Page 80 of The Cupcake Cottage

“We need to talk.”

Daisy-Mae hated that phrase. So much.

“I know.” She dropped the serving spoon into the container of bean salad a little too hard and stormed out the kitchen door with her plate, sending a gray cat scurrying away. Once outside, Daisy-Mae didn’t know where she was supposed to go, and she slowed, waiting for Maverick.

He appeared a moment later and gestured toward the barn.

“I don’t want to eat in the barn.”

“There’s a nice view just behind it.” He had a fuzzy, cream-colored blanket slung over his arm. Wonderful for cozying under while watching a movie, but absolutely horrible for using as a picnic blanket. They’d surely ruin it. She thought about pointing out the error of his choice but decided that since he was trying, she needed to sit back and see where it took them.

Maverick led her to a small knoll that was dotted with wild strawberry plants. In a few months the hill would be speckledwith the tiny red bombs of flavor. And right now they had a stupendous view of a field of early blooming bluebells.

Maverick spread out the blanket, and Daisy-Mae sat beside him. The view was gorgeous. Despite the setting sun, the day was still warm enough to sit without getting a chill.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy and have had to cancel on you so many times. I realized, like you said outside the Longhorn that day, that you’re the one doing all the bending. And because you helped me get here, and had been in pageants, I sort of assumed you were well-versed in fame and attention and being busy.”

“It’s just been so overwhelming and sudden. I’m notnotokay with it. At least on some levels,” she said carefully.

“But?”

“It feels like I’m not a priority. It feels like you’re always dropping me and assuming I’ll be here waiting for you, no matter what. Like I’m a loyal dog who’s happy with any drop of your attention.” She could hear the hurt in her voice, and she hated herself for it.

“Daisy-Mae, you’re not.”

“I know!” She blinked back the sudden wetness in her eyes. “I know that.”

“I’ve been working hard and saying yes to everything because I thought it was what you wanted me to do.”

“But it’s your career! Not mine. I’m not the boss of you.”

“I thought you wanted this for us. It was the goal.”

“To never be around each other? I’m not like my parents. Iwaited, Maverick. I waited for a really long time to find a love like ours. I didn’t settle and I’m not about to start now.”

“So enough is enough?” he asked, his concentration on his chicken.

She fought back tears, worried that he was angling toward her worst fear. But that would mean that everyone had been wrong about setting boundaries and telling him what sheneeded. And if you couldn’t do those two things with the man you loved, then what good was their relationship?

“I wanted the world to see you the way I do,” she said softly.

They had put their meals aside, frustration and hurt flowing off them both.

“But now everyone wants a piece of you, and there’s nothing left for me.”

Maverick shifted closer, carefully setting her hands in his. “You were the one who was always there for me. When nobody else was. You saw the truth. You saw me.” He slowly leaned forward so he was in her line of sight. “I would quit hockey, Daisy-Mae. But I wouldn’t quit you.”

Tears came out of nowhere, spilling over in a torrent. “That’s not true,” she whispered. Hockey was his everything.

“It is true.” He shifted so he was facing her, his body pressed against hers. “You’re the most important thing to me. I got caught up in it all, but I want you to know this one very important thing.”

He paused long enough that she said, “Okay.”

“You say I quit, then I quit.”

“Mav! I’d never!”

“You call the shots. You’re my captain. You’re my first team. Always and forever.”

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