AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charli narrowed her gaze at him. “Don’t make me regret this.”
“I won’t.”
After twelve years, he had her phone number again.
Last time, he’d ended up blocking her number, then deleting it, because he hadn’t wanted to be tempted to contact her, especially after he’d tied his life to the US army. Changing his number had been the final step in the severing of their relationship and the connection with his old life.
He understood Charli’s reluctance to give him the information again, so he’d be mindful of how he used it.
Blake had to practically drag Amelia away from the other two. Thankfully, Jay and Charli also told their kids to get to their cars, so Amelia had no choice but to go with him to the truck.
As he waited to exit the parking lot, Amelia said, “Does Layla have a daddy?”
“I don’t know,” Blake said, wondering where the conversation was going.
“Maybe her daddy is gone like my mommy.”
“Maybe.”
“I wish we were sisters. Then Miss H could be my mom and you could be Layla’s dad.”
Blake didn’t know how to respond to that. In another world where he’d made different decisions, that might have been the case.
In a way, he was a bit surprised that it had taken her this long to come up with these observations, although she’d never really been one to jump into things. This might be the first time she was voicing these thoughts, but it was entirely possible they’d been percolating in her brain for much longer.
Blake tried to come up with a response that wasn’t dismissive, but he also didn’t want to encourage her in this line of thinking.
“I’m going to pray for it,” Amelia announced before Blake had sorted out his answer.
“What?”
“Aunt Julia said that we can pray and ask God for things,” she told him. “So I’m going to pray and ask God to make Layla my sister.”
Now Blake really didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to tell her not to pray, or that God wasn’t going to answer her prayers. But how would she feel when God didn’t answer her prayer the way she wanted? Because that was probably going to be the case.
Thinking back over the sermons he’d heard, Blake tried to come up with something to help her understand that no was also an answer.
“You need to realize that God might have other plans for them and for us,” Blake said gently. “But you can always pray about it, so God knows what you’d like.”
Amelia remained quiet for the rest of their drive home, and Blake was worried about it. However, she didn’t seem upset by what he’d said. And when he went to put her to bed that night, she prayed with more faith than he had about the situation. He couldn’t help but admire her for that.
Though he left Amelia in her room a few minutes later, Blake couldn’t leave behind her comments on Charli and Layla. She might have enough confidence to pray for what she wanted in this situation, but Blake didn’t. Mainly because it felt selfish to pray for something he’d already had once and handled badly.
Was it fair to ask God for a second chance with Charli when he messed up so terribly the first time around?
Blake wasn’t sure that it was. No matter what he might want.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
For some reason, Charli had expected Blake to contact her right away after asking for her number. However, he didn’t. And—as had become too common of late—she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
He’d obviously picked up on the antics at the bowling alley and wanted to discuss what had happened. Her siblings—Jay and Janessa especially—were determined to play matchmaker, and short of telling them everything that had happened years earlier between her and Blake, she wasn’t sure how to discourage them.
Would Blake have any ideas? Maybe if he made it clear to Jay and Janessa that he wasn’t interested in her, they’d back off.
But was Charli strong enough to ask him to reject her for a second time?
At least this time, she wouldn’t be left in the dark, wondering what had happened. She’d be giving him permission to reject her.
