He laughed. “I’m slow. Or as my grandmother said, I’m an idiot. I didn’t see you loved me when she said everyone else could see it.”
“I guess I’m an idiot too because I didn’t see that you loved me either. Which is nuts because I see how you look at Mav and it’s the same way you look at me when you think I’m not paying attention.”
What a fool she’d been.
If she’d noticed before today she could have said something and saved them both this fight.
But sometimes you need to have a breakdown in communication to repair it for the future.
He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. “Can we move past this? I don’t want to fight. I just want to go back to how we were. I like what we’ve got. I want more of it. I want to learn from you. I want my son to see what a normal family looks like. Not who is the provider, who has more, who works harder at a job, but how we work as a unit.”
“Are you doing it for Maverick, you, or us?”
“All the above. It can be that way, right? But I wouldn’t stay with someone just for my son. Because if I’m not happy, he won’t be. Just like if you aren’t happy, we won’t be either.”
Exactly the answer she wanted.
“It can be that way,” she said. “Because I want to be happy too. Happy with you!”
EPILOGUE
Three Months Later
“Onlytwo more eggs left to find,” Jocelyn said. “Where could they be, Maverick?”
Chance watched Maverick run around her condo looking for eggs that he’d hidden the night before.
This time next year, they’d be looking for them in the new house that broke ground a few weeks ago.
When she was looking at home designs, he’d kept most of his opinions to himself. She asked his opinions and he often said he didn’t care, which he didn’t. He wasn’t fussy about those things. All he wanted was them to be together.
“Mav,” he said. “Doesn’t that cushion look funny?”
His son ran to the chair cushion he was pointing to, his footed pajamas still on, his dark hair standing in all directions.
They’d bathe and dress him after breakfast and Jocelyn would make sure his hair was combed perfectly.
Maverick threw the chair’s pillow off and found it. He held it up in his hands. “Egg, egg.”
“What color is it?” Jocelyn asked.
“Blue,” Maverick said.
His son was catching on fast, relief over that at least.
Baylee’s trial ended last week and she was sentenced to three years in jail because of the quantity of drugs she’d had on her. That was a few years of peace in his mind and that was how he was going to take it for now.
“Good job,” he said.
A minute later, his son found his last egg. Then they brought out a big Easter basket and let him pull out coloring books, crayons, puzzles, cars, and a little bit of candy.
“I’m going to make breakfast now that all the excitement is done.”
She had no clue that it wasn’t.
Chance made sure that Maverick was playing, then went to the kitchen with her to help.
Jocelyn pulled the pan out and bread, then milk and eggs. When she opened the carton to get the eggs there was another plastic one in there.
