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“Dani.” He stopped a few feet from her.
Knowing the blood had drained from her face, she managed to meet his wary gaze. “What are you doing here, Blake?” she demanded.
“’Bout time I came back, don’t ya think?”
“I think it’s probably too late.”
“Still an optimist I see,” he said, with a knowing smile.
“Don’t bait me,” she snapped, as the years seemed to slip away. She could still remember the day he had slammed the door in her face, leaving her crying for him to return to her and her young son. Shaking, she swallowed hard. “Why now—why’d you come back?”
Ignoring her question, he took a seat on the top step of the porch and mopped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. “God, this heat is miserable,” he said, and then chuckled as he gestured toward his old pickup. “The air conditionin’ is out.” Fishing a cigarette from his shirt pocket, he lit up and blew a long stream of smoke into the clear air. Squinting against the smoke, he looked around the place. “Been plowin’ I see.”
“I asked you a question, Blake,” she said calmly, although her insides were churning with emotions she’d hoped were long dead.
“Didn’t Cody get my letters?”
“Yes—”
“I said I was comin’ to see him.” Blake settled against the porch column and smiled engagingly. “And he told you I called?”
“Just the other day.” She leaned against the hot fender of his truck for support, oblivious to the dirt and oil brushing against her jeans.
“Well, like I said, I think it’s about time I got to know the boy, don’t you?”
“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea,” she said honestly, fear squeezing her heart at the thought that Blake would take Cody away from her.
Blake didn’t even blink. “Geez, you’re a suspicious thing.”
Cocking a golden brow, she explained, “It’s been a long time—nearly seven years. Cody doesn’t remember you, not really. Now, all of a sudden, you’re interested in becoming a father. I’d just like to know what made you change your mind.”
“Nothin’ special,” he said. “Maybe I just got tired of driftin’.” He took another drag from his cigarette.
“So you drifted back here.” Dani’s eyes narrowed a bit. “I don’t know if I can believe that.”
Blake shrugged. “Can’t blame you, I guess. But, in time, everyone grows up. Includin’ yours truly. God, Dani, I’m thirty-five years old.”
“So you came all the way from . . . wherever you were in Oregon just to see your son?”
“That’s about the size of it.” He tossed his cigarette into the dirt, grinding it out with the heel of his boot. “That and the fact that the job in Molalla gave out. I thought maybe I’d try my luck here, in Martinville.”
Dani’s heart sank. Blake. Here. Wanting to be with Cody. “The talk is that there will be a lot of work soon as Caleb gets goin’ on Summer Ridge.”
“So I’ve heard,” she said wryly, trying to disguise her fear. She refused to show any weakness to the man who had stripped her soul bare and left her to fend for herself.
Blake pressed his lips together and looked over the hazy fields. Standing and stretching, he came up to Dani and grinned. “So where is he?”
“Cody?”
“Yep.”
“At a friend’s,” Dani replied, an uncomfortable tightening in her stomach warning her not to trust Blake.
“When will he be back?”
“I’m supposed to pick him up before supper.”
“I’ll do it,” Blake decided, with a sharp nod of his head. “May as well jump in with both feet.”
