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“You’re a good boy,” he said. “Don’t let her take that from you.”
“I won’t.”
“And tell Gwen that you don’t want her texting you anymore.”
Tommy pulled away, his face full of worry now. “Do you think she’ll be mad?”
“No,” Blake said. “Even if she is, Tommy, she shouldn’t have given your number out without asking you.”
Tommy nodded, and he pulled out his phone and started typing. Blake led the way into the house, calling, “Just us,” as he did.
“On the back patio,” Jacinda called. The scent of cooking meat filled the air here, and Blake walked through the house—which was a complete wreck, as usual—and outside to the back deck. All of the houses on Carter’s Cove were there for the outdoor living space, not necessarily the indoor accommodations. Jacinda’s house was no exception.
“Hey.” He bent and kissed his ex-wife’s cheek, then swept his gaze over to her boyfriend. “Hey, Cason.”
“Howdy, Blake.” They didn’t shake hands or anything.
“Jacinda, can I talk to you for a sec?” Blake hooked his thumb over his shoulder and back toward the house. Tommy came outside too, without his backpack but with his phone.
“Is there a steak for me?” he asked.
“Sure thing, bud,” Cason said, and he got up and opened the grill. “You like medium-well, right?”
“Yes,” Tommy said as Blake followed his ex inside.
“What’s going on?” Jacinda asked. She had long, dark hair that curled of its own accord. Her pale skin didn’t match her dark eyes and hair, and her lips had always been nearly as thin as sheets of paper.
“Tommy got a bunch of sort of sexual texts from a girl today,” Blake said. He spoke quickly, almost under his breath. He took out his phone and gave it to her. “I told him not to respond. I told him to tell Gwen not to give out his number and that he doesn’t want this girl texting him. They made him uncomfortable.”
Jacinda looked up, her eyes wide. “They make me uncomfortable.” She handed him his phone. “He told you about them?”
“Yes, on the way here.”
She nodded, wrapped her arms around herself, and looked outside to Tommy. “I’ll talk to him too, just so he knows we both know about it and are here to help him.”
Blake nodded and swallowed. “It’s really early still, but I started seeing someone new.”
Jacinda’s gaze came back to his. “Have you told Tommy?”
“Not yet,” he said. “Just telling you, in case when I do…if he has any questions he won’t ask me.”
She nodded again. “Okay.” She patted Blake’s bicep as she went past him. “Good to see you, Blake.” She went back outside, and Blake watched her rejoin Cason and Tommy. He and Jacinda had been so young when they’d gotten married. Tommy had come along almost immediately, and Blake honestly wasn’t sure he even knew what love was.
Romantic love, that was.
The love for his son, he knew. He understood that, and he touched his fist over his heart when Tommy looked his way. His son smiled, got up, and came inside. “Bye, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you too, bud. You tell your mom if that girl texts again, ya’hear?”
Tommy nodded, and Blake turned to leave.On the way to the Heartwood Inn, he texted Lauren.Gonna hang at the Heartwood Inn for a little bit until the ferry lines die down. Wish you were here.
She didn’t respond right away, and he wondered what she was doing right now. Probably something with Joy. Or looking for a job. Or texting all of her Supper Club ladies.
No matter what she was doing, the simple thought of her made him smile, and Blake wore that all the way to the beach, already planning the perfect date for the next evening.
8
Lauren laughed as she texted Blake. He could flirt, and Lauren did like that about him. The thing with him was she knew he’d say out loud the things he typed too, and she enjoyed their back and forth conversations about the people he was watching on the beach.
