That was worse.
To compete with her mates?
Also not good.
None of it was good.
There was no excuse for it.
And he had experience with this kind of shite.
He’d been very wrong.
He needed to talk to her about all of this.
He could not get into another mess like the one he made with Signe, one that he was still dealing with over a decade down the road.
He certainly couldn’t marry her and bring children into it. His father and mother’s marriage was over, and even with Dair and Davina fully grown and living their own lives, it was devastating their family.
His head was so full of this shite, he didn’t phone Blake on his way home from lunch with his dad.
He avoided her frequent texts and her call that evening.
As he did the ones the next day. Though, he did text to say he was busy, reiterating he’d collect her at the station on Saturday, two days away.
He did that because this chat needed to be had, face to face.
He got no communication after his text.
But he was at the station to pick her up.
And this was the first step he didn’t know he was taking in making the biggest mistake of his life.
Chapter 20
Mistake
Dair
* * *
The hug they shared at the station when Blake arrived in Edinburgh was awkward.
The anxious, rattled looks she was giving him were torture.
The silent ride to his house was wildly uncomfortable.
The only thing that happened between them that was sweet and relaxed was, after she took off her coat and he wheeled her bag to the boot room, when they entered his kitchen, Sorcha showed how excited she was to see her and Blake returned that with a full-body rubdown of his pup and lots of puppy cooing.
“Would ye like something to drink?” he asked.
She straightened from his dog, looked right at him, and she didn’t lead into it easy.
“Actually, I’d like to know what’s going on with you.”
No, this wasn’t easy.
But it was good.
