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Charli shifted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. Her fingers drifted down his arm to intertwine their fingers. Blake sandwiched her hand between his, relieved that the tightness in his chest was finally gone.
“I never wanted to admit it, but I’ve missed you a lot too,” Charli said, her fingers tightening around his. “Even though I tried not to dwell on it, the sadness was there. I never thought I’d have this with you again.”
“Neither did I.”
Though Blake had asked for a second chance, he didn’t necessarily look at their current relationship as a continuation of their previous one. They’d missed the years of maturity that they would have experienced alongside each other if they’d been together.
They were getting to know each other again, learning what had changed and what had stayed the same about the other person. He couldn’t allow himself to focus on the past. It was time to embrace the future.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
After they’d had their moment at the clinic, Blake and Charli had a serious discussion about how to move forward with the girls, mindful that it was no longer just the two of them in the relationship. There were now more relationships to consider.
They decided to wait until Saturday afternoon to give the news to the girls, with the plan to talk to the girls separately. Then, depending on their reception of the news, they’d get together for dinner.
Friday night, they joined the others for pizza. Because the secret about them dating was now common knowledge, they didn’t bother to hide it anymore.
And soon, everyone would know that Layla was Blake’s daughter.
Charli didn’t plan to hide that information once Layla knew and had had a chance to process it. Once she had done that, Charli was prepared to share the news with everyone else.
It was time.
“You did really well with your lines today,” Charli said as they headed home after the children’s program rehearsal on Saturday morning. “And Amelia did well with hers, too.”
“She was a bit scared to be by herself, so I’m glad Mrs. Clarke put us together.”
“This will be your last year in the program,” Charli told her. “Are you sad about that?”
“Yeah. A bit. But I can start doing stuff with the older kids at church. It will be kinda weird not being with Peyton and Amelia, even though I’ll still have other friends in the older group.”
When they got home, Charli could see that Will and Janessa were there. Will’s car sat in the driveway, and she saw Janessa’s car in the garage when she pulled her own car in.
“I want to do something fun,” Charli said as they took off their boots and jackets in the mudroom.
“Like what?” There was skepticism in Layla’s voice that spoke to her lack of confidence in her mom’s definition of fun.
“Let’s have a picnic in my room.” Charli went to the pantry to grab a tray, then set it on the counter. “Come help me get the stuff ready.”
She’d prepped everything she wanted for their picnic earlier that morning, and it included all of Layla’s favorites. Stuff for ham and cheese sandwiches. Baby carrots with dip. Her preferred potato chip. And for dessert… brownies.
Once they had all the food and some drinks on the tray, Charli carried it to her room. She’d laid out a blanket on her carpet in front of the small fireplace before she’d left earlier.
“This is cool, Mom,” Layla said as she sat down on the blanket.
Charli put the tray down in front of her, then went to work starting a fire. “I’m glad you think so.”
As they sat on the blanket together, Layla said a prayer for their food, while Charli silently prayed, asking God to prepare her daughter’s heart for what was to come. She’d rehearsed a bunch of different ways to tell her, but she was still nervous.
Layla did most of the talking as they ate, skipping from topic to topic. She touched on the books she’d read recently, then moved on to some drama with her friends at school. They seemed to have a lot more of it now that they were in middle school.
Of course, they were about to have their own little bit of drama.
“I have something I want to talk to you about,” Charli finally said as they ate their brownies.
Layla paused, holding her half-eaten brownie in front of her mouth. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong.” She hoped Layla felt the same after she heard the news. “We’ve talked a few times about what happened when I got pregnant with you and what happened with your dad.”
