Page 69 of The Cupcake Cottage

His phone rang again, but he silenced it.

“You need to answer that.”

“No, I need to pay attention to you.”

“Your attention is going to be on what you might’ve missed by not taking that call. Go ahead. Take it outside. I’ll have Mrs. Fisher pack up your meal.”

Maverick’s smile tightened. He didn’t seem happy, but he complied.

Daisy-Mae waved down Mrs. Fisher to pay for supper and get Maverick’s boxed. While she waited, she tried to remember what her father had told her at the away game earlier in the week. He’d been passing through on a trucking route, and Maverick had scored them both front row seats to watch him play. Her father had loved being so close to the action, and he’d let it slip that he admired her patience. When she’d expressed her confusion, he’d explained that it was easy to jump into something with someone. It was a lot harder to wait, to trust, to believe that the right person was going to come along and that you’d find that enduring soul-level love.

He believed she’d been waiting, not that nobody wanted her. How could her two parents see her so differently? His words, along with Maverick’s efforts to spend time with her, had lifted her up, made her remember that all of this insanity was worth it. She’d waited. And she’d been rewarded with the right man.

This insanity was just…temporary. Difficult, but temporary.

“Hey, stranger.” Laura, Levi Wylder’s fiancée, slid into the seat across from Daisy-Mae as Mrs. Fisher set down Maverick’spackaged meal. Laura was a retired fashion model who was brokering deals around the globe as she wet her entrepreneurial feet. She reached across the table, her eyes lighting up at Daisy-Mae’s ring. “I haven’t even said congratulations yet! You’ve been so busy.”

“I know. You too. Hey, how was…” Daisy-Mae tried to recall the last place she’d heard Laura had gone but realized she was well out of the loop.

Laura waved off the question. Her gaze flicked to Maverick through the window, then back to Daisy-Mae. “I couldn’t help but notice that Maverick’s coming up in the world—lots of deals and attention right now?”

Daisy-Mae nodded, careful not to show her current annoyance with how busy it kept him. She was lucky. She was grateful.

“It’s tough.”

“What is?”

“It’s just tough.” Laura pulled her hands into the sleeves of her sweater. “You’ve got this new relationship and then suddenly your life explodes in the way you had been hoping it would for years. But the timing is sucky.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Her belief that Laura had been empathizing quickly turned to concern. “I thought you and Levi were splitting time between being on the road and at the ranch?”

Last she’d heard, his brothers Myles and Cole had stepped in to fill the hole their older brother was leaving each time he went away with Laura. It had sounded as though it was working well for everyone.

“We are. And it’s great.” Her face had lit up at the mention of Levi’s name. Daisy-Mae wondered if she did that when someone mentioned Maverick.

“Oh. Then good.”

“But it’s not always easy. And it was a definite adjustment for both of us. Especially Levi. He was such a hermit.” She laughed, her affection obvious. “You should have seen him in New York the first time. He looked so uncomfortable.”

She reached over and gave Daisy-Mae’s hand a tight squeeze. “Hang in there. It’ll all settle out. Love is worth the bumps in the road.” She leaned back again, her tone slightly scolding. “But make sure you speak up for what you want. Boundaries are important. It’s too early for you to…” She stopped, smiled, then shook her head as though tossing away the advice she’d been about to give.

Daisy-Mae let out a shaky breath. “Too early for me to feel resentment?”

Laura gave Daisy-Mae’s hand another squeeze. “Just be patient and keep the lines of communication open. Be kind. Be honest.” She returned to her spot across the room where she’d been having supper with April Wylder.

Daisy-Mae took a moment to collect herself, then gathered her purse and Maverick’s meal. Things would settle out. They’d find a new pattern and it would all be okay.

At the door, she met Maverick as he was coming back in.

She took one look at him and braced herself for more disappointment. “What’s wrong?”

He inhaled, looking down the street before shutting his eyes tight, then releasing them to look back at her. “I have to go.”

“What do you mean?” They were supposed to be having supper, then going through the wedding invitation samples and then head to Cassandra’s to consider her lodge as their venue. This was the second time they’d had to cancel.

“That campaign for the skates. Their photographer has emergency surgery booked in two days and wants to squeeze me in now, so the whole thing doesn’t get pushed back by a month.”

Daisy-Mae tried to remember what his schedule was like and what this change might mean.

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