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She knew her siblings. She knew what would trigger them to start inquiring about it again. And she wasn’t that stupid.
“My aunt said she teaches the class that Amelia would be in,” Blake said. “She suggested the same thing.”
“Well, there you have it.” Jay grinned. “It must be a great idea if Julia came up with it too.”
Blake gave a huff of laughter. “I have a feeling she’d say the same if she knew you’d suggested it as well.”
Charli’s stomach clenched at the sound of his laughter. They had spent a lot of time laughing together, and she’d loved it.
She’d initially met Blake when he’d come to Serenity to visit Jackson and his family. At first, he’d seemed rather reserved and serious. She’d thought he was handsome, for sure, and she’d soon found herself hoping that he might be interested in her. A little subtle flirtation at the end of that first summer had led to them connecting initially on social media before moving to texts and video chats.
Since it had all been long distance, it had been a great way for them to get to know each other, out of the sight of their families.
She’d still been in college, and her parents had wanted her to focus on her schooling. Though she’d agreed with them, for the most part, there was just something about Blake that made her want to throw caution to the wind.
At first, she’d thought he was a Christian because he’d attended church with Jackson and his parents. Later on, she’d learned that he wasn’t, but by that point, it hadn’t mattered. None of the things that should have kept her from getting involved with Blake had mattered.
All he had to do was smile at her, and she was a goner. His smiles and laughs became things she’d cherished.
He carried a more serious air now, but Charli was no longer going to try to make him smile. Nor were his laughs or smiles something she’d try to remember when they were apart. Not anymore.
Amelia, however, was a different story. If Charli could prompt smiles and laughs from the little girl, she was definitely on board with that. Amelia’s seriousness reminded Charli a lot of Blake’s. He’d always been more reserved than Jackson, so she still wasn’t sure if that was the little girl’s personality, inherited from Blake, or if it was because she was someplace new.
“Everybody done eating?” Jay asked a short time later.
“Yep!” Layla replied enthusiastically. “Can we get cotton candy now?”
“I suppose,” Charli said. “I did say you could after we ate supper.”
“Yes, you can too, Peyton,” Jay said before his son could even ask.
“Can I too, Daddy?” Amelia asked, looking up at Blake.
“Sure thing, Berry.”
“Why do you call her Berry?” Layla asked. “I thought her name is Amelia?”
“It is Amelia,” Blake told her. “But ever since she was little, she’s loved berries. Blueberries and strawberries are her favorite, so we started to call her Berry.”
“Oh! That’s cool. My favorite fruit right now is a… banana.” She grimaced. “That wouldn’t be a fun nickname, I don’t think. Berry is fun and pretty.”
“You could be popcorn,” Charli said as she gathered up the remnants of their meal. “You love that a lot.”
“That’s not much better,” Layla muttered.
“Your name is pretty,” Amelia told her. “You don’t need a nickname.”
“You’re lucky to have a pretty name and a nickname.”
Charli didn’t know how she felt about the interactions between Layla and Amelia. As much as she wanted to ignore the fact that they were half-sisters, seeing them together made it impossible to do that.
“Let’s go get some cotton candy,” Charli suggested. “Maybe we could call you cotton candy.”
“At least that would be pretty,” Layla told her as she swung her legs over the bench and stood up.
“Layla always makes me smile,” Misha said as they followed the kids to the nearest cotton candy machine.
“I have a feeling that Ciara is going to be like her, then you might not smile at everything she says.”
