“How are you?” he asks, with the same pain in his eyes that was there when I left him.
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m good. How are you?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I’m getting there.”
He’s holding a jewelry box in his hand. It’s only been a couple of months since we split. Is he buying that for a girl? Does he have a girlfriend? Who am I to question it when I went straight to Kai after only a couple weeks? I hope he has found someone. He deserves to be happy. “That’s good. How’s work been?” I ask, not knowing what else to say or how to start a conversation.
“Busy. You know, with the end-of-year and everything.”
I nod, understanding, because our office has been extremely busy, too.
“I’m assuming you and Kai are back together?” he asks, eyeing the cologne. “Given you’re here in the guy section.”
I avoid his gaze as I nod. He drops his head down and stares at the box in his hand. “I had bought this for you when we were together. For Christmas,” he says, lifting the box up.
I stay quiet, not knowing what to say.
“I forgot about it, and they asked me to come pick it up since it’s been so long. I can’t get a refund for it.”
“Oh,” I say with my lips tightly together. More guilt rushes through me. I hope it wasn’t expensive. “I’m sure I would have loved it,” I say with a wide grin to hide the guilt.
His lips turn into a slight smile. "Well, I better let you go so you can finish your shopping,” he says, looking around. “So you don’t miss out on whatever you need. Everything is looking pretty empty.”
“Yeah, it’s crazy right now.”
“It was good seeing you, Blakely.”
“It was good seeing you, too.” We both smile and turn away from each other. I take a few steps before I hear him call out.
“Blakely.”
I glance over my shoulder and spot Liam, still standing in the same place. I turn fully to face him as he lowers his head, then lifts it again and asks. “Are you happy?”
A slight grin forms around my lips. “I am.” He nods with disappointment. “Are you?” I ask.
“Not right now. But in time, I will be,” he says, breaking our eye contact as he turns around and walks away.
Everything happens for a reason. There’s always a plan for our lives. It’s crazy how much you can try to stop your life from going one way, only for it to take you where you’re meant to be. I believe Liam came into my life to show me how much I truly deserve when all I could do in that time was give up on a second chance to love. I thought thatsecond chancewas with him—onlyto find out that the second chance I was holding onto so strongly wasn’t with him, but with my first true love. The love of my life.
MyForever and ever.
Kai
As soon as I hear the garage open, I grab Amari’s hand and lead her off the couch to stand in front of the kitchen. “Here she comes,” I whisper to Amari. We both stand, waiting for Blakely to walk in from the garage and see us in matching pajamas. Amari's smile is so big. She’s so excited for this tradition. She doesn’t remember the tradition started when she was a baby. B never did it again after I ruined it the first time.
B walks in, wide-eyed, startled at us standing in front of her. “What are you guys wearing?”
“Matching pajamas.” Amari walks to her with her set in hand. “This one is yours.”
B’s mouth drops as she gazes between her set of pajamas and the two of us already in them. This was a hard surprise because I had no clue what to pick out or where to go. I went one day on my lunch break, to Target of all places, because a lot of men atmy work talk about their wives running errands. Turns out they just go to Target.
When I walked in, all I saw were women with coffee in hand and baskets filled to the top with clothes It was awkward walking around the women’s section. To my surprise, no one paid attention to me.
“Do you like it?” I ask as B walks down the stairs. I bought all three of us red-and-black checkered pants and black long-sleeve shirts with Santa’s face in the middle. It’s the best I could do, given it was last minute, and a lot of the racks were bare.
“I love it.” She kisses me on the lips, pulling me into a hug. “Do you like them?” she asks Amari.
"Yeah, why haven’t we done this every year?” Amari asks, glancing at us.
