Page 16 of The Maverick’s Forever Home (Montana Mavericks: Behind Closed Doors #2)

“W hat happened, Cody?” Maggie kept her voice low as she pulled the classroom door closed behind her.

“I thought you finished it last night?” She’d asked him the status of his project after school every day this week, before dinner last night and again before bed.

Each and every time, Cody said it was under control.

In all of those times, he’d never mentioned needing more supplies—even though that was what he’d told Ms. Jalen.

Cody shrugged. “I thought I was done.” As far as explanations went, it was less than acceptable.

“I’ll help you—”

“I can do it.” There was no hint of remorse. In fact, he sounded irritated.

He was irritated? She’d been blindsided by Ms. Jalen’s phone call. Cody had lied to her. Lied. And while she was irritated, she was more hurt than anything. “We can stop by the store on the way home.”

“Nah…” He cleared his throat. “I found what I needed this morning.”

Had he? Or was this another lie? She ignored the knot in her stomach and kept walking toward the school doors.

Even though her parent-teacher conference had taken place after school let out, she was not going to discipline him in the middle of the hallway.

She was going to keep her cool and wait until they were home. At least, she was going to try.

This was about more than his project. He’d been fine until she’d shared the news from her doctor’s appointment that Tuesday.

The doctor told her she was almost ready to be cleared to return to work.

She thought this was great news but quickly realized Cody didn’t see it that way.

No, in fact, he was mad at her and he wanted to make sure she knew it.

The last few days, he’d argued with her about pretty much everything.

She didn’t know the name of his favorite dinosaur.

She’d forgotten he didn’t like his spaghetti sauce on top of his noodles—but he’d always eaten it mixed together before.

According to Cody, she’d been doing everything all wrong.

From the toothpaste she’d bought, leaving his bedroom door open at bedtime, cutting his sandwiches on the diagonal versus straight across, even the way he liked his hair styled.

It felt like he had an argument for everything she said—like he had to have the last word.

He’s testing me . She took a deep breath, then opened and held the school door wide. “If you’re sure we’ve got everything, we can head on home.”

Cody grunted and ran through the door and out—into the parking lot.

“Watch out, Cody!” She hurried after him. “There are cars.”

He didn’t pause but headed straight for her car. The last thing her son expected was for the passenger door to swing open and his uncle to step out.

“Cody Cooper.” Mike was angry and he wasn’t bothering to hide it.

Cody froze, his eyes widening as his uncle came around the rear of the SUV to stare down at him.

“What are you doing?” Mike looked angry, too. “I know you heard your mother calling you. I heard her and I was sitting inside that car.” He pointed at the car.

“I… I…” Cody swallowed, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “Sorry, Ma,” he mumbled.

Maggie wasn’t sure what was worse, that Cody had been so blatantly unrepentant and disrespectful seconds ago or that he’d only apologized because Mike had caught him acting out. “Let’s all get into the car, shall we?”

Cody was in the car before she could say another word.

“Mike,” Maggie said as she placed a hand on his arm. “He’s a kid. We’re the grown-ups. It’s up to us to model behavior.”

He ran a hand over his face. “Mags, come on. He’s being a little—”

“Boy? A little boy that’s working through his frustration with his mom.” She squeezed his arm.

“That makes it okay for him to walk all over you?” He shook his head.

“I get that you’re worried about making things worse between you, but you’re his mother—he should treat you with respect.

” He stepped closer and lowered his voice.

“I don’t know what’s going on with him but I can talk to him if you want? ”

“It’s okay, Mike. I’ll talk to him. Pretty sure it has something to do with me going back to work.”

“Mags. Not yet. Doc hasn’t given you a thumbs-up, yet, right?” Mike held his hand up, his expression shuttering. “I’m not ready to have that conversation yet. Let’s go home.”

Maggie stared after him, more exhausted than she’d been in a while.

For the first time, her whole family seemed dead set against her returning to her job.

Opal, her longtime supervisor, called to check on her every week or so.

Every time she mentioned those calls or her job, they’d bring up how she needed more time to heal and rest. Considering how tired she felt at this moment, maybe they were right.

But a memory of Angelique’s face popped up—how she’d clung to Maggie’s hand until the end.

The drive to Cooper Ranch was absolutely silent. By the time they’d parked alongside the main house, her nerves were strung so tight, she had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. This wasn’t the way she’d wanted this afternoon to go.

