Million-Dollar Maverick

He cleared his throat. “Is there anything I can get you?”

Faith looked up at him, big blue eyes so calm. “I didn’t know, about you and Callie....” He had no idea what to say to that, so he said nothing. He’d known Faith forever, been five years ahead of her in school. He used to hang out with her older brother Stan. She pinched up her mouth at him and added sternly, “You treat her right, Nate Crawford. She deserves the best.”

He gave her a slow nod, figuring that was the easiest way to get off the subject of Callie and him and what might be going on between them.

Faith softened toward him then and granted him a gentle little smile. “What you can do is go to the kitchen and get me some ice chips.”

“Ice chips,” he repeated.

“That’s right. Metal bowl in the high cupboard on the right of the sink, ice pick in the drawer to the left of the stove. Break up some ice into small chips for me. It helps, to suck on the chips, keeps me hydrated.”

Relieved to have something constructive to do, he left her.

Callie came in as he was breaking up the ice. She stopped for a moment in the open doorway to the hall. “Ice chips. Good.” She gave him a smile. She had a purple rolling canvas bag, like the largest size of carry-on suitcase, with a stylized logo of a mother and child on the front. “Just bring them in when they’re nice and small.”

“Will do.” He kept poking with the ice pick.

She turned and wheeled her midwife suitcase off down the hall.

When he took them the ice chips, Callie met him at the door. “Thanks,” she said softly. “We’ve got it from here.”

Did she want him to go back to his house? Well, he wasn’t. If something went wrong, at least he would be there to take them wherever they needed to go. “I’ll just...wait in the other room, keep the fire going. Anything you need, you give me a holler.”

She nodded. “Maybe more ice chips later.”

“Whatever you need, you just let me know.”

He went back to the kitchen and stood at the sink, gulping down a tall glass of water, and then wandered into the living room to check on the fire in the heat stove. After that, he had no idea what to do with himself.