Montana Mavericks books 5-8 by Jackie Merritt

Author:Jackie Merritt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2007-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

“It doesn’t look like we’re going to have a white Christmas,” Doris Dean commented as she rolled out dough for pies. She glanced toward her kitchen table, where her son was letting a cup of coffee grow cold as he stared out the window that faced the small barn and corral out back. When he didn’t say anything, she frowned as she picked up a circle of dough and placed it in a pie plate with expert hands.

This had gone on long enough, she decided as she fluted the edges. Nick had been home a week, silent and brooding, working with the construction crew for long hours at a time, then sitting around the house and staring at nothing. Yesterday his father had coaxed him out to look at cars and trucks, since the insurance check had arrived from his Blazer accident. But Bill Dean hadn’t gotten much further with him than she had, and they’d returned without a purchase. Nick couldn’t seem to make a decision, her husband had informed her with a worried look.

Finished with the shell, Doris scooped some of the pumpkin mixture she’d prepared earlier into it and put the pie into the oven to bake. Dusting off her hands, she took her coffee cup over to join him.

He didn’t glance up, just kept his eyes on the scene outside, where clouds inched their way through a winter sky. His lean jaw wore a stubble that he hadn’t bothered to shave off this morning and his blond hair—so like his father’s—was tousled from frustrated fingers pushing through it at frequent intervals.

Something was surely wrong and Doris meant to get it out of him.

“This isn’t like you, Nick,” she began.

Taking in an aggrieved breath, Nick shifted in his chair. He’d been grateful that, so far, his folks hadn’t questioned him since his return. They’d let him talk when he wanted to and be silent when he didn’t. But he’d been aware of the quiet, worried looks that passed between them. He should have known that their patience wouldn’t last forever. He supposed he owed them some sort of explanation.

“I guess not,” he answered, his finger tracing the rim of his cup. “Just kind of a low point in my life, that’s all. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.” Or a couple of years.

“Would you tell me what brought you to this low point?” Doris thought she already knew. The only other time she’d seen Nick—who was usually fun-loving, confident and upbeat—like this had been when his baby hadn’t lived and his marriage had broken up. She had a feeling this recent depression also involved a woman. Nothing else ever took the sparkle from a man’s eyes quite the way woman problems could.

“Not much to tell, Mom.”

She leaned forward, intent on prying it out of him if she had to. “Nick, you know I don’t ask about your personal life. But I hate seeing you like this. Please tell me what happened.”

So he did, giving her the bare-bones version and ending with what he felt was an honest assessment.

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