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Because of that, there had been no need for Charli to contact Blake. Which meant that the last conversation they’d had, had been one of anger. Well, anger on her part.
She’d spent a lot of time over the past week—usually late at night, as she struggled to fall asleep—thinking about what Blake had said before they’d parted ways the previous Sunday.
In the months following his disappearance from her life, she had dreamed of a moment like that. Of having him explain what had happened and apologizing.
And asking for a second chance.
She hadn’t wanted any of that during their conversation, and his explanation hadn’t given her any sense of peace. It had just made her angry, which was a completely different reaction than she’d imagined she’d have.
However, the more she thought about it, the more sense her anger made. If he’d really been sorry about what he’d done, he would have tried to reach out to her sooner to explain and apologize.
Instead, he hadn’t attempted that until he returned to Serenity… without even giving her a head’s up. He’d crashed into her life again, helped along by her brothers’ welcoming gestures. And then, he’d wanted to explain away the horrible wound he’d inflicted on her heart when he’d just walked away from her without a second thought. Like she’d never meant anything to him.
Because she wanted to believe that if he’d really loved her, he would have thought twice about leaving her behind. And he’d have realized that he loved her enough to come back and fight for the future they’d been planning.
But now, she really wished that he’d had the decency to stay out of her life. To refuse invitations when he knew she’d be there. Like pizza night at her house.
Charli heard the front door open, then Peyton ran into the kitchen, a big smile on his face.
“Hey, Aunt Charli. Hey, Layla.”
“Hi, sweetie.” Charli gave him a hug, then he went to climb up on a stool beside Layla.
Not long after, Jay and Misha appeared with Ciara and the pizza, which smelled deliciously spicy and greasy. When Misha set Ciara down, she made a beeline for Charli. Smiling, Charli scooped her up.
“Hey, baby girl,” Charli said. “How’re you?”
“Good!”
Ciara had started talking several months ago, and her vocabulary was astounding. She could talk in sentence lengths that Charli wouldn’t have expected from someone under three.
“Are you ready for pizza?”
“Yep. And cookies.”
“You’re in luck,” Charli said. “Grandma made cookies today.”
She held up three fingers. “I want four cookies.”
“That’s three, Ci,” Peyton said as he came over to them. He gently took her hand and lifted one more finger. “Now it’s four.”
Careful to keep her four fingers in place, she held them up in front of Charli’s face. “I want four cookies.”
“You’ll have to ask your mom and dad, sweetie,” Charli said.
Ciara wiggled, so Charli put her down. She ran over to Jay, where he stood next to where he’d put the stack of pizza boxes on the counter. Holding up her hand, she said, “Four cookies, Daddy. Please.”
“We’ll see, baby,” he said as he picked her up. “You have to eat supper first.”
She nodded. “Then cookies.”
“Are Kayleigh and Hudson coming?” Charli asked.
“Not tonight,” Jay said. “But Gareth thought Aria would be ready to get out of the house for a bit.”
Their baby boy, Timothy, had been born earlier that year, and his arrival had been a bit of an adjustment for his parents. But now that he was sleeping through the night, they all seemed to be doing better.
Aria had gone back to work part-time recently, and Charli’s mom was watching Timothy during the hours Aria was at the office. If she wasn’t available, Denise stepped in to help them out.
