he turned twenty-eight. I had our son when I was twenty-five. I was a virgin when I met Brad, and he is the only man I have ever been with. I loved him, but he was about as romantic as a fence post.” She shrugged. “I learned to live without the fireworks.”

“You shouldn’t have. Didn’t you talk about it with him?”

“Oh yeah. One time we had this huge argument about it. He said I knew how he was before I married him, and he was right. I did, but I thought once we got married, I could get him to loosen up a little. He never did. He didn’t like me… taking the lead, I guess you could say. He didn’t like me on top and oral sex was a big no.” She looked at Maverick and blinked back tears. “I loved him, I did.”

“Who are you trying to convince?” Maverick murmured.

“I suppose myself. After Ronnie was born, we drifted apart. He spent all his time with Ronnie. I’m not complaining about that because I loved my son, and I wanted him to have a good relationship with his father. So many men don’t for some reason. I miss Ronnie terribly, but that’s all Brad was interested in. He wanted to be a good father.”

“He needed to be a good husband, Parker.”

“I know. After a while, we rarely had sex. I hate talking about him like this,” she said and covered her face with her hands. Maverick lowered her hands and she looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

“Maybe you need to. Get it out, Parker. You’ve been holding this in for five years, maybe more, and it needs to be said.” He cupped her face in his hands. “You need to say it. Tell me about the accident. Start there. I know it’s painful…”

“It will always be painful, but it’s easier to talk about now,” she said, taking a deep breath and blowing it out before continuing. “Brad and Ronnie were going camping. They were heading out of town, sitting at a light, when a seventeen-year-old girl came driving down the street toward them.” Her hands shook as she spoke. “She was going seventy miles an hour in a thirty-five-mile zone and hit our SUV head-on.”

Parker closed her eyes, trying to block out the memories as they flooded back. “She was drunk. Seventeen years old and drunk,” she repeated bitterly. “She was at a local bar and had a fake ID, so she drank so much, she could barely stand, let alone drive. Of course, she didn’t get a scratch on her.” She looked at Maverick with tears in her eyes.

“She didn’t even know she’d hit a car. Brad died instantly, but Ronnie lived for two days.” Parker’s voice broke and she took a shaky breath. “I buried them together in our hometown in Oregon. I stayed in Oklahoma for the girl’s trial. I wanted her to see me and know the pain she caused me.” She shook her head sadly. “Then I never returned to Oklahoma again. There are too many memories there for me now.”

Maverick reached out and gently touched her hand in sympathy. “I know what it’s like to lose someone, but not a child,” he said softly.

“I could never explain it to you,” Parker replied with a sad smile. “There are no words that express even a fraction of what I went through burying my child. It is the worst pain I have ever experienced, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” She shook her head again, trying to clear the haunting memories. “Ronnie would be thirteen now. A teenager. He was such a boy.” She chuckled through her tears. “He loved all sports and if you wanted to keep him quiet, you took him fishing and camping. They were so close. Don’t get me wrong, I was devastated by both deaths, but my child…”

“What happened to the girl?” Maverick asked, his voice full of anger and disgust.

“She was charged with vehicular homicide. She was fined and received a prison sentence. Since she was under the influence and driving recklessly, she got a much harsher sentence, and she was charged as an adult.”

“I hope the bar was charged with something for serving her,” Maverick said firmly.

“They were,” Parker confirmed. “They tried to say that since she had a fake ID, they shouldn’t be held responsible, but they were found to be at fault since they kept serving her. I sued the bar and won, but it didn’t bring my son back.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Maverick said.

“Thank you,” Parker replied with a sad smile. “It took me a long time to even function after that. I was going to divorce Brad. I felt so guilty when he died.”

“It wasn’t your fault. Did he know you were going to divorce him?”

“Yes. I told him I couldn’t live like that anymore. That weekend was when he was killed.”

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