“And what?” she asks, crossing her arms, avoid telling me.
“When is it?”
She lets out a sigh. “Is it really something you want to know?”
My car rolls onto the dirt path leading to the house. “I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t.” I need to know how much time Ihave. But then again, do I want to fight for someone who doesn’t want me? It’s been a couple of months since I told her how I feel, and she hasn’t said anything to me about it since.
“June fifteenth.” She looks at her surroundings, eyeing the house. “Where are we?”
I put little thought into where I was going after she got into the car. Now, here we are in front of the house, which she knows nothing about.
I guess it’s better to show her sooner rather than later. Who knows how she’ll react. This house has been a work in progress for a while now and I’ve bitten my tongue every time I’ve wanted to tell her. But I didn’t want this to be the reason she potentially takes me back. In reality, I know it wouldn’t have been, because she’s not like that. She was so happy in our small little apartment when we first started out. Even when I felt bad about how much we struggled to live in such a small place. She always told me that being together with her family was all that mattered. “I want to show you something.” I feel her gaze on me as I stare straight ahead at the house.
Our house.
Hopefully.
“Are you going to kill me and then bury me in the dirt and pour cement over me so no one can find me?” she asks with a giggle.
I narrow my eyes at her. “You watch too much TV.” I shake my head, opening my door. “Come on.”
We take a few steps toward the house and she halts her steps as she stares at the wraparound porch. She mentioned she loves these porches back when we were teenagers. She said it made the house feel like a home. That was one thing I remembered. Hopefully, she still feels the same way.
“This is beautiful,” she says, turning to face the front of the house.
This land went up for sale two years ago. I wasn’t in the market to buy yet, since I wanted to do this with Blakely, but I couldn’t pass it up. There were so many trees that surrounded the land, and I felt so bad cutting them down. I tried to cut the least amount possible to get the house built right in the middle of it. It’s beautiful this time of year, with all the leaves turning red, orange, and yellow. I’ve pictured us sitting out here on a porch swing watching the leaves change with each season.
“Let’s go inside,” I say. She has a slight smile on her face, giving me a hint that she likes it so far.
She walks in and turns to the left. I’ve put a little nook here, so she can use it for her own personal library. I remember when I took her to see that one movie. I forgot what it was called. It had the twinkly vampire and the werewolf fighting over a human. It was so corny. What vampire twinkles? But seeing how excited she was that she was finally going to see the movie made my entire night. I only hope she reacts to my plan for this nook as she did when she saw that movie. I still need to add the built-in bookshelves.
She continues down the hall, passes the stairs, and enters the living room and kitchen. She gasps as she gazes at the kitchen on the left. “What the hell? This looks exactly like the kitchen in the beach house.” She walks farther in, until her steps come to a stop as she looks over at the wide sliding doors I had put in. The sliding doors that resemble the beach house. But instead of an ocean view, we have room for a backyard that will be filled with grass and then the same trees that envelop the whole house. “Are you doing work on this house?” she asks while staring out into the back.
“Yeah. I am.”
She turns around, facing me. “Are you the one that gave them the kitchen idea, since it’s the same as the beach house?”
I nod. I’m not sure how to tell her this is our house yet. The way her face lit up when she saw the porch and kitchen makes my nerves calm down, knowing that she likes it so far.
“Am I stopping you from working?” she asks.
“No. You’re not.” I clear my throat. “But we need to talk, Blakely.”
She looks at me like she knew this was coming. Not even a hesitant look on her face. “I know. We do. I feel so bad about how I’ve been lately.”
My brows knit together. I didn’t think she would take the lead on this conversation. But what is she feeling bad for?
“It’s been eating at me ever since…” She breathes like she’s finally releasing what she’s been holding in. “Liam is having a problem with the way we co-parent.”
“What!” I exclaim. “Why should he have any say in the way we co-parent, Blakely?” I had no idea this was the reason he started having problems. The last few times I saw him, his face was an open book. I thought it was because of the comment Kevin made.
“He thinks we are too close.”
Shaking my head at the nerve this fucker has. “What do you mean?” Who is he to say we are too close? He doesn’t have any kids. He doesn’t know how it is or how it should be. He should be happy Amari has both her parents in her life that get along.
“Because we do everything together.”
“What the fuck does he think we should be doing?”
