A Maverick for Christmas Read online

  A few moments later, the soup was heated. She served it with some crackers she found and they sat at the table. “Bean ’n’ bacon soup. Excellent choice,” he said.

  “It’s not rocket science. You could have done the same thing,” she said. “All it takes is a can opener, a pan and a stovetop.”

  “That’s two steps too many for me,” he said, lifting another spoonful of soup to his mouth.

  She laughed. “Well, I’m glad I could help out.”

  He looked into her amused brown eyes and watched her take a bite of her sandwich and felt something inside him ease. What was happening to him? When had canned soup and deli sandwiches felt like a gourmet dinner with Abby sitting across from him.

  She met his gaze and glanced away then back at him. “What’s wrong? Is there mustard on my chin or something?”

  “No. I was just thinking how pretty you are,” he said.

  Her cheeks flushed. “Thank you. After being hounded by my sisters for looking too thin and having circles under my eyes, that’s very nice to hear.”

  He frowned and studied her. “Now that you mention it,” he began.

  She shook her head. “Don’t you start,” she said. “The circles are temporary because of the increased schoolwork at this time of the semester.”

  “Plus there’s the matter of you spending all your extra time with me. I don’t want to keep you from your schoolwork,” he said.

  “Oh, please do,” she joked.

  “Really, Abby. You’re too close to let anything get in your way. Including—” He broke off when his house phone began to ring. “That doesn’t happen very often,” he said. “Everyone who knows me calls my cell.” He paused for a moment then let the call go to voice mail. “What were we talking about?”

  “The Jacuzzi you’re planning to install,” she said.

  He chuckled, although the image of Abby naked in a tub of bubbling water was all too appealing. “I’ve actually thought about it, but never got around to it…”

  The phone rang again and he frowned. “Maybe I should check it,” he said, rising from the kitchen table. He glanced at the caller ID and felt as if he’d been punched. He immediately picked up the phone.

  “Cade Pritchett,” he said and waited.

  The silence stretched for one, two, three seconds. “Cade, this is Marlene, Dominique’s mom.”

  “Hello,” he said. “How are you?”

  “Bill and I are doing well. We’re actually in Montana visiting some relatives. We wondered if we could drop by and see you tonight,” the woman said.

  Cade nearly choked on the next breath he drew. “Tonight?” he asked, glancing at Abby, sitting at the table in his robe. She shot him an inquiring glance.

  “I know it’s short notice, but I think it’s important. We won’t stay long,” she promised.

  Hearing the twinge of desperation in the woman’s voice, Cade felt compelled to respond. “Okay. I’m finishing up dinner. When do you think you’ll be here?”

  “In fifteen minutes or less. And we’ve already eaten, so you don’t need to feed us. See you soon,” she said.

  Cade hung up the phone and stared at it.

  “Can you give me a vowel?” Abby asked after a long moment of silence.

  “Dominique’s parents are coming. They’ll be here in less than fifteen minutes.”

  Abby gaped at him and dumped her spoon in her soup. “Oh, wow, I need to get out of here,” she said, rising form her chair. “But we forgot to put my clothes in the dryer, didn’t we? Darn,” she said. “I could borrow something from you if I wrapped it around me twice.”

  He chuckled at the image. “Not necessary. You can stay here. We’ll throw your clothes in the dryer now.”

  “I’m not greeting your former girlfriend’s parents in your robe,” she told him.

  “I wasn’t suggesting that. You could finish your sandwich in my robe and watch the television in there.”

  “Oh, hide out in your room,” she said. “That could work.”

  “There’s no need for you to hide,” he said, frustrated that their evening was being interrupted by people who had held him responsible for the death of their daughter when his biggest crime had been loving her. “If you want to meet them, I’m fine with it.”

  “I’m not,” she said and picked up her plate. She pressed her lips together and looked at him in sympathy. “Good luck, Cade,” she said and gave him a kiss. Then she skedaddled toward his bedroom and closed the door behind her.

