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As she sat in the warm water, Charli tried to think of all the possible outcomes from Jackson’s inadvertent revelation. And for each of those outcomes, she figured out how she’d need to react.
The bath water had begun to cool by the time Charli came to the realization that there was no way she could account for every eventuality. But the one thing she could do was prepare herself mentally for the next day.
She’d been able to keep her heartache from her family twelve years ago, and she was going to have to do it again. Until she and Blake had a chance to talk, she didn’t want anyone to know what had happened.
So the next morning when she crawled out of bed, Charli refused to dwell on what had transpired the previous night. She focused on the things she normally did on a school morning.
After making sure Layla was awake, she fixed her hair and makeup—applying a little more under-eye concealer than usual—then she dressed in her outfit of choice for the day. On her way to the kitchen, she checked to make sure that Layla was almost ready.
Even though her heart wasn’t really into music that morning, Charli turned on her usual playlist, then gathered the ingredients to make some French toast.
“Good morning, Charli,” Will said as he walked into the kitchen carrying two mugs. He always came down for coffee for the two of them first thing in the morning, but his second cup would be in a to-go mug.
“Morning.” Charli gave him a quick smile before focusing back on the egg mixture she was beating. “Ready for another week at school?”
“As ready as I ever am for the first day back after a few days off in a row.”
Layla joined them, setting her backpack on a chair at the breakfast nook. She wasn’t a morning person, so aside from giving Charli and Will quick hugs, she didn’t say anything.
As Charli lifted the first piece of bread from the egg mixture and put it on the hot griddle, Layla got the parts of her lunch from the fridge and put them into her lunch bag. Once that was done, she added it to her backpack and zipped it up.
She then poured herself a glass of milk and carried it to the table. In between flipping the pieces of French toast, Charli sipped her first cup of coffee for the day.
“It’s Monday,” Janessa groused as she walked into the kitchen, dressed for her day at the clinic. “And I’m tired.”
“Me, too,” Layla said, speaking for the first time.
None of them in the house really loved mornings, though Will seemed to be the most alert of them all. Usually, however, by the time they left the house, they were all sufficiently awake to face the day.
As she handed off plates to the others to eat, Charli tried not to think about what Blake might be doing. She had no idea if—when—they’d have the time to hold a conversation, especially if Blake wanted it face to face.
Once they’d all eaten, Will loaded the dishwasher while Charli and Janessa put their lunches together. It was all very normal.
However, Charli didn’t breathe a sigh of relief at no one having picked up on her mood until she parked in her spot at the school after dropping Layla off at the middle school.
She took a moment to collect herself, knowing she was going to have to interact with Amelia soon. Though she might not know how Blake was reacting to the news, Charli was pretty sure that he was keeping his emotions under wraps too, hiding them from Amelia.
Gathering up her things, she got out of her car and headed for the school. The day ahead promised to provide her with enough distractions to get her through the next several hours. Then she’d have to deal with the rest of her day.
“Good morning, Miss H,” Amelia said with a beaming smile as she walked in.
The smile that came to Charli’s face in response didn’t feel as forced as she’d thought it might. It was possible that Amelia’s enthusiasm for them dating might be enough to make Blake think twice about ending things between them without a serious talk.
It dawned on her then that she was in the position Blake had been in when he’d wanted a conversation about their breakup when they’d seen each other again after twelve years apart. She hadn’t been inclined to give it to him then, so she needed to understand that he might not want to talk to her yet.
The tables had definitely turned. But where Blake had had inexperience and immaturity as an excuse for what he did, she certainly did not. She’d simply allowed her fear to hold her back from making the right decision.
It was a relief to have a bunch of rambunctious kids in class that day, since it required her to focus on them. They demanded every bit of her attention, and then some.
All too soon, though, the day with her class came to an end. Thankfully, she still needed to attend a meeting before she could go home. It was just one more distraction that she’d definitely take.
When Denise dropped Layla off at the elementary school, she stayed in Charli’s classroom while Charli went to the meeting, reading a book or playing on one of the class’s tablets.
The meetings rarely took more than an hour. All the staff were eager for the meeting to be over quickly, so no one dragged anything out. The principal was prompt in convening the meeting and did a good job of moving the agenda forward.
For once, Charli wouldn’t have minded if the meeting had run long. Since they had to discuss the upcoming Christmas program, it did run a bit longer, but only by about ten minutes. Normally, she would have been excited about the discussion, given how much she loved Christmas. But that day, her excitement was overshadowed by what was going on with Blake.
“Ready to go, sweetie?” Charli asked when she stepped back into her classroom.
