Page 44 of The Maverick’s Legacy

She half expected him to gather his clothes and sneak out of her room. Instead, she felt the sheets lift off of her slightly and the mattress dip as he climbed into bed next to her. The heat of him soon warmed the sheets, taking away some of the chill she’d experienced at his abrupt departure. She felt him turn and wondered if he was facing her way or had his back to her. Was he staring at her, his face full of regret? She didn’t look.

Her own tormented question was soon answered when she felt the light brush of his fingers tracing down her spine. He let out a quiet sigh and turned again. When she heard his breath even out, she buried her head in her pillow. A couple of tears seeped out, and she wiped them away with the edge of her pillowcase. Thankfully, her lids grew heavier and she eventually fell asleep.

* * *

When Carly woke the next morning, Jesse was gone. She reached across the mattress where he’d slept. The sheets were cool. The only sign that he’d slept next to her was the slight indent on the pillow. She tried not to let the fact that he’d left without telling her goodbye get to her, or her doubts plague her like they always did.

She was Carly-freaking-Hawkins. Her happiness did not depend on how a man treated her.

Then why did she feel so terrible?

Because…being abandoned triggered trauma from her youth that she just couldn’t seem to let go, no matter how successful she’d become. There could very well be a good reason that Jesse left her at the crack of dawn. Maybe he’d received a message that Oscar hadn’t done as well as they’d all hoped, and he’d had to run out to help his son. Perhaps Grayson needed him for something. There could be a million and one reasons that Jesse had to leave this morning, other than the worst-case scenario.

She grabbed fresh clothes and went into the bathroom. As she stood under the warm water, she tried to focus on what she needed to do for the day. But her mind kept going back to the night before. Jesse had told her that he didn’t want to end things with her. She knew he meant it, and she felt confident that they were on the same page there.

What she hadn’t realized until last night was that their problem wasn’t her paranoia that Jesse would abandon her like half the people in her life had. No…their problem was that Jesse might not have any room for her inside his broken heart, and maybe he’d realized that after sleeping with her. And if that was the case, would he ever?

As she wiped the steam from the mirror, she stared at her blurry reflection. What had MaryBeth looked like? Been like? She had to be amazing considering what a good kid Oscar was, though Jesse deserved a lot of credit for that as well. Carly knew he’d never accept it.

But…what if Jesse had pretended that she was his beloved wife last night, and when he woke up this morning and saw her instead, he was given a reality shock?

She winced at that. No. No matter how many despairing thoughts she had about last night and herself at the moment, she couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that he was that crass.

“You need to pull yourself together,” she muttered to her reflection. “You’ve been through a lot of worse things than a broken heart. And you don’t even know if you have a reason to feel this way yet.”

Once she got her bearings and insecurities under control, she’d follow up with Jesse and figure out exactly what had happened the previous night.

She got dressed and was in the middle of pulling her still-damp hair into a bun when she heard a knock on the door. She half hoped it was Jesse. It wasn’t.

A familiar woman stood on her porch. Behind her in the driveway was a delivery truck with flowers painted on the side. Underneath the flowers were the words Tiffany in Bloom.

“Tiffany, hello!” Carly said, forcing a smile to her lips. She had only met Tiffany Brandt a couple of times through her cousin Remi. Tiffany was engaged to Ellis Corey, brother to Remi’s fiancé, Shane. The two brothers were close, which was why the four had decided to have a joint wedding.

“Hi, Carly,” Tiffany responded. “The house is looking good.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “Most of it came move-in ready, thank goodness, but I’m still working on the rest of the property. How are you doing? Getting excited for the wedding?”

“More so excited to marry Ellis.” She laughed. “The florist for the wedding is being a bridezilla wanting perfection.”

Despite her mood, Carly smiled at that, knowing full well that Tiffany was doing the flowers.

“Honestly,” Tiffany continued, “I think I might be driving Remi insane. I found her pacing the other day, muttering something about yellow daffodils.”

Carly did laugh at that, remembering the day she’d taken Remi with her to get Jesse a pie. Her cousin had been frayed then as well.

“Maybe you should take over flower duty completely,” Carly suggested. “To be honest, I don’t think Remi knows that much about which flowers look good with what.”

Tiffany nodded, though she looked concerned. “I just want everything to be perfect. I don’t want Remi to think I ruined her wedding because I picked the wrong color.”

“She won’t,” Carly assured her. “Maybe you two can decide on another task she can take over on while you deal with the flowers.”

Tiffany brightened. “We do still need to pick out our dinner settings for the reception.”

“There you go, then. That sounds right up Remi’s alley.” She smiled before tilting her head. “Well, as pleased as I am to see you, what brings you to this neck of the woods?”

“Oh!” Tiffany said, remembering why she was there. She reached into the crate she was carrying and pulled out a vase of gorgeous pink roses. “Special delivery for you.”

“Wow,” Carly murmured, taking in the perfection of the dewy petals. “These are beautiful.”