  Cade raked his hand through his hair, wondering why the Gordons had chosen this time to visit him after all these years. His appetite gone, he dumped his soup in the sink and put the remainder of his sandwich in the fridge. He threw Abby’s clothes in the dryer and the doorbell rang. Stella barked and ran to the door. Cade brought up the rear and opened the door to the mother and father of the woman he had once planned to marry.

  “Hi,” Marlene said and timidly stepped inside. “I’m sorry this is such short notice.”

  Bill extended his hand. “Pritchett,” he said with a nod. “Nice to see you. You’re looking good.”

  “Thanks, Bill. Come on in, both of you. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Oh, we won’t be staying that long,” Marlene said, making him curious as hell. The Gordons looked a little worn around the edges considering their age. Cade supposed he couldn’t blame them. They’d had two children and one had died way before she should have.

  “How’s Bill, Jr.?” Cade asked.

  “Doing very well,” Marlene said. “He’s working for a computer company about an hour away from here. He got married two years ago and he and his wife had a baby six months ago. She’s gorgeous.”

  “Looks like Dominique at that age,” Bill said.

  Cade’s gut tightened. “That’s gotta be great for you two,” Cade said. “Come into the den.”

  The two Gordons did as he asked and sat gingerly on the sofa. Silence stretched between them for a long moment.

  Bill cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his coat jacket. “The reason we wanted to see you is because Marlene and I realized we were hard on you when Dominique died.”

  “We weren’t just hard on you,” Marlene said. “We weren’t fair.”

  “Dominique was determined to go to California during her break and nothing was going to stop her, even you,” Bill said. “You probably knew that. Even if you didn’t, you knew what kind of nature Dominique had. She needed to travel every now and then. It was in her blood. She probably got it from me. I went into the air force to see the world.”

  “We would have done everything to keep her alive, and we believe you would have, too, but who could have predicted that terrible accident?” Maureen asked with a shudder. “We’ll never get over the loss, but holding you responsible was wrong and cruel. You were grieving for her, too.”

  “But we couldn’t see that because we were hurting too much,” Bill said, lacing and unlacing his fingers.

  “So, we’re here to apologize,” Maureen said. “We were wrong to blame you. We hope you’ll forgive us. More important, we hope you don’t hold yourself responsible for Dominique’s death.”

  Cade was stunned by all the Gordons were telling him. “I don’t know what to say except that I still miss Dominique’s presence in my life.”

  Maureen bit her lip and reached out to pat his hand. “We know you do. Because of that, we’d like to give you the necklace she wore. I believe you gave it to her,” Mrs. Gordon said as she pulled a small box from her purse and handed it to Cade.

  Cade opened the box to the diamond-accented sparkler pendant he’d given Dominique all those years ago. He’d told her she was a firecracker and that she lit up his life. The memory squeezed his chest again.

  “This was a perfect example of her personality. She was a dynamo. That’s one of the reasons we felt such a void when she died,” Bill said. “I couldn’t stand it. So we moved back to California and tried to make ourselves feel bet
ter.”

  “In some ways, it helped to move away,” Marlene said.

  “In others, it didn’t. How do you explain to people you’re meeting for the first time that you had the most beautiful daughter in the world and she would have accomplished amazing things if she hadn’t died way too young?”

  Cade nodded. “I hear you,” he said, his mind suddenly flooded with images of Dominique.

  Bill took a deep breath. “We’ll never stop missing her,” he said.

  “Never,” Marlene agreed. “But Dominique wouldn’t want us to hold a grudge. She would want us to get as much out of life as possible. She would want the same for you, Cade.”

  Cade felt jolted by Marlene’s last comment. “I’m living. I miss her like you do, but I’m living.”

  “Did you ever get married?” Marlene asked gently.

  “Marlene,” Bill said. “That’s none of our business.”

  Marlene extended her hand to Cade’s again. “Well, I just want to tell you, Cade, that I hope you will find another woman to love. You have a lot to offer and it shouldn’t be stuck in the past.” She took a deep breath. “That’s all I have to say except to thank you for being so good to Dominique. You were a solid, stable force that made her feel safe enough to fly. You were exactly what she needed at that time in her life.”

