Page 10 of Coming Home to Maverick

Chapter 4

Bailey paced in the barn long after Maverick left. He’d changed in some ways, but he was still the same Maverick, the man who could drive her crazy with desire. He was the good one, the smart one, the responsible one. He was always the one everyone in town looked to.

If she had a problem, he swooped in and solved it. Only, this time, he might be just as much of a mess as she was. He’d barely kept his anger reined in. This volatile side of Maverick was completely new. And there was a strange desperation in his eyes. Where he had once approached the world like it was a tool in his hands, he now waited with worry for what might happen next. She could see the vulnerability in his face.

She’d done that to him. If he never forgave her, she wouldn’t blame him one bit.

She’d tried life without him, and she couldn’t hack it. And here she was, dragging her sorry butt back to Willow Creek. She squeezed her eyes closed so tight she thought her eyelashes would break. Facing her guilt for all the wrong she’d done to Maverick was too much. Running and pretending like it had never happened had been easy, in a horribly hard kind of way. She’d never have come back if not for Gracie Faith. And she couldn’t run forever. And hiding didn’t make anything right. The small part of her heart that remembered Sunday School told her that. She needed to make things right.

When she thought of how happy her little girl was with her mom and dad, being loved on from every direction, safe, with enough food to eat, she knew she’d made a good choice.

But those weren’t the only reasons she’d come. She owed some major explanations to Maverick. A part of her hoped that there was the tiniest chance he would forgive her. She had no hopes they’d get back together, not with Gracie Faith in the picture. He might try to step in and help them, but she didn’t want to be another project for Maverick Dawson.

She wanted his friendship, but only if he wanted to be in her life, not because he felt sorry for her. And maybe, just maybe, if he forgave, her, God might too. She shuddered, thinking of all she’d done that was wrong. And not just wrong for her, wrong for her little girl. How did that work with God? She couldn’t make these five years right. She couldn’t make it right that she’d given Gracie a man who didn’t care about them for a Daddy. She closed her eyes against her thoughts, pushing them into their familiar place in her brain, far far away.

When she went back into the house, her parents’ gaze followed her, but she said nothing. They finished up the evening saying very little. Even Gracie noticed and played quietly in her room. The air felt heavy, and only her determination to stay in Willow Creek for Gracie’s sake kept Bailey from running.

The next day, they woke early to head over to the fairgrounds. Bailey caught some excitement from Gracie. Her daughter had never seen a county fair. And especially not a Texas county fair. Bailey grinned. “We are gonna have to see what they’re deep-frying this year.”

“What’s deep-fry?”

Her own child didn’t know what a fair deep-fry was. “Oh, it’s a special way of cooking things, and every year, they deep-fry something unusual, and that’s what makes it exciting.”

“Unusual? Like what?”

Bailey had to wrack her brain for some crazy examples. “Well, like there’s always deep-fried bacon. Or one year, it was Twinkies. I didn’t much care for peanut butter sandwiches deep-fried, but the pickles were good.”

Gracie’s nose wrinkled. And Bailey had to laugh. Gracie was the least adventurous eater she’d ever heard of. “Don’t worry. Deep-frying makes everything taste good.”

“Really?”

“That’s what Grandpa says.”

“Okay, then I’m gonna try it.”

When they walked in through the front gates, Gracie was still talking about it. And while Bailey was laughing with her about the possibility of deep-fried popsicles, they ran into one of the Dawson brothers. They stumbled and almost tripped over themselves. Not the impression Bailey was going for in front of the Dawson clan.

He held his hands out to steady them both. “Whoa now, ladies. Are you all right?” His eyes swept over them both in a friendly manner.

“Yes, thank you.” She squinted her eyes and studied him. “You’re a Dawson, and I know it’s been a while…”

He tipped his hat. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Nash?”

“The very one. And now I’m going to have to know your name.”

“Nash, it has been too long if we don’t recognize each other. I’m Bailey, and this is my daughter, Gracie Faith.”

His eyes widened, but to his credit, that was the only response he gave to what must have been astonishing news. “Well now, it’s good to see you again, Bailey.”

Gracie smiled at him. “I like your name. Nash.” She tested it out in her mouth. “Naa-aash.”

He tipped his head, giving a signature Dawson smile. “And now I like it even better. Thank you for letting me know.”

“I knew Nash when he was a little boy just as old as you are. The last time I saw him, he was in high school.” She eyed him, standing above them, as broad as his brothers. “And much smaller.”

“You used to be little like me?” Gracie’s head was tipped all the way back, looking up into his face.

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