Cody hurried inside before she could say a word.

“I’m gonna head home and cool off.” Mike barely looked as he slid out of her SUV and climbed into his truck to make the short drive to his house on the other side of Cooper Ranch. “He can’t treat you like that Mags. It’s not right.”

Her phone started ringing as soon as she stepped inside. She hung her purse on one of the hooks by the back door, saw that Cody was doing his chores without being reminded, and checked to see who was calling.

Braden.

Seeing his name triggered instant tingles. She took a deep breath and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hey, Maggie. It’s Braden.” He had such a deep and lovely voice.

Yes, I know. I have tingles . “Hi, Braden.” She ran a hand over her hair. From the feel of it, her curls were in full rebellion mode. “How are you?”

“Good. I wanted to say that Delilah and I had a good time Saturday.” There was a smile in his words—she could hear it.

“It was fun. Cody’s been telling everyone about what he found.” She glanced at her son—who’d stopped putting away dishes to listen in on the conversation.

“Delilah’s got show-and-tell on Friday, and she can’t wait to take in Cody’s discovery. Is he still willing to come to her class and help out? Him being a dinosaur expert and all.”

“Hold on just a second.” She covered the phone and turned to Cody. “I’m going to my room for a minute. Finish up here and then we’ll figure out a snack.”

“Yes, ma’am.” There was no sign of the sass or attitude he’d displayed before Mike intervened.

“Thank you.” She smiled at him—but he was still avoiding eye contact with her. With the phone cradled against her chest, she stepped out of the kitchen and hurried down the hall to her room. “Sorry about that.” She closed her bedroom door behind her.

There was a pause before he asked, “Everything okay?”

She swallowed, surprised by the sudden sting in her eyes. “Yes.” But she didn’t sound okay. She cleared her throat. “Sort of. Okay. Not really. It’s been a day.” She leaned against her bedroom door.

“You want to talk about it?”

“No, it’s fine. You know, just parenting stuff.” She tried to laugh.

“You don’t sound fine, Maggie. I’d like to help if I can. I may not be the best with words but my ears work well enough.”

She should laugh off his offer or redirect or something.

“You’ve probably picked up on the tension between Cody and me.

Some days it’s not so bad, other days it is.

Today was a bad day.” She took a deep breath.

“I’m trying my hardest to put his best interests first. My mom, my dad and my brother all have their opinions on how I should parent—and they have no problem telling me those opinions.

And I appreciate them, I do. After what happened…

” She stopped short, refusing to unload everything onto Braden’s broad shoulders. “I am so sorry, Braden. Wow.”

“Don’t apologize. As far as families go, you pretty much described mine.” He chuckled. “You know what’s causing the tension between the two of you?”

“I think so.” She swallowed. “But I don’t know how to fix it.” She pushed off her door. “Not yet, anyway. I will, though.”

“Well, if you want to talk through that at some point, let me know.”

“I will.” But she wouldn’t. Her job was a minefield full of opinions and judgment, and, really, she’d like Braden to be a judgment-free zone. She smiled. “Now, about Friday.”

“If it’s too much of an imposition—”

“It’s not that. He would love to play dino expert for Delilah and her class, but I’m not so sure he’s earned that privilege.” She paused. “His teacher called me in for a conference today. She told me he hadn’t done his really big assignment—an assignment he told me he had done. He lied to me.”

“Ouch.” Braden hissed. “Damn, Maggie, I’m sorry.”

“Right? I know I should be mad, but I’m hurt more than anything.” She blinked away the tears.

“Of course you are.” There was such comfort in those words. “I don’t have any words of wisdom for you. Sometimes you have to listen to your gut, not what others are telling you. I think that’s especially true with your own kid. I could be wrong, though. You know I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“That’s not true. You and Delilah are doing great.” Better than Cody and me . She sat on the edge of her bed. “In case you didn’t know, she is the most adorable little girl I’ve ever met.”

“Don’t I know it. It makes it awful hard to push back when she’s refusing to eat a single thing on her plate, or trying to wear flip-flops out in fifty-degree temps, or packing her suitcase so she can go back home to Florida.

” He paused. “I’ve had nightmares where she did sneak out.

Nothing like getting out of bed and running through the dark to check and make sure she’s still sleeping in her bed. ”