As he stared at the papers, the only person he wanted to tell about it was Jenna. He wished he could call her. If she were the one offering a hug, he would definitely not be turning it down, because that’s exactly what he wanted. He just wanted to hold her, for her to hold him. Just like she’d done after Poppy broke the news about his birth mom.
Speaking of his birth mom, could he call her? She knew both the people who were involved in this. Although, he wasn’t so sure how she felt about them. He figured the worst she could do is say she didn’t have time to talk. He pulled out his phone and was scrolling down when he noticed his hand was shaking. Why was he nervous?
He pressed her name, and it rang six times before going to voicemail. He decided not to leave a message. He headed back to his office and had just sat down when there was another knock at the door. It was like Grand Central Station.
Despite knowing it wasn’t going to be, Deacon still found himself wishing it would be Jenna when he openedthe door. That somehow she would have found out what was going on. Maybe Poppy would have told her.
When he opened the door, it wasn’t Jenna, it was a mini version, her daughter, Blake.
“Blake?” Instantly alarm bells went off, and panic rose in him. “What’s wrong? Is it your mom? Why aren’t you in school?”
“Mom’s fine. It’s my lunch hour. Can we talk?”
“Um, yeah okay.”
Blake turned around and waved, and Deacon saw her boyfriend Noah was on his scooter. “Does he want to come in? He can hang out with Rocco.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Of course.”
She gestured for Noah to come inside, and he hopped off the bike and removed his helmet. Deacon hadn’t actually met the young kid, but he’d seen him around a lot and was impressed by him. He’d seen him at the park a lot babysitting his niece, Parker, who was a toddler, and he was great with her. He volunteered his time coaching kids’ basketball at the community center, tutored, worked two jobs, delivering pizzas and at his brother and sister-in-law’s resort, Mountain Ridge, played football, and baseball, and was a straight A student, which he knew because Sue Ann’s Café put up the names of all the straight A students in Hope Falls on the community board in the café.
Before Noah stepped inside, he wiped his feet on the welcome mat and then held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. St. Claire.”
“Deacon, nice to meet you, too, Noah.”
Rocco was wagging his tail beside the teen, waiting to get affection and as soon as they released hands, Noah bentdown. “Is this the king? I’ve heard so much about you, King Rocco,”
Rocco licked his face, and Noah laughed.
“Are you guys hungry or thirsty? We have sandwiches and sodas.”
Noah looked up at Blake, and Deacon recognized the expression. The poor kid had gotten roped into skipping his lunch to take her there. “Noah, the kitchen’s right through, there. Go help yourself to anything. There’s pizza, chicken, and sandwiches.”
“Are you sure?” Noah asked as he stood.
Deacon remembered what it was like to be a fifteen-year-old kid playing sports, working, and in love with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who had him wrapped around her little finger. “Absolutely. We’ll just be in the office.”
“Thanks Mr. St, er, um Deacon.”
Noah and Rocco headed to the kitchen, and Deacon and Blake went into the office.
He sat behind his desk as he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want something to?—”
“Do you love my mom?” Blake spoke at the same time.
Deacon stared at her. He was trying to gauge whether this was her being upset because she found out that something happened between them or if she wanted them to be together.
“Why?” He didn’t feel comfortable responding until he knew her motive for asking the information.
His phone rang and he saw that it was his mom returning his call. Blake’s face dropped, and he saw she expected him to tell her that he needed to take it. He quickly pulled up his auto-messages and sent:In a meeting will call back after. Then returned his attention to Blake. “Iwould put it on silent, but I never do when Tabby’s not with me.”
She did a half eyeroll, but in an endearing way. “Yeah, my mom’s the same way.”
He knew that. She told him the first day they met eighteen months ago.
“Anyway, yesterday, my dad came over to pick me up and my mom and him were talking. I couldn’t heareverythingthey were saying because the music was so loud in my room, and if I turned it down, they would have known I was eavesdropping. But I know that something happened between you guys, and I also know…”
