Page 14 of The Maverick’s Legacy

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The crowd around Jesse went wild as Tenacity High’s football team scored another touchdown. He didn’t notice the score. He was too busy watching Oscar. His son stood off to the side of the rest of the team, holding water bottles ready to hand out if anyone asked. No one did. Either the boys on the team were too engrossed in the game or they were too busy flirting with the cheerleaders. Coach Finn finally called out to Oscar, and his son hurried over to the man.

“You breathing over there?” Grayson joked.

Jesse turned to see Grayson and JenniLynn staring at him. JenniLynn’s youngest daughter, Hallie, bounced on her lap while her other daughters, Lila and Sasha, played on the bench next to her. Grayson’s son, Adam, was the only one watching the game.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Jesse answered.

“Finn’s keeping an eye on him,” JenniLynn assured him.

Sure enough, the coach said something close to Oscar’s ear before patting him on the back. Jesse wasn’t sure what the exchange was about, but Oscar perked up, his shoulders straightening before he pointed toward the field. His son looked happy in that moment, and the strain in Jesse’s shoulders loosened.

He glanced at the scoreboard and realized it was almost halftime. He could understand the excitement in the air. The home team was crushing it.

Jesse leaned back on his palms and glanced around. He straightened when he noticed Carly Hawkins in the section over. He’d been so focused on making sure Oscar was okay that he hadn’t even realized the woman who’d been taking up most of his brain cells since he met her was right near him.

As if feeling his eyes on her, Carly glanced over. Her eyes widened when she realized he was staring. His hand seemed to raise of its own accord and started to wave at her like a lunatic before he forced it back down. She smiled before turning to listen to the woman who was speaking adamantly beside her.

“Uncle Jesse, you’re being super cringe,” JenniLynn’s oldest daughter, Lila, said.

Jesse winced. “Yeah, I know.”

He forced himself to watch the marching band, who was now on the field since it was officially halftime. The instruments were bright and shiny under the stadium lights, distracting the attendees from how awful they sounded. Oscar had gone off to the locker room with the rest of the team. Jesse couldn’t resist looking at Carly again. The woman in front of her was turned almost fully around, talking fast. Carly shook her head, her lips pursing.

“Isn’t that the woman who gave you a pie the other day?” Grayson asked.

“Yeah,” Jesse muttered.

“Oh! That’s the Hawkins sister. She just moved here,” JenniLynn said. “I think her name is Caroline. No, Cassidy. No—”

“Carly,” Jesse corrected.

“That’s right.” JenniLynn leaned over to get a better look at the group across the way. “She’s beautiful. Are you planning on giving her heart-eyes from a distance all night, or are you going to do something about it?”

“What?” Jesse jerked his gaze back to his family. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

JenniLynn gave him a no-nonsense look.

“We’re saying go ask the woman out,” Grayson said. He gave Jesse a shove. “Go on.”

“What? Now?” Jesse said, low-key panicking. He’d been planning what he’d say to Carly if he ever ran into her again. Something smooth that would immediately have her falling head over heels for him. Because while his brain couldn’t let go of what she did for a living, his heart was reminding him of something else—that he still had one. He knew that for a fact because every time he thought of the woman lately, the organ beat harder in his chest. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t think of a single pickup line he’d had memorized.

“Go on,” JenniLynn encouraged, “before someone else gets to her first.”

Jesse’s gaze shot back to Carly. Sure enough, there were about four cowboys surrounding her, eyeing her up.

Oh hell no.

Jesse jumped to his feet and made his way through the crowd. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the woman.

Carly wasn’t wearing her cowgirl hat tonight. Her long brown hair was piled into a bun on top of her head with loose strands framing her face. Under the stadium lighting, he could pick out coppery undertones. He was half tempted to reach out and trace them with his fingers.

“Hi, Jesse,” Carly said when he continued to stand there like a man whose brain left the building.

“Hi,” he practically shouted, inwardly wincing when her family turned to stare at him with varying looks of disbelief, amusement, and judgment—the latter especially on the faces of the women. “I, um, I noticed you and thought I should do the neighborly thing and say hello.”

She smiled, and he was struck dumb again. “I appreciate that. How was the pie?”