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Over the next half hour, people straggled in, with Gareth and Aria bringing the pizza that week.
Kayleigh and Hudson showed up as well. Prior to getting into a relationship, Kayleigh hadn’t always come to the pizza nights. But somehow, Hudson’s presence in her life had resulted in more frequent attendance.
Jackson, one of Gareth’s best friends, was also there, as was their friend Wade. They didn’t always include friends, but Jackson and Wade had been a part of their lives for so long they might as well have been family.
After Jay said a prayer for the meal, people began to load up their plates. Charli waited until everyone else had their food before she took a couple of slices and some salad. The large table was full with so many of them there, and that made Charli happy.
Her gaze swept around the table as the meal progressed, settling on Kayleigh and Hudson. Kayleigh was laughing and smiling more than she usually did, and Charli knew it was because of the man at her side.
Not that Kayleigh had been an unhappy person. She’d just been serious. Focused on her job. Hudson’s arrival in her life had been because of work, but it had turned personal, and now Kayleigh’s focus was split between Hudson and her job.
Hudson had his arm around Kayleigh’s shoulders, his hand lazily stroking her upper arm, as if he wasn’t even aware he was doing it but needing the connection. Kayleigh leaned against him, seeming to not desire any sort of personal space from him, which was also a change for her.
Growing up and even as an adult, Kayleigh had always wanted her space. There had been enough space in the house that she could have lived with Charli and Janessa, but she’d chosen to buy her own home and live by herself. Apparently, all it had taken was the right person to get past the aloofness she had used to keep almost everyone at arm’s length.
A familiar jealousy wound its way through Charli.
For as long as she could remember, she’d struggled with jealousy towards Kayleigh. Her older sister had seemed to have everything. She was petite and beautiful, smart, and determined to achieve her goals. If she wanted something, she went after it, and it was rare that she didn’t attain whatever she wanted.
In high school, though she could have had any guy, Kayleigh had only rarely dated, not all that interested in pursuing marriage or a family. Meanwhile, that had been all Charli had wanted. But she hadn’t been what teenage boys had been looking for. Too often, guys would befriend Charli only because they’d hoped for an in with Kayleigh.
And why wouldn’t they? Next to Kayleigh, Charli had always felt oversized and awkward. No doubt boys had seen her that way, too.
“Has your cousin settled in, Jackson?” Gareth asked.
The question took a moment to sink through Charli’s dour thoughts about her sister, and when it did, her hand tightened around her glass, so much so that she was surprised that it didn’t break. She opened her mouth to ask what Gareth meant, but then snapped it shut, remembering that she wasn’t supposed to know much of anything about Jackson’s cousin.
“Yep. Mom and Dad are renting Blake one of the suites in the four-plex on Maple, and the moving truck with all his stuff arrives tomorrow, so we’ll be there to help him with that.”
Charli was going to be sick. Every bite she’d taken of her meal threatened to reappear at the thought that her past was returning, bringing with it the possibility of totally wrecking her life.
For every month, then every year, that passed without Blake coming back to Serenity, she’d started to think it would never happen. To hope it would never happen.
But now it had happened, and she felt sick at what it might mean for the secret she’d kept close to her heart.
A million questions tumbled through her mind, but Charli knew she couldn’t ask any of them. Not without raising suspicions, at least.
“Why’d he decide to move here?” Jay asked. “Isn’t he from California?”
Jackson shrugged. “I haven’t really had a chance to ask him. I just know he decided not to re-enlist in the army, and then he asked my folks if they’d be able to help him find a place to live for him and his daughter.”
Daughter.
Charli didn’t really believe in coincidences, so she was pretty sure that the new student in her class was Blake’s daughter.
How had this become her life? Not only had the man she’d once loved, and who had broken her heart, returned, she now had to teach his child.
Why had God allowed this to happen?
She knew she’d made mistakes in her past, but she’d asked God for forgiveness, and she’d been more committed to her Christian walk since everything that had happened with Blake. Being faced with Blake’s return, her first instinct was to panic and try to figure out how to keep him from torpedoing her life.
She had to protect the person most important to her.
“You haven’t kept in contact with him?” Gareth asked.
“Not really. When he left here, he just kind of disappeared. No one knew where he went. My aunt told my mom that Blake’s dad had been livid when Blake refused to take a position in their family business. I guess he decided to enlist in the army instead, but we didn’t know about that until recently.”
She was feeling so overwhelmed by all she’d learned that Charli was glad when Layla asked if she and Peyton could finish watching the movie. After giving her permission, Charli took the opportunity to escape the conversation at the table and went into the kitchen to start the coffee and put some cookies and brownies on a plate.
