Fly With Me | ✓

36

"Oh my God, you're the greatest person Mav's ever dated." Esmé breathed in the scent of the lilies Everleigh had handed her. "I want to date you." Her eyes widened at the small rose bouquet in Everleigh's hand that wasn't holding Dewey's crate—the duty free she'd visited before meeting up with Esmé was a blessing and a half. "And you bought mom roses? Where did he find you?"

"Found me by running into me." Everleigh laughed.

Esmé waved her hand dismissively. "We get it. Love at first sight. Barf. Only Mav would manage that," Esmé said. "You're gorgeous, he's a..." She trailed off. "You know, never mind. It's okay."

"That a birthday gift from you?" Everleigh asked.

Esmé laughed. A little too hollow. She tilted her head in the direction Everleigh assumed her car was and they started walking out of YQG. "I'll be honest with you, Mav had a rough day yesterday. Had a late appointment and got some bad news. He hasn't been out of bed all day."

"Isn't it..." Everleigh looked down at her phone to check the time. A voicemail popped up. Kingston.

"Four?" Esmé filled in. "Yeah. Mom was trying to get him to eat earlier but he didn't want to. Wouldn't even take cake that she offered."

Everleigh's flight had been almost 13 hours with a layover when it could've been done in half the time without it. Any exhaustion she felt was stripped away by the immediate need to be with Maverick. It had been two weeks since she'd seen him—only a spare couple of phone calls in between while he caught up with family.

"What happened?"

"That's for him to tell you," Esmé said, raising her hands. She clicked her car keys as they approached the vehicle. "But I just wanted to warn you before you got there. If he's being weird, it's not your fault."

Everleigh nodded as she carefully placed Dewey's crate in the trunk. "Thank you."

"Sometimes when he gets like this..." Esmé started, unable to find her way in the trail her sentence lost itself in. "It's rough. I'm not gonna lie to you. He doesn't really want to talk and he doesn't eat and he just... he shuts down. It's like he..."

"Doesn't want to exist?" Everleigh offered. Her eyebrows knitting together. She tossed a couple treats into Dewey's crate; both because he'd earned it from the flight and because she didn't want to look at Esmé.

"Yeah. It's..." Esmé couldn't find her footing on the words. "Mav's a lot of things and strong is one of them. But sometimes he crumbles. I don't think today really matters to him; so it's just going to be mom, you, and me. We didn't think he could handle anything else."

"Does he know I'm her—" Everleigh stopped herself when her phone vibrated again. Kingston. "Never mind."

"I'm not saying you can't pick up," Esmé said. "I'm saying that we're, like, maybe fifteen minutes from home."

Against her better judgement, Everleigh didn't answer the call. Let it go to voicemail before pocketing it. Her hands shook. Kingston Maverick had answered her call every opportunity he could when she was down, a pit in her stomach formed at not hearing his voice. Especially with what Esmé had told her. Her happy birthday, babes. <3 from before leaving for her flight, at five in the morning her time, midnight in Ontario time, felt too little of a gesture, even when she was running on a couple airplane coffees and had already travelled there to see him in person.

"I promise," Esmé said, "it's going to make his day when he sees you. I'll get us there in ten."

Esmé got them there in seven.