Page 13 of The Maverick's Homecoming

Even slightly droopy, those daisy-like flowers were beautiful, the bright orange petals tipped in sunny yellow. He’d handed them over. “For you, Kenzie.”

When she took them from him, the stems were damp from his sweaty palms. She knew then that Finn Monahanlikedher. And that was a wonderful thing. Because she liked him right back.

“I’ll pick you up at six.” His voice—a man’s voice now—jerked her back to the present.

She blinked away the tender memory and announced, “My treat.”

“Nice try, Kenz,” he replied dryly. “And no way. I did the asking, I get the check. Tuesday night. I’ll be knocking on your door at six.”

She debated insisting that she would meet him there…but why? If he wanted to pick her upandbuy her dinner, so be it. She rattled off her address.

“Great. Got it,” he said. “See you at practice.” And then he was gone.

* * *

On Monday, Finn pushed his players hard…but not too hard. He wanted to get them in condition, not injure or overstress them. At the end of practice, though, he and Barrett put on the pressure. It never hurt to test a player’s limits in a carefully managed, responsible way.

That day, Oscar was every bit as conscientious about keeping the team hydrated as he’d been the week before. Finn created a couple of chances to chat with him briefly—or maybechatwas the wrong word. Oscar was not the least bit chatty. He said what he meant and he moved on.

“Coach, I’m working on my own app to organize the team’s stats,” Oscar announced when Finn asked him how he was doing. “There are some good basic apps out there for high-school teams, yeah. But they’re by subscription and the free ones are always getting shut down.”

Finn waited a beat to be certain Oscar had stopped talking, because it seemed to him that the boy tensed up a bit when interrupted. “Everybody on staff will get the GameChanger app for free this year,” Finn said. GameChanger was currently the most popular recording, scheduling and communication app for high-school football teams. “And you are officially on staff.”

Oscar frowned. And then, he nodded. “That’s great, Coach. But I want to design my own app, too.”

“Alrighty, then. Go for it.”

Oscar regarded him solemnly. “Thanks, Coach. I will.” And off he went to fill bottles.

Finn didn’t get a chance that day to check in with Kenzie. She was right there, though, on the sidelines, ready to wrap a minor sprain and bandage a cut when needed. Twice, he managed to catch her eye. Both times, he grinned at her. She stared back at him with a straight face. That only made him grin wider. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow night and their friends-only dinner out.

After practice, he and Barrett met briefly to discuss training strategies. Then Finn had some things to take care of at Big Sky Properties. He spent a few hours there.

He got back to his place around five. One of these days, he thought as he walked in and stared at the mostly empty living area, he needed to buy a new sofa and some good leather chairs. What furniture he had now consisted mostly of things the former owners had left behind.

The only room he’d put any effort into was the primary bedroom. It looked pretty good, he thought. But he couldn’t hang out in there all the time.

His phone rang as he was sticking leftover takeout in the microwave. He shut the microwave door and took the phone from his pocket.

Great.Just what he needed on a solitary Monday evening in his empty house. A rare, completely unexpected and most likely unpleasant call from his dad.

“Hi, Dad. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing well, son. Always.” His dad was a banker. Years before, Finn Monahan Sr. had run the Tenacity branch of Big Western Bank. Then, not long after Finn headed off to the University of Michigan, his dad had moved the rest of the family to Florida, where he’d taken the reins of a bigger bank. Finn Sr. had been moving up the banking food chain ever since. Now, he was president of the largest bank and trust in Tampa. “Tell me, son. How’s the real-estate business going?”

Finn suppressed a weary sigh. He knew the question was a setup. Still, why be negative? He answered as though his father really cared. “Thanks, I’m doing well. Things are really picking up around here.”

“I’m sure.” His dad sounded bored to death.

Finn bragged on his town anyway. “There’s the new Dinosaur Center and there’s also been a discovery of kimberlite, a source of unmined diamonds. Tenacity is coming back from hard times. And my business is booming.”

“Booming is a relative term, wouldn’t you say?” his dad asked.

“Depends on how you look at it,” Finn answered pleasantly. “What can I do for you, Dad?”

“Just be honest with me, son.”

“Of course.”