Page 24 of The Maverick’s Legacy

Not that she was ashamed or ungrateful for the legacy that she had with her family. But was it wrong to want to have something for herself? More importantly, it’d be something that could really help a kid who was feeling as desperate and lonely as she had once been.

As Carly walked down the steps, her mind went back to her conversation with Jesse. That date had been one of the best ones she had ever been on. It wasn’t anything outrageous. Her ex’s idea of a date was to go skydiving or do something that would surely get the paparazzi’s attention.

Her date with Jesse had been just about them. No cameras. No one coming up to take her picture. Sure, there had been plenty of whispers and eyes on them, and gossip was apparently swirling about the two of them, but that seemed to be the way of Tenacity. Small towns had a tendency to know everyone’s business.

She’d told him about her past—more than she’d ever shared with any man before, including Fletch—and Jesse had opened up about his wife. She thought they’d had a connection.

When he’d walked her to her front porch, her heart had been hammering almost out of her chest. The way that he looked at her had made her want to swoon. She had practically puckered up her lips in anticipation of his kiss. Instead, he’d hightailed it out of there so fast, she’d cupped her hand over her mouth for a quick breath check to make sure it wasn’t offensive.

Carly hadn’t heard from him in the week since. So she was more than a little surprised when she glanced across the street and saw the man in the flesh. She stumbled to a stop. Had she manifested him? Jesse was stepping out of the Silver Spur Café, his son following behind him. He didn’t notice her at first as he adjusted his beige cowboy hat on his head.

Oscar saw her and started waving excitedly in her direction. Jesse turned his head to see who his son was looking at and finally spotted her. His face immediately lit up, which softened some of the hurt she was feeling about him ghosting her. He said something to Oscar, and they both crossed the road to reach her.

“Hey,” he said, his blue eyes looking like jewels in the afternoon light.

“Hi,” she responded. She turned her attention to the teen by his side. “Hi, Oscar. How are you?”

“Good,” he responded. “What were you doing at the town hall?”

“Oscar, that’s not really our business,” Jesse told his son, whose excited face lost some enthusiasm.

“It’s fine,” Carly said. “I was getting permits for the school I want to open.”

“What kind of school?” Oscar asked. When she gave him a brief overview of what she wanted to do, the teenager became even more animated. “I want to help. Can I work for you? I can clean out the stables and feed the horses.”

Jesse frowned. “That’s a big responsibility, bud.”

“I can do it,” Oscar snapped at his dad, his hands starting to clench and unclench at his sides.

“I’d be happy to think about it,” Carly said as a way to keep the peace. “First, I need to rebuild parts of the homestead before I can even think about hiring help. I was actually on my way to the feed and seed store to get some pricing on fencing.”

“We were headed that way ourselves,” Jesse said. “We need to get some pipes for our new bathroom. Can we walk you there?”

“Sure,” she replied. They headed toward the store. The silence between father and son was palpable. “So, um, how was your lunch?” she said to break the tension.

“It was great,” Jesse said. “We were planning on getting some pie from the bakery later. I have to introduce Oscar to their apple pie. I think I might have gotten a little addicted to it.”

He gave her a stiff smile while keeping an eye on Oscar, who was now tightening his hands so hard it looked like it hurt. After Jesse had asked her out, she had done some research on autism. She wondered if tightening his fists was one of the teen’s stims.

“Oscar,” Carly said, “if you had to choose between Nieve and a horse like Secretariat, who would you choose?”

Oscar paused his hand movement and his face lost some of its tension. “They were used for two different sports. It’s not a fair comparison.”

“But if you had to choose…which one would you want in your stable?”

It was enough to get Oscar to stop the painful gripping. “Well, if you compare them side by side…”

He then proceeded to tell them about the positives and negatives of each horse until they reached the store.

“While I have to agree with you that it’s a bit unfair to compare any horse to Secretariat,” Carly said as they entered the building, “I have to admit I’m partial to Nieve.”

Oscar paused, his face thoughtful before he said, “Me too.”

“Well… I should—” she started to say, ready to leave them to it, when Oscar spoke up again.

“I’m going to go look at the baby chickens.” He then stomped off, clearly still annoyed with his dad.

If she was honest with herself, that made two of them. Carly wanted to ask Jesse why he hadn’t called or even bothered texting her after their date. But he already looked upset as he watched his son walk away. No need to kick the man when he was already down.