AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rationally, I heard Maverick tell Bianca off, but all I can see is her kissing him, and him letting it happen. Not only do I have that wonderful image, but every insecurity about our relationship, Bianca voiced.
She’s absolutely right that I do want the American dream. I can see that future with Maverick, but every time I bring up any kind of plans for the future with him, he either dodges or dismisses it as if I didn’t mention anything. There has to be some truth in what she said if I also have the same fears of not being put first and him being married to the job.
Sure, I’m just as busy and I understand he has a new business that needs a lot of attention, but I also want to start my family sooner rather than later. With that being said, I want the father of my children to be active and present, not constantly running off to his job.
I also know that there was a line of women before me and that he had no intentions of ever settling down with someone. That’s why our rules were so important. They were there to protect us both from being hurt. Unfortunately, we shattered that possibility the minute we tried to date for real instead of our fake arrangement.
It’s almost midnight before a restless sleep finally pulls me under. I toss and turn and have dreams of Maverick kissing random girls and even one of him kissing Emerson. When morning finally does roll around, I feel as if I had run a marathon the day before.
As much as I’m not ready to see Maverick, I know I’ve kept him waiting long enough. When I wake and check my phone, I see several more messages from him, Olive, and even one from Emerson. Not wanting to over think things for a moment longer, I text Maverick and ask him to come over so we can talk. I don’t even get my phone set on the nightstand before I get a text back from him saying he’s on his way.
I throw on my robe and head downstairs to make coffee while I wait for Mav to show up. I’m so antsy that I couldn't sit still if I tried, but thankfully Maverick only lives a few blocks away. Perks of living in a small town I suppose.
I barely have the door open before he’s pushing in and wrapping me in his arms. I bury my face into his neck, and I can feel him take a huge inhale before slowly releasing it and relaxing a little more the longer I let him hold me. I step back and grab his hand as I lead him toward the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table. I push out the opposite chair with my foot, and Maverick follows suit before sitting down and sipping on the coffee I made for him.
“I’m so sorry about yesterday, Sweets. I honestly never thought I would see her again and never thought she’d pull a move like that. I swear I didn’t even want to kiss her. My brain was just so shocked that it didn’t process properly and push her away immediately. But that kiss meant nothing to me. She means nothing to me.”
“Slow down Maverick. I know. I saw the whole thing and while I really didn’t enjoy watching you kiss another woman; I also could tell you were completely thrown off by what happened.”
“Then why did you run, Sweets? I was going out of my mind. I couldn’t leave the festival, but I was worried sick about where you were and how you were getting home. It was fucking torture not knowing if you were okay.”
“I’m sorry, truly. I just needed time to process and to do it in private. I’ve already been the hot topic of conversation for the Sparrow Falls’ rumor mill. I didn’t want to be front and center again. Especially since everyone has finally started to treat me normal again.”
“Fuck, Sweets. I didn’t even think of that, but I’m glad you left so that I didn’t cause you any more drama that you didn’t deserve. Thankfully it seems you were the only one to witness the kiss, so you shouldn’t have to worry about any more cheating rumors.” He tries to add some levity to the conversation, but I’m not honestly there yet.
“With all that being said, I’m kind of glad she showed up here.”
“Really, how so? Because it was fucking awful for me. I mean, I know that I’m completely over her now which is great, but I still don’t love hanging out with my ex who cheated on me with my best friend.”
“Okay, don’t be mad, but she had a lot of valid points that I’ve been asking myself, but I’ve been too afraid to bring it up to you because I didn’t want the answer. I wanted to live in my tiny bubble of denial as long as possible.”
“What the fuck could she have possibly had a valid point about?”
“Mav, if we’re going to talk about this, I need you to calm down and just let me get this out. You know I don’t like confrontation, not that this needs to be one, but I need to be able to say what I’m thinking before you jump in.”
“I’m sorry, Sweets. That sounds like a good plan, and I’ll try to wait and let you say what you need to without interrupting.”
“Okay, while I didn’t love Bianca showing up like this and ambushing you, I’m glad she did. For one, it was nice to see and hear from you personally, that you’ve moved on from her. What she and Nick did to you was so wrong, and I know how hard it can be to forgive someone in that situation and move on.”
He gives my hand a squeeze before he nods his head at me to continue. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Even though I don’t want to do this, I have to know if there’s a future with Maverick.
“So, what she said about me wanting the American dream is still very much true as it was the first time we talked about it. I want to get married and have a family of my own, preferably sooner than later. The last time we talked about this, you didn’t have any desire to have that kind of commitment, let alone date anyone.”
“I feel like dating you has been the most natural thing I’ve done in my life. You let me be myself. You build me up and support me, but you also encourage me not to be a wallflower. You give me the strength I need to believe that I’m perfect exactly how I am and that I don’t always need to blend into the background. Having the good attention on me is great for my confidence and every day I feel more and more like myself and that I want to share this version of me with everyone else. That’s one of the best gifts anyone could ever give me.”
“But, for me, I don’t only see myself dating you. I can picture the future for us, and I see kids. I see a messy kitchen and our little munchkins covered in flour and who knows what else having a complete and total ball with their dad.” I pause as I watch Maverick’s expression harden and the color slowly fade from his face.
“I see you at the end of the aisle looking so handsome in a suit smiling with tears in your eyes as I make my way towards you. I see our first dance followed by you being extremely inappropriate as you pull the garter from underneath my dress and shoot it towards the man of Emerson’s dreams.”
“I see you as we age, and your hair is starting to look like salt and pepper as we are out on a hike. Sure, we’re out our meadow, but I’m not sure how realistic that will be the older we get.”
“I see us at home on Christmas morning preparing the most scrumptious spread for lunch as we wait for our grandkids to wake up and open all the presents as a family.”
“That’s what I hope for in my future, but I’m not sure if that’s how you see things going. When I bring something up in the future, even something so small as being my date for Chayse’s wedding, it’s you that I see there with me, but you never actually commit.”
“You either don’t answer fully, or you’ll avoid the issue all together.”
“So, I’m glad Bi showed up because I don’t know how long I would’ve kept sitting here hoping that someday you’d be willing to make plans with me for our future together. I need to know what you see happening between us and where you think things are going.”
