"Me too."
"You need to be sure you want this thing with Blake. Oakley is the mother of your child, but that status doesn't place her above Lilliana's and Blake's wellbeing, especially after the way she's treated you."
I let out a breath. "You're right."
"I didn't have to deal with another person interfering in my relationship with Hazel. But I like to think I would have fought them with everything I had. What we have is special, and I won't let anyone interfere."
I'd like to think that I was the same, but Oakley was an unpredictable force. I never knew what she'd do to get what she wanted. But I'd spent a long time avoiding finding out. Now I was poking the bear and hoping it wouldn't come and attack me.
"Does Blake make you happy?"
"We've only been together a short time, but yeah. We take care of each other, ya know? It feels good to be in a relationship that's not one-sided."
"You could find that same dynamic with someone else. What makes Blake special?"
I thought about how she looked when she painted, as if she were floating in the space between earth and heaven. And I wanted her to feel that way all the time. "I want to make her happy."
"Yeah, that's love all right. Now what are you going to do about it?"
"Focus on making Blake feel like she's special and loved. Then I'll tell her how I feel." I just hoped I didn't scare her off. Our relationship was supposed to be temporary, a means to an end, and now? I'd changed the rules on her.
I knew her life was elsewhere, but I got involved with her anyway. If she said she wasn't in love with me, there was nothing I could do about it. I'd be crushed. But wasn't it worth it to have at least tried?
"I'm a little jealous of you. Those first few weeks were an emotional roller coaster. I was fighting all these emotions inside me, telling myself I was imagining this attraction to my best friend. Or at the very least, setting myself up to be rejected.
"But the situation forced us to be together, heightening everything. There were so many opportunities for us to cross that line that it was inevitable. I found out later that she was having all the same feelings and doubts, but we weren't communicating that to each other. Is that the case with you guys?"
"I mean, we talked about doing this fake relationship for the custody case, and the need to go on dates and be seen around the island. But it started to feel real for me, and one thing led to another. It definitely wasn't something I planned on."
I heard the sound of an engine pulling up to the front of the house. The crew was arriving, and our time to talk was over.
"All I can say is, be honest with her. Let her know how you're feeling. Lay everything on the table," Brady said as Paul stepped outside with his coffee mug.
"You gabbing on the job?"
"You get to work," I shot back at him. This is what I needed, a distraction from the stuff at home. I'd get lost in the job and take a break from my thoughts. Otherwise, they were going to drive me crazy.
I was glad that I'd talked to Brady about my relationship. He made me realize that everything we were going through was normal.
There was only one wild card I had to worry about, and that was Oakley. Who knew what that girl was planning for me? It was never good. I was probably going to regret the day I decided to stand up to her. I just hoped it worked out in the end.
I volunteered for all the physical jobs, and by the time I got home, my muscles were screaming. It called for a long, hot shower. I just hoped I'd be able to get one.
When I opened the door, Blake met me with a hug and a kiss. Then I scooped up Lilliana, whose arms were lifted into the air, and she said, "Up. Up."
It would suck when Lilliana had to go home in a couple of weeks. I intended to stick with my prearranged schedule. I got Lilliana every other week, and if Oakley wanted to forego her week, she couldn't change her visitation to another week.
I'd read about a lot of custody situations in an online single dads' group I was in, and some were flexible. Unfortunately, I couldn't be that way with Oakley. She'd proven that she wasn't reasonable.
I walked in the kitchen, kissing Blake.
"We're cooking dinner for you tonight. So why don't you take a shower and relax?"
I nearly groaned out loud. "How did you know that's what I needed?"
Blake grinned. "It was a lucky guess. We wanted to do something nice for you. You're always taking care of us."
I was overcome with emotion, especially after my discussion with Brady. Blake was different from Oakley. She'd never pull that crazy manipulative crap that Oakley did. I deserved to have someone in my life like Blake. "I'm going to take you up on that."
