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“It went fine,” Blake said as he put his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “The food was amazing.”
“Yeah. The resort’s restaurants have a great menu.”
Blake glanced around the open floor plan of the home, taking in the comfortable living room with large, overstuffed furniture and the spacious kitchen and dining room area. “How was Amelia?”
“She was just fine,” Jay assured him. “She ate a whole bowl of spaghetti with a piece of garlic bread and had a cookie for dessert.”
“Oh, that’s good. She doesn’t always eat well, so I’m glad she ate what you gave her.”
“They’re downstairs watching a movie,” Jay said. “Misha just went down to get them. It might take a minute for her to get them corralled and up here.”
The kids still weren’t upstairs by the time Charli arrived. Jay greeted her with a hug, then asked how she’d enjoyed the evening. After a quick glance at Blake, she basically said the same thing he had when Jay had asked him.
“I’m glad it went so well,” Jay said with a big smile. “So, where are you going next?”
“We didn’t discuss that,” Charli said. “And we might not.”
That made Jay frown. “If this evening went well, why wouldn’t you plan to do it again?”
Before either of them could reply, the kids came running up the stairs from the basement and through the kitchen. Amelia came right to him and readily accepted the hug he bent to give her.
“Did you have a good time?” he asked her, though the smile on her face answered his question.
“It was great! Can we do it again?”
“Maybe.” He didn’t want to commit one way or another. “But for now, we need to go home.”
“Did you and Amelia’s dad come here together, Mom?” Layla asked as she looked between them.
“Nope. I drove my own car.”
“Oh.” Layla seemed a bit disappointed, which made Blake realize that Charli had been wise to keep their plans from the girls.
“I don’t suppose I have to ask if you had fun,” Charli said as she cupped Layla’s face and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.
Layla laughed. “Yeah. I always have fun here.”
“Well, say goodnight to everyone,” Charli told her.
Before long, the four of them were walking out of Jay’s house. Layla gave Amelia a hug, then skipped over to their car.
“Have a good night, Amelia,” Charli said as she rested her hand briefly on Amelia’s shoulder. “You too, Blake.”
After they said goodnight, Blake helped Amelia up into the truck.
“What did you do while I was with Layla and Peyton?” Amelia asked.
“Not much,” he said. “Just ate dinner, mainly.”
“That’s boring.”
If only she knew. “I’m sure you had a lot more fun than I did.”
“We had supper, then we played some games and watched a movie. I really liked being with Layla and Peyton.”
Blake was glad to hear she’d enjoyed herself. These days, it wasn’t often that he left her with anyone except Julia outside of school hours. Realizing how neglected she’d been in Lauren’s sister’s care, Blake had resolved to never expose her to something like that again.
Thankfully, he was confident that Charli and her family would always take good care of Amelia. Too bad he wasn’t likely to need to use their babysitting services again for a date with Charli anytime soon.
