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Her heart pounded as she waited for a response, wondering if he was going to ignore that request the same way he had twelve years ago. There was no hope for a relationship if they couldn’t figure out how to communicate through these rough patches.
Life wasn’t always going to be smooth sailing, so if they hoped to build a future together, it was absolutely necessary that they figure this out.
Although, maybe Blake would bail completely on their relationship after what she’d done. But even if he did, they’d still need to co-parent Layla, which meant they had to learn how to communicate for her sake.
Blake: Not yet. I need some time.
Charli’s heart sank, and she had to blink against the tears that threatened to fall. Would he ever forgive her for keeping this secret? Would he understand why she had?
At that moment, she was pretty sure that the answer to those two questions was no. She couldn’t force him to talk to her, so all she could do was wait and deal with this on his terms.
Okay.
There were a lot of things she wanted to tack on to that, but none of them seemed appropriate to say through text messages. Especially the apology she was desperate to give him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“It seems you two have a communication problem,” Thomas said after Blake had spilled his guts about everything that had happened. Not just recently, but also twelve years ago. “I understand backing away for a short time, especially if you can’t trust yourself to respond well. However, the longer things drag on, the harder it can be to overcome the challenge.”
Blake ran a hand through his hair, then dragged it down his face. It was nine-fifteen on Wednesday night, and instead of talking to Charli, he was on his phone talking to his friend, Thomas.
The anger he’d felt on Sunday night had eased somewhat, but now it was sharing space inside him with hurt. He wanted to understand why she hadn’t told him about Layla once he’d asked for a second chance. Had she planned to keep that a secret from him forever?
Why had he been so willing to accept Charli’s word that Layla wasn’t his?
Everything he’d known about Charli twelve years ago should have told him that she wouldn’t have slept with someone else so quickly and easily after he’d broken up with her. He’d accepted it because it made him feel better about ending things. That if she’d been able to move on so easily, he hadn’t hurt her too badly by breaking up with her.
“I don’t know what to say to her.”
“Tell her that,” Thomas said. “Be upfront and honest about how you’re feeling. And encourage her to be the same way. It might hurt to hear her reasoning, but you need to. From what you’ve said, she tried to have a conversation with you when you broke things off with her originally. So, it seems to me she did attempt to tell you.”
And that was why his anger wasn’t directed entirely at Charli. In fact, a lot of it was aimed at himself. This was just one more consequence of the poor choices he’d made twelve years ago.
His anger at Charli was because she’d agreed to a relationship—a future—with him now, without telling him that Layla was his daughter. She should have told him as soon as she’d made that decision, if not before.
“Forgiveness is key here,” Thomas said. “She needs to forgive you for your actions twelve years ago, and you need to forgive her for this. It’s the only way you’ll be able to move forward.”
Blake exhaled heavily. She’d wanted to talk on Monday night, but he hadn’t been in a good frame of mind at that point. Not that he was any better right then, but at least he’d gotten to where he was willing to listen to advice on how to handle the situation.
Jackson had texted him several times as well, also asking to talk, but he’d ignored him. He didn’t know why Jackson seemed to be the only person aware that Layla was his daughter. Except maybe he’d put two and two together when Blake had told him that he and Charli had been together twelve years ago.
Too bad he hadn’t put two and two together for himself.
“Thanks for listening and helping talk me through it all.”
“I think you already knew what to do,” Thomas said. “But I’m happy to have been able to help. I’ll be praying for you.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Be sure to keep me updated.”
Blake promised that he would, then Thomas prayed with him before they ended the call. He slumped back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling.
His mind sorted through his options for his next step. Talking had to happen before anything else, and since Charli already wanted to talk, they were halfway there.
He sent a message to his aunt to see if she’d stay with Amelia a couple of hours the next evening. When she replied she could, he sent a message to Charli.
Can we talk tomorrow night?
