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He erased every single one of them, nothing quite right.He sighed and looked over to his son.Tommy looked up from his tablet.“What?”he asked.
“I couldn’t meet someone last night,” he said.“And I don’t know what to say to them.”
“Camille?”Tommy asked.“Is she mad at you?”
“Not Camille,” Blake said quietly.“We broke up a few days ago.”He looked at his phone again.The truth.He needed to tell Lauren the truth, but the truth was, Blake didn’t tell women about his son until things were going fairly well.He saw no need to add the complication to the first few dates, before he even knew if he liked the woman well enough to get more serious with her.
Tommy knew it, and Blake liked to think he was protecting his child.Really, he was protecting himself too, and he knew it.
He tapped out,Listen, I have a really great reason I couldn’t meet you last night.Can I drop by and see you for just a few minutes?Will you be at Cass’s house?
He didn’t hesitate or second-guess, though he’d typed up at least a dozen versions of that same message now.He sent it, and then he leaned back in his chair and sighed.His phone buzzed almost instantly, and he swiped it up in front of his face.
I can’t, Lauren said.We’re already gone and I’m not sure when we’ll be back.Even then, we’re only staying for as long as it takes to get ready for the Beach Bash.
“The Beach Bash,” Blake repeated, an idea forming in his mind.He hadn’t specifically been invited to the Sandcomber Beach Bash, but it happened on a public beach.And he was allowed out on public beaches.
Sandcomber?he asked.
I have no idea, Lauren said.She was clearly brushing him back into the corner where she’d kept him for the past two summers.He didn’t know what had been different between them this year, but he’d definitely felt some flirty energy from her at the fireworks a few nights ago.Then he’d deliberately stayed late at Harrison’s the other night, only to take a walk on the beach.Three houses down, he’d found Lauren lingering out on the patio alone.It had felt serendipitous, like he was meant to run into her simply so they could connect again more easily.He’d talked to her for a few minutes, asked for her number, and they’d been texting since.
If only he’d have been able to meet her for dinner last night.
Blake hated living in “if-only” land, so he shelved the thought and tucked his phone in his pocket as a pair of nurses entered the room.One of them held up a handful of paperwork and both of them smiled.“It’s your lucky day,” the one with the papers said.“Your daddy signs all of these, and we get you both out of here.”
Blake had never signed his name so fast.
That evening,the sun had fully set before he found Ty Parker and learned that no, Grant had not brought his friends to that night’s Beach Bash.He’d come a couple of hours ago and taken the leftover food for a party of his own.No, Ty didn’t know where they’d gone.
Blake had a good idea, and he practically jogged back to his truck, in complete disbelief that he’d wasted thirty minutes at the wrong party, talking to the wrong people, and basically doing all the wrong things.
In truth, this thing with Lauren was starting to feel cursed.“Whatever this thing is,” he muttered.He got himself to the north side of the island, and he had to text Harrison to get the blasted code to get through the gate.
Are you guys at your house or Cass’s?he asked.
Mine, Harrison sent back, and with any luck at all, he wouldn’t say anything to anyone about why Blake didn’t know that.Or that Blake was almost there.
Since Harrison didn’t live too far into the community, Blake pulled up to his house only a minute later.He’d gotten out of his SUV and taken a few steps toward the expansive front porch when the door opened, and a woman walked out.
His heartbeat fired through his body, but it only took him a moment to realize it wasn’t Lauren.
Her friend Joy came down the steps, pulling her sweater tighter around her body.She looked left and right like she didn’t want any witnesses for what was about to happen.Then she zeroed in on him.
Joy Bartlett was not aboutto let Blake Williams into the house.Oh, no.He could get himself right back in his car and get off this property.“She doesn’t want to see you,” she said, hugging herself tighter against the wind.
“I just need to talk to her for five minutes,” Blake said.At least he’d stopped coming toward her.
Joy held her position at the bottom of the steps.“She sat in that restaurant for almost an hour.”
Blake let his head droop toward the ground.“I feel terrible about that.”He sounded like he might be speaking the truth.
“Tell me the reason you couldn’t make it,” Joy said.“And couldn’t answer the phone.And couldn’t text her until this morning.If I think it’s a good enough reason, I’ll tell her.Then she can decide if she wants to talk to you again or not.”
Blake looked at Joy, and she may only stand an inch or two above five feet, but she drew herself to her full height and gave him all the attitude she’d given her sons when they’d come home in the middle of the night without calling her.He considered her for several long seconds, and then he said, “Okay, but I have to tell it fast.I have to get back to my kid.”
Joy’s eyes widened.“You have a child.”She deliberately didn’t phrase it as a question.She wanted him to think Lauren told her everything.Out of everyone, Joy suspected Lauren did confide in her the most, and that was a delusion she was willing to keep even if it wasn’t true.
“Yes.”Blake ran a hand through his hair, and Joy could see why Lauren liked him.He was tall, tan, and trim.He probably ran in the mornings before work.He could probably cook, and throw a football for his son.Or if he had a daughter, he could braid her hair and take her to dance lessons.
