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“Donnie, we’re not going there. Not now.”
But his friend was stubborn as hell, and he guessed her baby came by it honestly.
“Oh yes we are. This friend thing goes both ways. You’ve been here for me for days now and I haven’t even asked about your mechanic.”
“We were a little preoccupied with other things, so don’t worry about it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So what is going on with your mechanic?”
Maverick could have lied but what was the point. Donovan would have called bullshit before he even finished speaking.
“She broke it off.”
“What? When?”
“She left a voicemail sometime last night.”
“A voicemail? Are you kidding me?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Okay. But you haven’t talked to her?”
“I’ve only had one conversation with her since I’ve been here.”
“When was that?”
“Tuesday.”
Donovan punched him in the chest. “You haven’t talked to your mechanic since Tuesday? What the hell, Rick? No wonder she broke it off. She probably thinks you don’t give a rat’s ass about her.”
“I’ve tried.”
“Well obviously not hard enough.” Donovan studied him for a few seconds and Maverick didn’t much care for the smile that played around the edge of her mouth. “You’re in love with this woman.”
He didn’t miss a beat and answered straight away. “Yeah, Donnie. I am.”
It had been a long time since he’d seen Donovan James speechless. And it made Maverick feel pretty damn good to be the one to do it.
“Okay, smart ass,” Donovan said with a wink. “What are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know. I’m pissed at her. At how she thinks I’m just going to throw her and Connor away without another thought.”
“You want my opinion?”
“Like I have a choice.”
“No.” Donovan shook her head. “You don’t. Sounds to me like this could be a preemptive strike.”
“A what?”
“She’s afraid of getting hurt. She’s cutting you out of her life because you’re the thing that can hurt her. So I’m going to ask you again, Rick. What are you going to do about it?”
Maverick glanced across the room to where Jack was huddled with Tucker, Abby, and Grace.
“Are we good?” he asked. “Are you going to be okay? You’ve told me everything?”
Donovan reached up onto her tiptoes and kissed him. “I love you, you knucklehead, but if you don’t hop on the next plane out and tell this woman exactly how you feel, I will kick you square in the gonads the next time I see you.”
