Essential Beginnings Read Online Free

Hardware Store.”
    Mav figured Henley purposefully didn’t look his way again as she and Ernie finished their conversation. She’d schooled her features with a half-smile that was only meant for Ernie. Mav would have given anything to know her thoughts, but it wasn’t long after that she departed and tipped the bell above the door. Mav was left behind to stare at Ernie’s weathered face and sharp blue eyes, bringing them right back to where they’d started…shit.
    “Do you really want to take the chance of leaving Henley here?” Ernie smoothed down his mustache as his focus became even more precise. “All I’m asking is that you stay another day to play it safe, Marine.”
    “Henley is safer here than any other place in the United States according to you.” Mav finally slipped his shades on and stepped around Tank, holding up a hand to the residents still eating their meals or watching the news. “You all behave until I make it back here this winter. I’ll be back for the holidays if I don’t have to work.”
    A round of goodbyes echoed throughout the diner as Mav exited the door with Ernie on his heels. Mav hadn’t even bothered to look at the television. He was torn between returning home to his responsibilities and caving into the demands of a worried man who was more like a father. He did his damnedest to steel his mind against his wavering decision. He made it to his fully outfitted Jeep Rubicon before turning to make Ernie understand why staying behind over a common natural occurrence wasn’t feasible.
    “Son, I try to never ask of you anything that you can’t deliver,” Ernie said, beating Mav to the punch. “If I have to bring up the favor you owe me then it might as well be now…so I’m calling in my chips.”
    Mav barked out a humorless laugh and leaned back against the door to his somewhat dirty vehicle. He never would have imagined that Tank would bring up something that happened when he was a green recruit out of boot camp.
    Mav had started out hanging with a couple of fellow Marines in his new command that were headed down the wrong path and Master Gunnery Sergeant Yates had pulled Mav’s young ass out of the CO’s line of fire when he roasted Mav’s running partners at NJP. An Article Eleven hearing so early in his career would have certainly ruined any chance of Mav getting ahead in the Corps. MGySgt. Yates had seen something in Maverick’s character that caused him to call in a favor. The CO had deferred to his MGySgt. A lieutenant colonel in the Corps rarely took counsel from anyone outside a select few that have earned his loyalty. Mav had benefited from the fact that MGySgt. Yates held the CO’s trust and confidence. Unfortunately, that meant that Mav had attracted the MGySgt’s ire and would have to pay the piper for his earlier poor choices.
    As Mav’s mentor, Ernie had ridden him hard and made a fine Marine out of the young wayward youth. It had directly determined how his career in the Marines had played out. He owed Ernie his career and start in life. It wasn’t something he could dismiss out of hand. Ernie never cracked a smile; his subdued features made it obvious he would resort to any level to get Mav to stay.
    “I’d say that was a low blow, but you and I both know I could never repay you for saving my ass.” Mav took a deep breath, trying to figure out some excuse he could tell his sergeant back home that he wouldn’t be making his shift on Wednesday. And now he would owe another trooper a big favor—so much for having the holidays off. “Fine. I’ll stay for one day. But I head out tomorrow if nothing happens by morning.”
    “Good.” Ernie wasn’t triumphant in any way. What concerned Mav was the fact his mentor appeared rather assured in his judgment of what was to come. “Walk with me to Marvin’s shop and then we’ll help Henley carry out the items I’m having her pick up at the grocery store. The list is extensive, but when the town realizes