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“The better question is whatdoesn’the eat. I’m pretty sure I had to stop him from devouring a paper plate at lunch. You don’t want to see my grocery bill, between those two bottomless pits out there and the feral animal I’ve been growing in here,” she says, pointing to her belly, which is now the same size as mine, though I’ve got double the baby.
“I’m pretty sure Blake feels the same about me. I think I’ve been going through a jar of peanut butter every other day.”
Blake stops then, calling Ethan over to give him a mini lesson with the football and ending it with an affectionate slap on the back.
Mrs. T leans in and wraps an arm around me. “Tell me, Loren, are you going to lock that down, or what? Because if not, I might need to throw my hat in the ring.”
“You were right, you know,” I whisper quietly, smirking at her. “He is a good man.”
“Of course I was right,” she retorts, pursing her lips. Then she lets go of me to move to the coffeemaker. “I’m always right about these things. Just ask Tenley.”
“Huh?” Tenley says, blinking and shaking her head. “I’m sorry, it’s just, uh, well, I’m honestly having a hard time not going out there and tackling JD myself.”
The rest of us cackle at her as she stares dreamily at her husband through the window while he circles around the others and catches the ball again. Then he jogs back toward us and tosses the football to Blake before tapping on the glass.
“Hey, babe,” he says through the window, adjusting the backward cap on his head.
“Hi,” she drawls, fluttering her eyelashes and making me snort.
“Don’t be mad, but, uh, I’m pretty sure I just ripped my new shorts back there.” Then he lifts one leg to show the hole in the seam of his crotch. “Okay, love you, bye.” He mimes a kiss before he runs off.
“He’s lucky he’s hot. I just bought those.”
Mrs. T laughs as she turns to hand her a mug of coffee.
“Thanks, Mom.” They trade genuine smiles, and my heart constricts slightly.
“Yes, thank you,” I say when Mrs. T offers the next cup to me, and I realize how badly I wish my mom was capable of being there for me the way that Tenley’s is for her. But I do have a family that loves me, even if it looks different than I expected.
I stare out the window again, drifting while I continue watching Blake. He laughs and shrugs after he deliberately hits his brother in the back of the head with a football.
“He reminds me of Jude sometimes, you know,” Mrs. T says wistfully. “Blake, I mean.”
Tenley glares at her strangely. “I thought you said JD reminded you of Daddy?”
“Oh yes, but that was after I reformed him.” Mrs. T smiles ruefully, and Tenley cringes. “Though it seems like Loren’s doing a pretty good job on that front too.” I blush as I take a sip from my mug.
“I agree,” Tenley begins, eyeing me carefully. “He’s gone from Blake the Snake to passing the collection basket at Sunday Mass within the past few months. That’s pretty impressive.”
To be honest, watching Blake step up as a spiritual leader and having him ask me to attend church with him has become another example of that capable masculinity I admire so much. All the more reason for me to fall more deeply in love with him.
“I wish I could take the credit for the changes he’s made, but I haven’t done anything,” I say after a while. “It’s actually him being a good influence on me.”
“But he seems to be the best version of himself when he’s with you,” Tenley maintains.
I look down at the table. “I think he’s always been the same amazing person, but he felt pressured to be that other guy in public. And he just needed someone besides JD to reassure him it was okay to be himself all the time. If anything, I’m guilty of making him feel like the real Blake wasn’t good enough for too long.”
I glance up, expecting them to laugh, but all I find are wide eyes. Mrs. T reaches over to pat the back of my hand softly, and I swallow hard.
“Then again, he might have decided to turn himself around just to spite me or to one-up his brother, right?” I add with a forced smile.
“Maybe he’s always wanted to play tennis, but he was so good at being a quarterback that he was too embarrassed to admit it,” Tenley ventures after a while. “And now that he has you for a doubles partner, he’s given up on hiding how much he loves tennis.”
My smile softens into a real one when she references the metaphor she once used to tell me she’d fallen in love with JD. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Sounds like you’re pretty invested in your tennis game too.”
“Blake’s a natural athlete. It was getting too hard to keep pretending I didn’t want to play tennis with him, so I finally gave in.”
