Maverick (The Family Simon 3)

Maverick hesitated for all of two seconds. Hell, the thought of laying his heart on the line when he wasn’t sure of the outcome was enough to give him the cold sweats.

“Rick,” Donovan warned.

Though a swift kick from Donnie might do the same thing.

Maverick looked up at his cousins once more, but Donavan was pushing him toward the door. “I’ll pass along your goodbyes. You’ve got this,” she said with a wink. “Now go get her.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

The only reason Charlie was at the fish fry was because Ava had gone and pulled the ‘ you owe me and I’m your friend card’. Or rather, she’d gotten Davis to do it for her. So now she was stuck dishing out haddock and cod and perch to nearly two hundred and fifty people and not only did she look like a grease ball, she smelled like one too. Ugh.

“I hate you,” she said, poking Davis in the arm.

“No you don’t,” he answered with a smile as he handed Mrs. McTeer her plate of perch, sidestepping a bit when the old lady attempted to give him a hug.

“Whatever,” she mumbled, turning to the next customer.

“Charlie.” Jeremy Martin offered a sheepish smile.

“What can I get for you?” she asked sharply, not in the mood for drama.

“Uh, a platter of perch and a couple orders of fries should do it.”

Charlie spied Emily hovering a few feet away, with two children in tow. The kids were running in circles around the woman and it was obvious that they were out of control. It was also obvious that Emily was about to either cry or lose it.

There might have been a time in the not so distant past when Charlie would have taken pleasure in knowing that. But now—she glanced up at Jeremy—she couldn’t care less.

She busied herself preparing the order and when his box of food was ready, she handed it over.

“Charlie, I—“

She shook her head. “Jeremy. It’s fine.”

She could tell it was far from fine. In fact, Jeremy looked miserable as hell.

“You look good,” he said slowly.

“Thank you.” She said, looking past him. “Who’s next?”

He looked a little shocked at her abrupt dismissal and after a few seconds, turned around and made room for the next customer.

“The grass ain’t always greener,” Davis said into her ear.

“Nope.”

The two of them worked side by side for at least another hour before the lines started to dwindle. The DJ, Harry Leedale was deep in conversation with Ava and Charlie laughed at the expression on her friend’s face.

“I can’t wait to hear his playlist.”

Davis nodded. “You and me both.” He looked down at her. “It’s good to hear you laugh. How you holding up?”

“I’m fine.”

“No you’re not.”

She shrugged. “Okay, so I’m not. Davis it is what it is, and I’ve just got to to move on.”

He cocked his head to the side. “And what is it exactly?”