Page 110 of Discerning Blake

That’s a lame excuse to not give my son what he wants.

“Alright,” I say.

“Should I give Ethan a call then?”

“Yes. One hour.”

Blake nods and pulls away to go back to the bar.

I pull on his hand and bring him back, go up on my tippy toes and kiss him with everything I have. “Thank you.”

He looks deep into my eyes, his thumb caressing my cheek. “Anytime.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Blake

I call Ethan. The conversation starts off on the wrong foot.

“So you’re her babysitter now?” Ethan yells into the phone. “You think you’re going to supervise me while I spend time with my own son?”

I run my hand down my face. “That’s not what I said. Amelia will be busy, and frankly she doesn’t want to see you. So I offered to take him. Look, I’m doing this for you as much as I am for Chase. But if you don’t want to see him, then fine, I won’t bother. Chase and I will spend that hour watching the closing ceremony.”

Ethan makes a sound with his nose. “You’re unbelievable. Now you want me to thank you for stealing my wife.” But most of the anger is gone from his voice.

“I didn’t steal her. You’re the one who broke up your family.” Like his, my voice sounds deflated. I don’t want to have this argument anymore.

“I didn’t think you were going to take my place.”

“Do you regret breaking up with her?” My belly twists into a knot so tight, it makes it hard to breathe. What would I do if Amelia went back to Ethan?

“No. I don’t know. I thought that when I broke up with her, I would be free. That I would have more time for my friends. I thought you would be happy and that you and I would hang out more. But instead, you want to spend your time with her. I just don’t get it, I guess.”

Could it be that Ethan looked at my life and wanted what I had? While this whole time I envied him his?

“We can hang out Sunday evening. With Chase.”

“Yeah, sure. Just let me be the one to call him and give him the good news.”

“Sure.”

I hang up the phone and walk back into the bar.

Chase and Amelia left a couple hours ago. As the day drags on, more and more people show up, and Bryce is busy filling drinks.

“I’m done,” I tell him. “Kayla will be here in a half hour. Why don’t you go enjoy the festival?”

Bryce shrugs. “Tell Kayla to take the night off and go to the concert. She cares more about Georgina than I do.”

I was already planning on letting Kayla go during the concert. I asked Brody to come help me, and I don’t imagine there will be a lot of people in the bar at that time anyway.

But Bryce looks defeated.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nina says she’s not taking the job after all. She’s going back home tomorrow.”

Ah.