Chapter 33 Blakely
Blakely
“Is Liam going to make it?” my mom asks.
Today is Bryn’s sweet sixteen. Thank God she isn’t pregnant at sixteen like I was.
I prayed she would never follow in my footsteps.
Even my mom used to lecture me about it.
That was one thing me and my mom used to butt heads about after I moved back in with her.
She was so much stricter with Bryn than she was with me.
I felt bad that my actions caused Bryn to have more rules placed on her.
I tried talking to my mom to see if it would help loosen her up, but all it did was cause arguments between us.
“He said he would,” I say, hanging the last of the balloons as the savory aroma of homemade chili fills the house, a warm blend of spices, making the house feel very warm and comforting.
Bryn didn’t care to have a sweet sixteen party. All she wanted to do was hang out with her friends. A typical teenager. So here we are having a little get-together for her.
My heart feels heavy knowing that I didn’t invite Kai.
He’s always been part of our celebrations.
This time feels so off without him here.
It feels so wrong that I didn’t include him, but then it feels so wrong to include him—because of what Liam said.
I can’t help but wonder how he’s feeling, or if he even remembers it's Bryn's birthday. I’m hoping he doesn’t remember.
Paige walks into the kitchen. She’s wearing black skinny jeans that hug her legs and a cropped gray sweater. She holds out the cake in her hands. “I got the cake,” she says, her voice full of excitement.
My mom takes the cake from her and places it in the middle of the dining room table. “Thank you for picking that up for me, Paige.”
“No problem,” Paige says and looks around. “Where’s the birthday girl?”
“In her room, getting ready,” I say.
She walks out of the kitchen and yells over her shoulder, “I’m going to go say hi!”
“So, how’s the wedding planning going?” my mom asks as she takes the cake out of the box.
“It’s coming along,” I say, trying to sound as if I’ve been planning it.
“Coming along?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you’d be knee-deep in planning it by now.”
I force a smile. “Yeah…Me too.” The truth is, I’ve been avoiding it, hoping I’d magically feel more excited as time went on. But that excitement never came. And the more I try to force it, the more distant it makes me.
Mom narrows her eyes, studying me like she always does when she knows something’s up. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” I continue to say to everyone that keeps asking me that same question. Am I really that bad at hiding my emotions? Everyone keeps asking me about the wedding, and when I give them vague answers, they think something is wrong.
I turn my head at the sound of the front door shutting. In walks Liam in his light blue scrubs. Thank God. Maybe she won’t continue asking about the wedding.
I walk up to Liam and give him a kiss. “Hi. I’m glad you could make it.”
“Me, too,” he says, wrapping his arm around my waist. He inhales and says, “It smells good.”
“It’s my homemade chili,” Mom says.
“I can’t wait to try it. I’m starving.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re sitting around the dining room table, enjoying the chili and sharing laughs. Then, my heart sinks at the sight of Kai and Kevin walking in.
“Hey, everyone,” Kai says. “Sorry we’re a little late.”
The laughter of the room stops, and I can’t shake the sense of guilt that washes over me.
Not only is my heart sinking because I know Kai must feel hurt knowing I didn’t invite him, but I’m also sure that Liam thinks I invited him.
The tension in my chest tightens as I watch Kai’s eyes on me.
I sit here, torn, wondering how this is going to play out?
They’re both going to ask me about it, eventually.
Liam’s jaw is tight as he stares straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with me. I lean over and whisper, “I didn’t invite him.” Liam ignores me and continues eating.
Kai and Kevin take a seat at the table while my mom goes over and serves them each a bowl of chili. Kai doesn’t seem to care that he’s making it a point to look over at me every chance he can get. I’m sure that’s making Liam even more upset.
This anxious feeling is unbearable. I should be celebrating my sister’s birthday, but instead, I’m sitting here with a fake smile on my face. The guilt wraps around me, suffocating me. I’m being pulled in two directions, torn between what I should do and what I want to do.
“Thanks for inviting us, Brooke,” Kai says.
“Of course,” my mom says.
I glance over at him and swallow the lump in my throat. Did he say that because he sees how I’m feeling? Or is he making it a point that I didn’t invite him?
It doesn’t seem to faze Liam that my mom invited Kai, which only amplifies my anxiousness. He sits at the table, even more silent than he was before Kai came, only making it obvious that he’s upset he’s here.
As the conversation flows around us, I feel like an outsider in my life, caught between two worlds. One where I’m supposed to be happy and another where unresolved emotions linger.
“We need to talk,” Liam says sternly as he walks into our room later that night, still in his scrubs.
“Where have you been?” He never came home after the party. We left my mom’s at the same time but he never showed up home after me. I stayed up waiting for him. I got ready for bed and read a book to keep my mind off everything. But even reading couldn’t keep my mind off of this.
He throws the top of his scrubs off while keeping his back toward me. “I went for a drive.”
“Where?” I ask, leaning into an upright position. I realize where this conversation is going. I tried to prepare myself for it, but now that it’s here, I don’t want it to start.
“Does it matter?” he snaps.
“What’s with the attitude?”
He spins around to face me. “You’re seriously asking that?”
“Yeah,” I mumble.
He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s as if that conversation we had went right out the window?”
I sigh. “I told you I didn’t invite him.”
“You really want me to believe that your mom invited him and that his petty act of thanking Brooke wasn’t really you?” he shoots back, his eyes blazing with a mix of anger.
I’m in disbelief that he thinks tonight was all an act. “Seriously, Liam?”
His jaw clenches as he looks at me. “How come he showed up?”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my frustration. “I had nothing to do with him being invited. I was putting boundaries between us because of what you said. If you can’t believe me, then that’s your problem.”
He leans against the dresser, crossing his arms defensively. “Then maybe you need to have a talk with your family.”
A mix of anger and sadness surges within me. “What do you want me to do, Liam? Call my mom and tell her to stop inviting Kai just to make you feel better? That’s not how this works. I can’t control how my family interacts with him, especially when they don’t see a problem.”
“It doesn’t matter what they see. It’s about us and what’s best for us. Your family should understand that.”
“I didn’t invite him! You’re turning this into something bigger than it should be. I can’t erase the past. Kai is my daughter’s father. He’s going to be in my life.” My hands tremble at my sides.
“Then you need to reevaluate who you want more in your life. You can’t act like nothing’s wrong when you’re still that close to your ex.”
“I don’t understand where all this is coming from?”
He exhales sharply. “I feel like I’m losing you, and it scares me. You may not see it, but every time I watch you interact with him, I feel like I’m losing a part of you.”
My heart softens, but the frustration remains. “I need you to trust me, Liam. I didn’t invite him.”
He meets my gaze, the anger slowly fading into hurt. “I only want to be sure you’re with me and not caught up in the past. Is that too much to ask?”
I sigh. “No, it’s not.”
He looks at me one last time, drops his head, and walks out of the bedroom.
Confusion envelops me. A few months ago, my life felt normal.
Or at least I thought it did. Now, there is so much tension between Liam and Kai, two people I care about deeply, and I find myself stuck in the middle.
I can’t help but wonder how everything unraveled so quickly.
I’m unsure which way to turn, and it’s making my heart ache.