“See, you feel better, don’t you.”
Delilah opened her eyes. Goodiva hugged her. “I love you so much. I’m so glad you came back. I missed you too. I really did.”
“What’s this about?” Goodiva asked.
“Maverick. I called him,” Delilah confessed.
“What did he say? What did you say?” Goodiva grinned.
“Nothing... I didn’t talk to him. Queen couldn’t come over today, so I called him. He tries to see Noah on FaceTime. You know Apollo got Noah a turtle, so he was excited to show his father,” Delilah sighed. “I didn’t speak. Noah did the talking for us both.”
Delilah let go of her friend’s hands.
“I heard he’s coming back to Falcon Cove. Is that true?” Goodiva asked.
Delilah nodded.
“He’s coming back to Noah. Tonight,” said Delilah.
“Noah? Not you?”
“He misses his son,” Delilah remarked.
“I bet. You good with that?” Goodiva scratched the side of her own cheek and frowned.
“He’s a good father,” she said. “I just think we should focus on our son. It was never about him and me.”
“I saw Delores and your father arrive. I thought you said they missed home.”
“I told them to move back in. Noah missed them,” Delilah said but looked away.
“Hmmm?” Goodiva said.
“Hmmm, what?”
“Are you going to hide here while Maverick is at the house being supervised by your parents?” Goodiva asked. “Is that the plan?”
Delilah got up from the floormat and paced away. She couldn’t look at Goodiva, so she busied herself looking at the candles her friend had ordered and lit in the room.
“What are you so afraid of, Dee? You have to learn to forgive people.”
“I forgave mama,” Delilah said. “You saw it. I forgave her.”
“No. I saw you make peace. But you barely say two words to your mother. And your poor father keeps trying to get you to open up, and you push him away. Do you love him?”
“Of course, I love daddy. Don’t be ridiculous,” Delilah said.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” Goodiva chuckled.
“My point is that my feelings and his have nothing to do with Noah. He came to Colorado for his son. I made it about me. That was a mistake,” Delilahs said.
“No... I don’t think—”
“You weren’t here. You didn’t see how I threw myself at the man. I was sleeping with him by the first night,” she whispered. “It’s ridiculous. Besides, who knows what love really is. I thought I loved Charles, and look at what that turned into. I can’t trust Maverick. At this point, he can’t trust me because I’m not giving him Noah. His leaving was a wake-up call for me.”
“How about you answer my question? Do you love him?” she asked.
“I just answered you!” Delilah said.
“No, you didn’t. You made excuses, justifications, but you didn’t say you weren’t in love with him,” Goodiva said.
“Okay, fine, I hate him,” she said.
“Liar.”
“He makes me so angry. And now he just comes back? I’m not going to have sex with him. He can forget that!” Delilah said.
“Whoa, wait? Sex? Slow down, you horn-dog. Who said anything about sex?” Goodiva chuckled.
Embarrassed, Delilah felt her cheeks warm with a deep flush. She shook her head and stammered an excuse before she paced away. “I’m just saying.”
“Go back to that house. Shower, put on one of your fancy Doris Day dresses, and do your hair. Do your face up in all that Pat McGrath makeup. Let him see what he’s been missing,” Goodiva teased. “When Maverick comes, you handle him. Like a boss-lady. Okay?”
Delilah shook her head, smiling. “We’re done, Shelly. It’s over.”
“Oh, so now I’m Shelly?” Goodiva laughed. “You only use my nickname when you are trying to pull me on your side. I am on your side, Dee. I can see how much you care for him. You just got to learn to trust him.”
“I’m not pursuing him again,” Delilah said.
“Of course not. I’ll be watching from my window.” Goodiva teased.
Delilah reached down and helped pull Goodiva up to stand on her own two feet. They embraced again. She could feel the baby kick. Goodiva touched her belly. “Boy or girl? We can find out, you know. Get you off this ranch into a doctor's office,” Delilah said.
“Nope, I want to wait. Don’t want to catch them COVID cooties out there!”
“I love you, girl. So much,” Delilah said.
“Now kiss the baby,” Goodiva said.
Delilah kissed her belly. “We love the baby.”
“Go! Get ready! Call me if you need me. I have....” Goodiva glanced to her laptop, and she paused for a moment. She then smiled as if the thought had passed. “I have something to do, but I’ll be up tonight.”
“You and that laptop. You’re always on it,” Delilah said.
“Can’t live without it.”
APOLLO PICKED MAVERICK up from the airport. They went to Apollo’s house first to drop off his luggage. And he noticed women’s things about. He wondered if his newfound friend had a personal relationship going. If he did, it would be a definite interference for Maverick to prolong his stay.
“You can take my truck. I rarely drive it,” Apollo tossed him the keys.
“Thanks, bro. For all of this. I promise, two weeks tops, and I’m out.”
Apollo shrugged. “You can stay longer if you need to. I’m rarely here, always working.”
“Oh? Okay, thanks,” Maverick said. It didn’t look that way to him. The place definitely had a lived-in vibe. It didn’t matter if the offer was reliable or not. He had no intention of burning through such generosity. Maverick’s trucks and cars would be arriving later in the month from New York. He would need a place of his own to park the vehicles.
“You headed to the ranch?” Apollo asked.
“That’s the plan,” Maverick said. He wore his baseball cap low on his head and a mask to cover the lower half of his face. The virus had retreated from the state of New York but not the rest of the country. In the back of his mind, he feared his return would have Delilah refusing him access to her until after a quarantine. He had to keep the faith.
“A word of advice?” Apollo offered.
“Sure, I’ll take all that I can get,” Maverick replied.
“Let the lady lead. These three,” Apollo said, referring to Delilah and her two friends. “If you don’t let them lead when they’ve pushed you out, it’ll get you nowhere. And a little groveling might help. Doesn’t with Queen, but Delilah is the opposite of her that way.”
Maverick laughed. “That sounds like personal experience. You and Queen partners or something more?”
“Something more.” Apollo shrugged. “One thing I know from living in this town is nothing is ever what it seems.”
Maverick watched Apollo drive off. He looked at the keys in his hand and then the truck. Should he just show up empty handed? Should he try to call her and tell her he was on his way? It didn’t matter that he didn’t have all the answers. He was going to see her and his son, and she was going to listen.