Mommy and the Maverick by Meg Maxwell

Author:Meg Maxwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Special Edition
Published: 2017-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Listen, Dad, I have to be somewhere this morning—” Autry glanced at his watch “—in five minutes. So we’ll have to continue this discussion later. Or preferably not at all.”

“You listen to me, Autry,” his father bellowed. “I want you on that flight this morning. My admin already booked it. Just have your hotel pack your bags and be at the gate on time. End of story.”

Walker Jones the Second had called every night since Alexandra had tried to lure him home, screeching up a storm about how Autry had hurt Alexandra’s feelings and that she’d reported he’d chosen “some country mouse” over her and wouldn’t return home with her. Autry had told his father he would finish his vacation, that he was enjoying time with his brothers and getting to know their wives and he had zero interest in Alexandra.

“If you think I’m losing you to that hick town and some country mouse, you’re wrong!” Walker the Second had shouted during last night’s call.

“Dad, do you hear yourself?” Autry had asked. “And stop referring to Marissa as a country mouse. I won’t stand for you insulting her.”

“Ah, so the country mouse has a name,” his father had said with a snort. “Marissa. She must be stacked.”

Autry had hung up on Walker Jones the Second. The first time he’d ever done that.

Now, five minutes before Autry had to be at Rust Creek Falls Park for The Great Roundup Kids Competition, his father had called back, demanding to get his way—which was for Autry to fly home immediately.

Wasn’t happening.

“Dad, you have an opportunity here to fix your relationship with Walker and Hudson,” Autry said. “Why can’t that be more important to you than business?”

“Our family and our business are synonymous,” his father said. “That you don’t understand that is mind-boggling.”

Oh, Dad, Autry thought. Please don’t be the lost cause I’m thinking you are. Please give me hope that we can salvage this family.

“Will you be on the plane home?” his father asked, his voice cracking. “I can’t lose you, Autry. I just can’t.”

For the first time in maybe...ever, Autry heard anguish in his dad’s voice, and it caught him off guard, to the point that he had to sit down for a second.

His head was spinning. Flashing in and out of his mind were images—his father, his mother, his four brothers at various ages. Karinna and Lulu and the nursery in his condo that he’d had someone come pack up and take to a charity. The offices at Jones Holdings, Inc. in Tulsa. The view outside his window at Maverick Manor. The faces of the three Fuller girls, Kaylee, Kiera and Abby. And their beautiful mother, Marissa, who was no country mouse. Not that there was anything wrong with a country mouse.

He saw himself saying goodbye to them, the little girls wrapped around his legs. “But you’re like our daddy now,” they said in unison. “Abby said so.”

You’re our daddy now. You’re our daddy now...

The words echoed in his head until Autry could barely breathe.

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