Page 7 of Because of Blake
We celebrate on Saturday with a simple celebration, just the three of us. Dylan gets to pick our meals and activities for the day. He chooses pancakes for breakfast, waffles for lunch, and breakfast burritos for dinner.
I’ll need to double my workouts this week. Maybe doubling is a little much. An extra walk or two wouldn’t hurt, though.
I give him the gift of a new bicycle and Sydney picks him out new clothes and shoes. They go for a bike ride while I wash the new clothes because Dylanhasto wear them to school. The kids are gone for a while, which blows my anxiety through the roof.
They’ve gotten lost. They’ve been kidnapped. Maybe run over. I should go look for them.
My heart pounds in my chest and I’m on the verge of hyperventilating, so I employ my calming technique again. As my heartbeat slows and I start breathing normally, I decide to do something more relaxing than wallowing in my irrational mom fears.
I make myself a glass of iced tea, blindly grab a book from my to-be-read pile, and take a seat on the front porch to wait for the kids to get home. Our house faces east, so by the afternoon, the front is shaded nicely. As I snuggle up in the cushy patio chair and raise my book to my face, I catch a glimpse of Blake walking Oscar up the street. I can barely see over the porch railing, but I know it’s him. I’d recognize the man anywhere. Plus, Oscar is a dead giveaway.
I haven’t run into him since the day at the mailbox a few weeks ago, and to be honest, I’ve been hoping I wouldn’t. Not that he isn’t great to look at, and he was insanely charming when we met, but the fact I’m attracted to him scares me. It’s something I haven’t dealt with in a long time, and I wouldn’t even know where to start.
I slink down in my chair, my nose almost touching the book as I eyeball Blake over the top of the pages. My attempt to hide is futile, though.
He spots me and crosses the street, walking up my driveway to stop at my porch steps. “Hey, Maggie. How are you doing? “
He remembered my name? A flutter rushes through me and I lower my book onto my lap. “Hi, Blake. I’m good, thanks. Just waiting on my kids to get back from their bike ride.”
“Ah, that must have been them I saw on the street behind us. Blondish boy on a black and orange bike? And his sister with hair like yours?”
I nod as my tension ebbs. “That’s them.”
“So, did everything go okay with the move?”
“Yes, I think we’re good, thanks for asking.” I hold his gaze a moment, his dark brown eyes never leaving mine, and I have to swallow down my racing heart. “How are you?”
“Never better.” Blake’s gaze trails down my body and pauses on my bare feet, my toes wiggling. As his gaze floats back to my face, he does a double take of the book in my hand. “Sorry, to interrupt you. I’ll let you get back to reading. That looks like a good one.”
“Oh, no problem. I haven’t even started yet.” I lift the book and see the cover for the first time since I grabbed it. My cheeks instantly redden as I’m put face to face with a Fabio wannabe and the scantiest clad woman I’ve ever seen, passionately embracing in a magical forest clearing. I snap it shut and lay it face down at my side.
Blake’s deep chuckle rumbles through the air. “I don’t read much romance, but maybe I could learn a thing or two from leading men like that.” He winks and my stomach flips. “Are you a big reader?”
I nod, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, and let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.“Sydney, my daughter, and I are both big readers. My son, Dylan? Not so much.” He and Charlie have that in common.
“Dylan sounds like me.”
An awkward silence settles between us. I don’t know what to say. My book certainly isn’t getting brought up again, and I don’t want to be the mom who can’t stop talking about her kids, so I sit here, smiling politely and staring at Blake. He follows suit, though his gaze bounces around as he adjusts his baseball cap. Different than the one he had on during our last interaction, but still the Rockies.
“So, you like baseball?”Duh, Maggie.
He nods, his mouth quirking up. “I do. Me and my buddies get together for a couple games a year. It’s a fun reason to get out of the house, y’know?”
“Actually, I don’t. I’ve never been to a baseball game.” Sports have never been my thing, and Charlie never pushed it, so the only times I paid attention was when someone invited us to a Superbowl party or a Stanley Cup Playoff get-together.
Blake’s mouth drops open a moment, before curving up into a calculating smile. Like the wheels are turning inside his head with an idea. “Well, you should check one out sometime. You might enjoy it.”
“I don’t know the first thing about baseball.”
“I’d be happy to teach you everything I know. Maybe I could take you to a–”
My kids come careening into the driveway before he can finish, saving me from what sounded like Blake asking me to a baseball game. Possibly even as a date.
“Mom! This bike is so fast!” Dylan shouts as Sydney pulls up next to him. “Ha ha! Beat you!”
Sydney rolls her eyes. “Yep, you sure did.”
“You guys had fun, though?” I ask with a shaking voice, and as they nod, their eyes land on Blake. “Oh, um, guys, this is… Mr. Blake. He lives in the cul-de-sac. Blake, this is my daughter, Sydney, and my son, Dyl–”