Page 56 of Coming Home to Maverick

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?”

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