  Cade took in Marlene’s words, but he would have to digest them later.

  “We should leave now,” Bill said to Marlene. He stood and helped his wife to her feet. “Thank you for seeing us. Thank you for being a good man to our daughter and to us,” he said and shook Cade’s hand again.

  “God bless,” Marlene said and threw her arms around his neck. “God bless and good night,” she said and the two of them left his house.

  Cade stared after them, looking at the tire tread marks their vehicle left in the snow. The words from both of the Gordons felt as if they jumbled together in his head. What did all this mean? Did it mean anything? He rubbed the necklace he’d given Dominique all those years ago between his fingers. He felt his lungs constrict. What was he supposed to do with this? As much as he’d loved Dominique, he didn’t carry anything of hers around on a daily basis. Nothing material, that is. Her attitude about life had often haunted him. He’d been more practical. She’d enjoyed the unexpected. She’d looked for the magic. Cade didn’t believe in magic. But surprises—lately he was changing his mind about those. Or maybe it was Abby who was changing his mind.

  The dryer buzzed, signifying the end of the cycle, and Abby stepped outside the bedroom. “All clear?” she asked in a hushed voice.

  When he nodded, she walked toward him, searching his face. “Did it go okay?”

  He gave a slow nod. “Yeah. Better than I expected,” he said and rubbed his fingers over the pendant in his hand.

  Abby glanced down at the necklace. “Did that belong to her?”

  “Yeah. I gave it to her when we were dating. They wanted me to have it,” he said, still stunned by the conversation he’d had with her parents.

  Abby lifted her eyebrows. “Sounds like they had a turnaround.”

  “Yeah.” He paused a moment. “They apologized for blaming me for her death.”

  “Wow,” Abby said. “That’s huge.” She smiled. “And wonderful. Even though you knew you weren’t responsible, it’s got to feel great knowing they don’t resent you anymore.”

  He thought about that for a moment. Practically speaking, he’d known he wasn’t responsible, but some part of him had thought there must have been something he could have done to prevent Dominique’s death. “Sometimes I’ve wondered if I could have done something to keep her safe. It was my job. It felt like my job, anyway.”

  “Ohhh,” Abby said. “Your superhero complex coming out again. You have the power to save everyone and everything?”

  He shot her a sideways glance at her light jab. “It’s more that I felt responsible for her.”

  She nodded. “You were responsible for keeping her safe,” she said. “Twenty-four-seven even though you weren’t with her and your superpowers are unfortunately limited.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around him. “As happy as I am to be with you now, I’m sorry you’ve had to suffer such a terrible loss.”

  Her words felt like soothing water on a sore place inside him. He held her close and felt comforted in a way he couldn’t remember. Her sweet honesty made a tightness inside him ease. Cade couldn’t help wondering if Abby was the one with superpowers.

  Chapter Eleven

  When Cade went to work the next morning, he felt like a different man. The trees looked prettier, the snow was beautiful, the crisp air felt good to breathe. He hummed along to the country music tune playing on the radio in his SUV. He waved a car in front of him at an intersection. The sun was shining. He would see Abby tonight. Anticipation hummed through him. Today was going to be a good day.

  He pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car, ready for a hard, productive day at work followed by an evening with Abby.

  “Hey, Cade,” his brother Nick said as he walked into the shop. He gave a broad wink. “I hear you’ve been busy robbing the cradle with another Cates sister.”

  Cade blinked. Where had Nick heard about him and Abby? Nick had been on a hunting trip for the past ten days, so this was the first time Cade had seen his brother in a while. Wondering if his other brother, Dean, had been talking, he called for him. “Dean!”

  Dean poked his head out from the back room and held up his hands. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t tell him anything. He went to the Hitching Post last night and apparently the gossip has already started.” Dean shot him a sympathetic look. “Sorry, bro.”

