My lips twistat his reply. Even if I’m new to hockey, I know about sports teams, and I definitely know about fandoms. The way Mav is being treated right now is starting to make all of Mav Nation angry.
Dove
You never hog the spotlight. You’re a team player, and you’re a star. This new coach needs to get his head out of his ass. The girls and I are ready to start a letter-writing campaign.
Maverick
Easy tiger. I appreciate the protective outrage, but I’m a big boy. I can take being on the bench if it helps the team. So far we’ve been winning.
Dove
You should be on the ice all the time at every game.
Maverick
As much as I appreciate this, I want to hear how you’re becoming a star in the world of plant pathology.
Huffing a laugh, I glance around the room at all the professors and PhD students. Even a few farmers attend the conference, but the majority of faces in the room are men.
Dove
I have a lot to learn, but at least I’m not the only woman at the table. I am in the minority, though.
Maverick
Can you use it to your advantage?
Dove
How so?
Maverick
Attract attention, get more eyes on your work. Be a voice.
Dove
Interesting take. I’ll need to learn more if I’m going to command attention like that. For now, I’m a fly on the wall.
Maverick
A butterfly on the wall.
Rolling my eyes, I snort a laugh. Dr. Smithfield waves at me, and I know it’s my cue to dim the lights. He’s making a presentation on root grafting, and I need to learn more about the topic. I send Mav a quick goodbye and silence my phone.
12
MAVERICK
Lying on Dove’s bed, I watch the lights change colors on the ceiling. Gina left behind a cube lamp, and Kelani is curled up on my chest asleep. As the cycle of blue, yellow, peach, and gold hues shifts, I wonder what Dove is doing right now.
It’s been almost two weeks since we were together, and everything reminds me of her. Four blue boxes of mac & cheese are in the cabinet downstairs. A new bag of coffee is on the counter, and a vase of flowers is in the middle of the dining table.
They were here when I got back from Texas, and they’re starting to wilt. I have no idea how to keep them alive until she gets back. I don’t even know where she got them. I quickly pull out my phone, asking Siri to send over a fresh bouquet.
Turning my head, I inhale the delicious scent of light coconut, peaches and rose. It’s like a day at the beach with a basket of peaches on the side.
I don’t know how her mom created this scent, but it’s every memory I’ve ever made with Dove in a single inhale. From the first time I laid eyes on her at that silly pageant to the afternoon we walked together in the orchard to the night at the bar, when she held my arm and told June I wasn’t going anywhere with her… to six days ago, when I carried her suitcase down the stairs and loaded it into the back of a car taking her away from me.
