‘Good choice.’ Nina started flipping through the recipe book, hoping she’d find the recipe. She saw recipes for potato salad, beef stroganoff, and pineapple upside down cake. She even saw one for something calledBombe Alaskaand promised herself she’d google what it was later.
When she found the chocolate chip cookie recipe, she saw the smudges on the pages and noted the slightly faded ink. ‘Do you guys make these often?’
‘Yeah, they’re my favourite,’ Poppy replied.
Nina scanned the ingredients. ‘Let’s check we have everything before we start.’
Maverick frowned when he walked into Sierra’s office at the resort and found her white as a ghost, a single piece of paper in her hand. ‘Sierra?’
‘Did you know about this?’ she asked quietly and passed him the paper.
Maverick knew what it was before he even looked down to confirm it. ‘Yeah, I knew.’
Still, he felt the blow as surely as Sierra had. He supposed he’d started hoping that Benji would change his mind and stay.
‘Benji wanted to tell you himself. And I think he had that right.’
‘You’re mybrother, Maverick. You’re supposed to be onmyside.’
He could see those cracks forming in the dam wall, growing wider with every second that passed. Her eyes flooded, and though she tried to resist the tears, once the first one fell, the rest followed.
He knew it was time, but he hated that he couldn’t help, couldn’t do more to take the pain away from his little sister. He rounded the desk, wrapped her trembling body in his arms, and he said, ‘Honey, if I was on his side, I wouldn’t let him leave at all.’
‘Oh God.’ The sob that tore from her had him bracing his own body against the violent shudders.
Mav didn’t hush her. He didn’t tell her it would be okay because he knew how heavy those empty promises landed. He held her, his hand circling her back for minutes until she calmed.
When she finally took a huge breath and stepped back, her puffy, red eyes hit him like a punch to the stomach. And when she started to apologize, he stopped her with one hand. ‘Don’t. You’re allowed to be sad. Confused.’
‘Am I?’ she asked and plucked a tissue from her drawer. She dabbed her eyes, wiping away smudges of mascara. ‘I was the one who ended things,’ she reminded him.
‘You did what you had to do to survive,’ Mav said quietly. ‘To move on. Do you think Benji doesn’t know that?’
‘I hate myself for hating him.’ She sat down heavily and stared at her dark computer screen. ‘Every time I snap at him or say something hurtful, I hate myself for it. And, still, I can’t seem to stop. Every time I look at him, I …’ She shook her head.
Maverick wanted to tell her that she didn’t hate him, and that she only needed to keep that distance between her and Benji because she knew in her heart that he was the only one who understood – whoshared– her pain. Pain that she wasn’t ready to face yet. But he didn’t. Some things people needed to unpack themselves.
Sierra picked up the piece of paper again. ‘Two weeks. He gave me two weeks’ notice. Came in here and spoke to me like I was nothing but his employer, said he’d received an offer he couldn’t refuse.
‘And I said, “Okay.”’ She released a watery laugh. ‘And now all I can think is that it’s the strangest thing to have no words for a man you’ve known your entire life and loved for over half of it.’
‘Sometimes you don’t need words. Sometimes a person knows your heart enough to know everything you want to say but can’t.’
Sierra laughed sadly. ‘You’re getting sentimental in your old age, Mav.’
‘Maybe. Or maybe I’ve known both of you your entire lives, too.’
Taking a chance, he pulled out the chair opposite her desk and sat. ‘Do you know when Benji asked for my permission to marry you, I asked him why? I told him, “If you’re only doing it because she’s pregnant, don’t.” I suppose I knew from experience how wrong that could go.’
Sierra didn’t look at him, but he knew she was listening.
‘Benji just laughed, and he said, “You know it’s always been her, even when you pretended not to.”’
‘Whydidit bother you so much?’
‘You started chasing him when you were fifteen!’ Mav laughed, remembering how Sierra had hounded his best friend. ‘You were a kid. Benji was twenty. He was too old for you – and he thought so too.’
‘Maybe,’ she ceded. ‘But I made him think about it plenty.’
