Chapter Twenty-one

Maverick

Today marks exactly two weeks since the last day I saw Beth.

I spent the entire evening after I found out about my uncle’s deception begging Abby and Sky and anyone else at the BA to give me an address or a number where I could reach Beth.

She deserves to know what happened. She needs to know the truth.

Finally, with Tyler’s help, Abby gave in.

I pull up in front of a small ranch-style home with a single-car garage. It’s a faded green with a forest green color for the trim. The grass is dead and there is one tree in the front yard.

I walk up to the door, pausing before I knock when I hear the sound of two women laughing.

I hate to interrupt a good moment, but I’m done waiting to have Beth back in my life.

“One second,” Beth’s sweet voice hollers through the door at my knock. I hear her approaching and step back, shoulders back and head held high.

“Maverick,” she says with shock. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you,” I tell her, although that much is obvious. A wide smile stretches across her face.

“Come in,” she says. “I’ll make us some tea.” The soft words from a voice I’ve missed the past couple of weeks pulls me in. I follow her into the living room.

“Beth, I—”

“Maverick, this is my mother, June. Mom, this is Maverick,” Beth introduces us as she continues to the kitchen.

“Ah, this is him, huh?” June rolls her eyes at me and stands from her spot on the couch. “If my daughter gives you another chance and you hurt her again, I will break you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I say, but she is already past me, headed toward the hallway.

“Here.” Beth hands me a white mug and takes her mother’s spot on the couch, one leg tucked under the other.

“How are you?” I ask.

“Maverick, small talk, really?”

Setting the cup on the table and sitting next to her I say, “No, I suppose not.”

I sigh, clearly picking up my father’s habits, and run my hands over my face.

“Maverick, just spit it out.”

“It was my uncle. All of it. I’m assuming Austin helped, but it was Bart.”

“What?”

“He was the one who sent the email from my account and the one from yours, and he is the one who deleted the presentation. He was struggling to accept my advancement in the company.”

“Wow.”

I scoot closer to her and take her hand. “I hope you know I would never—”

“I know,” she cuts me off.

“Beth, these past couple of weeks have been the most painful days of my life. My life without you, it’s not right.”

She squeezes her hand in mine.

“It’s not easy for me to admit when I’m wrong, but it’s very clear in our situation that I may have overreacted. I should have let you speak the day everything blew up in the office. I should have answered at least one of your calls when you tried to reach me. I made a lot of mistakes.” She pauses. “And I’m learning. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with. I know I have always had this image of what relationships are like, but … you changed that view for me.”

“How could I change your view if we still ended up apart?”

“You changed it because every day that we aren’t together, I feel like I’m going to die if I don’t see your face, feel your touch, or hear your voice.”

My chest swells, and for the first time in the last month, I feel my heart race again.

“Let’s give this one more chance,” I say.

“Maverick, I know what I just said, but—”

“Don’t think about what could happen. Don’t think about what has happened to other people. I made mistakes, too, but I swear to you I have learned and I will be better. I know because everything you just said, I feel it too. Don’t give up on us. I love you, Beth.”

“I’m scared,” she whispers as I wipe away the tear that has fallen over her cheek.

“Me, too. But only of losing you.”

“So, you want it all?” she asks.

“A real try,” I say. “All in—exclusive and everyone knows about us. My family, your family, all our friends. This time, we do this the right way.”

Her silence freezes my heart as I wait.

“Okay,” is the only word she’s able to speak before I have her face in my hands and my lips pushed against hers.

God, I’ve missed her.

“I never thought I would live in Montana, let alone in Colorado,” she says and I laugh.

“I didn’t take the job in Colorado,” I tell her.

“You didn’t? Are you two …?”

“We’re good. He’s actually looking forward to the day where he can officially meet you and apologize for everything that happened.”

“Well, I look forward to the day when we can all forget this.”

“Me too, babe, me too.”

“So did they offer you the job in Wind Valley?”

“No, they offered it to Austin.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, but then my dad and I reviewed the tapes to find the real answers and we got more than we wanted. You are now looking at the new, vice president of Mitchell Marketing.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it looks like I’ll be staying in Wind Valley.” I pull her in for a kiss. “And you know, now that my uncle and cousin are gone, there is another position to fill. It’s yours if you want it.”

“Maverick.”

“I’m serious.”

“Well, that’s awfully sweet of you, but I got a job.”

“You did? With who?”

“With TACM.”

“That’s amazing, but you know you are always welcome at MM.”

“I think we both know that working together isn’t the best idea.”

I kiss her forehead.

As long as I have her, she can work wherever she wants.