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Crossing her arms over her chest, she tilted her head and slowly asked, “I beg your pardon?”
Maverick cleared his throat. “I better go see if Bradly can give us a ride back to the ranch.”
Mom turned to Maverick. “He’s in on this too?”
“Yes, and if you don’t let us go now, Mom, Kipton is going to use my excuse.”
It was her turn to stomp her foot. “Damn it. I want to go too!”
I started to laugh. “Well, after we leave, say you want to go check on me.”
Her eyes lit up. “Good idea.”
“Maverick, wait! I’m coming.”
Mom reached for my arm. “Hey, you’ll miss opening the presents.”
I leaned in and kissed her. “Not to be a Debbie Downer, Mom, but I’d rather miss presents than play that game.”
She rolled her eyes and chuckled before giving me a kiss. “Go. Get out of here while you can.”
When Maverick announced I wasn’t feeling good, while I leaned against him and tried to look sick, we got dirty looks from every single one of my cousins, and a few of the adults as well. They saw through the bullshit clear as day.
“Bradly, could you give us a ride back to my place?”
“I can!” my father said, as he jumped up.
“Nonsense,” Grams retorted. “You’ll get home and say you’re tired and not come back. Go on and take them home, Bradly—and come straight back.”
Bradly smiled at Grams. “Will do.”
We walked into the hall, and Maverick found my coat and slipped it on before donning his own. Bradly grabbed his jacket as we walked to the door.
“Thanks for taking us back,” Maverick said, clapping Bradly on the back.
“No worries at all. The last thing I wanted to do was play dominoes.”
I giggled as Maverick helped me up into the front passenger side of Bradly’s truck.
Bradly pointed out the front window. “Look, it’s starting to snow.”
“Oh, I love that it’s snowing!”
Maverick laughed. “It’s been snowing for weeks, Lil.”
“I know, but there’s something so romantic about snow falling on Christmas.”
Bradly started up his truck. “If you say so.”
On the way back to the cabin, Bradly and Maverick talked about the PBR, and I couldn’t help but notice that Bradly both looked and sounded tired. He was on a break from touring and wasn’t doing any riding at smaller rodeos. He’d nearly won the championship this past November, and was giving his body a rest from riding before the next year started up.
Listening to them talk, by the time we got to our place, I couldn’t help but wonder if Bradly’s love of the sport was starting to fade. Maverick got out first and held open my door to help me climb down. The snow had started to pick up and was falling heavier.
“Do you want to come in for a bit?” I asked.
Giving me that dimpled, innocent-boy smile, he shook his head. “No. You two enjoy the rest of the evening. I’m going to head on back. By the time I get there, I’m hoping the game is over and they’ve opened presents.”
“Bradly…is everything okay? You don’t seem like yourself today.”