  “I’m not robbing any cradles. Abby’s twenty-two.” He walked toward the back room. “Welcome back,” he added as an afterthought, his mood plummeting. Cade was a private man and hated being the subject of gossip. He was just getting past the fallout from his public proposal to Laila Cates and sure as hell didn’t want to stir up anything else.

  “So you really are seeing her?” Nick asked, following him to the back room. “It’s none of my business, but this isn’t a rebound thing because of Laila, is it?”

  Cade turned and shot Nick a deadly glance.

  “Hey, it’s wasn’t my idea. One of the waitresses said she wondered if that’s what’s going on since you lost out on Laila,” Nick said.

  A month’s worth of his patience shot in five minutes, Cade ground his teeth. “Here’s a news flash. I don’t feel like I lost out on anything with Laila. I’m glad she and Jackson are happy together.”

  He could tell by his brother’s expression that he wasn’t convinced. “You’ve known me a long time. Am I the kind of man to go out with a woman for the sake of a rebound?”

  Nick paused then pressed his lips together in a slight wince. “Sorry. I was just surprised to hear it. Are you serious about her?”

  Cade clenched his jaw again. His feelings were nobody’s business but his own. “I’m not about to get serious with a woman after two weeks.”

  “Sure,” Nick said. “That makes sense.”

  Cade sighed and put Nick out of his misery by changing the subject. “So, how was the hunting?”

  “Oh,” Nick said. “You wouldn’t believe the rack on the elk I bagged.”

  The subject of Abby was blessedly dropped. Cade worked in complete silence without stopping until after lunch and decided to get a breath of fresh air and a cup of coffee and a sandwich to go at the diner. Old man Henson waved at him from a stool as he ate a piece of pie.

  Cade placed his order then walked toward him. “How’s that ankle?”

  “Pretty good. I’m getting around good. Mildred here at the shop has been dropping off some goodies for me after she gets off work. I think she’s sweet on me,” he said in a lowered voice. “But she’s a nice woman. A bit young for me but my Geraldine would approve of her.”

  Cade smiled. “Good for you,” he said.

  “I saw your little lady in here thi
s morning. She loves her hot chocolate, doesn’t she? Won’t touch the coffee. I asked her about you and she said she had seen you a few times.” Mr. Henson gave him a nudge. “I knew you would come around. Pretty, sweet and can cook. What’s not to like about that?” he asked. “She’s a looker and a cooker. You’ll do good with her.”

  “Abby and I aren’t serious, so there’s no need to be thinking about the future,” Cade said.

  Mr. Henson shook his finger at him. “Don’t you wait too long to get her in your corral. I’ll tell you there’s plenty of other young bucks right behind you.”

  Mr. Henson’s hearing wasn’t the best, so he tended to speak loudly. Cade felt the small crowd in the restaurant watching him. The whispers would start any minute, he realized, and his gut began to churn. “How’s that pie?” he asked, pointing toward the pastry on the old man’s plate.

  “Oh, it’s good,” Mr. Henson said. “But you know everything here is good.”

  “How’s your truck?” Cade asked. He wanted to provide everyone who was listening with a mundane conversation, so they would turn their attention elsewhere. Away from him.

  “Order for Pritchett,” the waitress at the register said.

  “That’s mine,” he said to Mr. Henson and slapped the man on the back. “You take care of yourself.”

  He paid for the order and picked up the bag. “Thanks,” he said.

  “You’re welcome. We all love Abby here. You’re a lucky man,” the waitress said shyly, then whispered, “I gave you a piece of pie.”

  Cade clenched his jaw and nodded then left the diner.

  After helping at the community center and going to one of her classes, Abby paid a visit to Katrina since she had just been returned to her mother’s apartment. “Everything okay?” Abby asked, sitting across from her on a couch in the modest room.

  “It’s all good. The foster family was really nice, and they invited me to stop in anytime.”

  “So you got some new friends out of this,” Abby said. “Not bad. You think you would ever visit them?”