“Yes! Uncle Mav is the best.”
My eyes meet Maverick’s, and he’s looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face. It’s stuck somewhere between happy and confused, like he can’t quite figure out what he’s feeling.
I can’t figure out what I’m feeling either, because seeing him with a kid in his arms and loving on her does something to my insides.
It makes an image of five, ten years down the road pop in my head. A big house with a big yard. Bikes in the driveway and Maverick on a porch, his arms crossed over his chest and the world’s most beautiful smile.
“He is the best,” I agree, and I shake the daydream away.
“Do you want a drink? She’s barely going to make it past midnight, and I’m going to put her to bed as soon as the ball drops.”
“Are you drinking?”
“Nah. I stay sober when I’m watching her. My little monster can be a handful, and I like to have my wits about me when I’m in charge.” Maverick tickles June’s sides, and she screeches. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I watch the two of them, and instead of feeling like an outsider, I feel included. Part of their little group when June reaches for me and Maverick hands her over. When we sit on the couch and he drapes his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close. When we get to the five-minute countdown and June bounces on my lap.
I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“June Bug, do you know what a resolution is?” Maverick asks, and she shakes her head. “It’s when you pick something you’re going to try to do for a whole year. It can be something big or something small. Like, my resolutions are that I’m going totry to cook more meals at home and do one in-person volunteer outing a month.”
“I want to learn to ride a bike,” she declares. “Crystal brought her bike to show and tell and it’s pink.”
“Whoa.” Maverick pops his mouth open in surprise, but something tells me he’s heard this story before. “A pink bike? How cool is that? We’ll have to talk to the bosses, but I’m sure they’ll be on board. You’ll be zipping around here in no time, kid.” He nudges me. “What about you, Red? What’s your resolution?”
“I want to start thinking about making DC a permanent stop. I want to find an apartment and go to the same coffee shop on the weekends. I want to try out the farmers’ market when the weather gets nice. I want to enjoy where I am and not look for the next thing for once.”
The words rush out of me, and until he asked, I wasn’t surewhatmy resolution was going to be.
I didn’t think I had one.
Seeing the way my friends are living their lives, though, makes me want to give it a try.
It’s scary to think I’m going to root myself somewhere and leave a piece of myself behind… but I’m ready.
“Yeah?” Maverick’s smile rivals the sun, and I want to bottle it up. Keep it for when my days get dark and gray, a reminder of how much good is left in the world. “I really like the sound of you being around long term.”
“That doesn’t mean that we have to continue our arrangement or anything,” I add, because I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. Like I’m doing this forhim.
“And if I want to continue our arrangement?” he asks, soft enough so June can’t hear us. “What if I want to figure out how you take your coffee? See what plants you buy for your place and make fun of you for sleeping with eight blankets?”
I lick my lips. “I’d like that very much.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“Ten!” June yells, and I glance at the television. Confetti falls from the sky, and “Auld Lang Syne” starts to play. “Nine! Eight!”
“Happy New Year, pretty boy,” I whisper, and he rests his hand on the back of my neck. His touch is an anchor on my skin, and I blow out a breath.
“Two! One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!” June yells, and she blows on a streamer.
“Happy New Year, Emmy girl,” he murmurs low and rough, and he crashes his lips against mine. It’s brief, hardly anything like we do when we’re together in bed, but that same bolt of electricity runs through me. “I think this is going to be the best year yet.”
THIRTY-FOUR
MAVERICK
“June is asleep.She wanted me to tell you she really liked you, and she can’t wait for you to come back and hang out again soon.” I lean against my bedroom wall and smile at Emerson. “You got the stamp of approval, Red.”
