A Maverick To (Re)Marry

Games and activities. That was all she and Derek had to handle. And Eva and Luke were counting on them to do it up right.

Really, she would not allow a single tear to fall. Annoyance was what she felt right now. Annoyance and exasperation that Derek Dalton kept putting off the job they’d both agreed to do.

Down the hall in the bathroom, she washed her face free of every bit of the makeup she’d so carefully applied. She raked her hair up into a ponytail and changed into old jeans, a white T-shirt edged in lace that had seen better days and a worn pair of Converse high-tops.

Then, in her room again, she sat at her computer and spent half an hour brainstorming ideas for the party. When that got old, she logged in at work.

Around eight, she started getting antsy. Grabbing her phone, she went downstairs. Eva and Luke had gone to Jamie and Fallon’s for dinner, so she had the house to herself for the evening. She should fix a sandwich or something.

But she didn’t really feel hungry.

She wandered out to the front porch and perched on the step. Her phone was synced to her computer. She brought up the list for the party to jot down a few more ideas just as a red pickup rolled into the yard.

Derek. Her pulse started racing and her heart seemed to expand in her chest.

He stopped not far from the foot of the steps and got out. “Hey, pretty girl.” He swept off his hat. His hair was damp, his cheeks freshly shaved. He wore dark-wash jeans and a crisp snap-front shirt.

She was really glad to see him and that irritated her no end. Sticking her phone in her back pocket, she challenged, “I thought you had fences to deal with.”

“I did. We had three sections of fence down, cows and calves loose all over the place. But we rounded them up and drove them back where they belonged, fixing fences as we went. When we got to the last fence, Eli said he could handle the rest.” Eli was his brother. “I left him to it, cleaned up fast and came right over here in hopes I might still have a chance at that non-date you promised me.”

She scowled down at her old T-shirt and busted out jeans. “Do I look like I’m ready for a visit to the local resort?”

His gorgeous mouth twitched at one corner. She knew damn well he was trying not to smile. “Aw, Amy.”

“What?” she demanded, feeling sour as a pile of lemons.

“You’re all grown-up now, but in some ways, you’re still the same girl I remember.”

Now her chest felt tight, like a bunch of sweet memories had gotten trapped in there, leaving no room for breath. She narrowed her eyes and pinched her mouth at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You never would go anywhere without your hair just so and your makeup just right.”

She sat up straighter. He wasn’t getting to her. No way. “I like to make a good impression. Something wrong with that?”

“Not a thing.” He put his hat to his heart. “I’m sorry, okay? That I didn’t call you all week, that tonight got messed up. But when you work cattle, fences go down and you just have to deal with it.”

“I know that.”

“So then, what’s really bugging you is that I didn’t call earlier in the week like I said I would?”

She wrapped her arms around her knees, braced her chin on them and considered blowing off his question. But where would that get them? A little honesty never hurt and she might as well at least try to clear the air between them. After all, he’d asked. “Yeah. You said you’d get in touch and you didn’t. And then tonight, at the last possible minute, you called it off. It’s like you’re messing with me or something.”

“I’m not.”

“And I’m not sure I believe you. I mean, whatever happened in the past, that was then. We need to get over it.”

“I know that, Amy.” He regarded her solemnly.

“We have a job to do, Derek.” Did she sound whiny? Well, why shouldn’t she? She certainly felt whiny. “People we care about are counting on us.”

“You’re right.” He took a step closer and spoke in a rough whisper. “You want the truth from me?”

Did she? Really? She wasn’t sure. But she had too much pride to back down now. “Yes, I do. Tell me the truth, Derek Dalton.”

“I didn’t call all week because I kept thinking of the past, you know? Of you and me and everything that went down. I didn’t trust myself to call you. After everything we were to each other once, I felt like I was going to end up blowing it, saying something way out of line to you. I don’t want to do that. And so, I put off calling you.”

That hurt. On a lot of levels. But the truth was like that sometimes. “It’s not that easy for me, either,” she confessed in a small voice.

He stood there in the fading light of day, just looking at her with those green eyes she still sometimes saw in her dreams. “Amy?”

“Yeah?”

“You mind if I come up there on the porch with you?”

By way of an answer, she scooted over and patted the empty space beside her. He came up the steps, hooked his hat on the finial at the end of the porch rail and plunked down next to her. She got a whiff of his scent—soap and clean skin. All manly and fresh and much too well-remembered.

“I...go back and forth,” she said.

He frowned. “About?”

She refused to let her gaze waver. “What to say to you. I mean, we did kind of leave it hanging, didn’t we?”

His eyes had shadows in them now. “You sent me the papers and I signed them. Nothing left hanging about that.”

“Derek, you told me to go.”

“You wanted to go.”

She shut her eyes and turned away. “We shouldn’t even be talking about this. I mean, what’s the point, really?”

There was a silence, one full of all the things she wasn’t sure how to say—didn’t really believe she even should say.

Finally, he spoke. “How ’bout this?” His voice was gentle now. Coaxing. “Let’s start with the picnic.”

“There’s a picnic?” She faced him again. “What picnic?”

“Well, when I called, you didn’t seem happy about my breaking our non-date.”

“I wasn’t happy. Not in the least.”

“So, I figured I needed a backup plan. I decided if you wouldn’t come out to the Manor with me now, I would put on my pitiful face and say, ‘Then how ’bout a picnic, Amy?’ Because it just so happens I have one all ready to go in the truck.” He looked at her hopefully.

“Is that it?”

“Is what it?”

She waved a hand in a circle around his face. “Is that your pitiful face?”