10. Zach
10
ZACH
R eagan couldn’t take a hint.
She grinned at me, hanging on to me and not in the mood to let go as the bell rang and the noise of children hurrying out of classrooms filled the hallway. I used a stern deflective maneuver to sidestep her, needing space. I’d just told her at Coach Parker’s party that I wasn’t interested in catching up, like she insisted now that I was back in town. She made her case again.
“Funny running into you again.” She reached out to grab my hand and I shoved it in my pocket. This woman just couldn’t take a hint.
No, she can. She ignores it.
“Especially here,” she added.
I looked over my shoulder, damning her for being another obstacle in the way of seeing Blake. I’d caught just enough of their little spat to realize something was up, but what? Blake simply wasn’t the kind of person to talk back or lash out. I doubted that could’ve changed since I last saw her six years ago.
“Yeah, here,” I replied neutrally. “So, you have a kid?”
She nodded, smiling proudly. “Yes, but not a husband.” Taking another step toward me, she again made a grab for my arm. My hand. Anything to cling to. I guessed I should’ve been happy she wasn’t groping me and reaching for my dick—at a school or not.
“Which means I’m still totally available to catch up with you, Zach. It’s been so long since we’ve had some time together.”
“And it’ll be longer yet.” Try forever. I walked away, not wanting to get caught up in the chaos of many kids rushing out. But I hoped to get away from her and avoid getting caught up with her stupid idea that we had anything to catch up on.
I hadn’t given anyone a notice I was coming back to Vernford because I never planned to—or at least not yet. My discharge forced me to leave sooner than I wanted to, but Reagan didn’t fit anywhere in my plans or in my mind now that I was here.
Blake, though…
That was twice I’d been foiled from speaking to her. Two times, I’d lost a chance to see her, to really get a good look at her and sate my soul with the fact that she was doing all right. She’d always mattered to me because she was Kevin’s sister, but since that one night we found each other in grief, she’d imprinted me with something that felt weightier than mere curiosity and a general wish for goodwill.
I headed back to the house, but puttering around in the apartment over the garage set me up to sink into that listlessness. That idleness. This feeling of having no purpose and no value anymore. It was twisted. It wasn’t healthy to be that hung up on having my career taken from me, but I didn’t know how to combat the depressive state.
Maybe I should go watch that game with Cole. I had a hunch he’d be more like a friend than a boss. Grandma Jenny was off at a party catering. Amanda was babysitting. Being alone in this huge house wouldn’t soothe my soul no matter how much cheer my sister and grandma infused in the place with multiple Christmas trees, garland, lights, and other odds and ends of holiday décor.
An hour later, I strode into Vernford’s main pub. Cole was seated up at the bar, and he acknowledged my arrival with a smile and a lift of his beer. “Hey, you made it.”
“I couldn’t pass up on a chance to watch the Packers lose again.”
He scoffed as I took the stool next to him. “The Browns aren’t going to beat anyone this season,” he replied.
I ordered my drink and I shot the shit with him. I wasn’t the biggest football fan, but it served as a decent ice breaker and topic to pass the time. The longer I sat here with him, though, I couldn’t help but wonder about earlier.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I saw Blake at the school after my interview.”
He nodded, furrowing his brow. “Yeah?”
“Well, why was she there?” I stared down at my drink, realizing the only logical explanation. But each time the thought filed through my head, I got stuck in the shock of it. “Does she have a kid?”
Cole nodded, not turning to face me. “Yeah, she does.”
Holy shit. So many more questions bombarded me. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” Cole replied.
“Who is it? I mean, who’s the dad? Or…” I ran my hand down my face, stunned.
“Hey, man. I can’t just…” Cole sighed and shook his head, looking at me with a mix of regret and discomfort. “I can’t just divulge details about the kids at the school. Confidentiality and all…”
I understood, and I admired that he didn’t cave and answer me. Cole Ameena was a man of his word. “But, come on. I was best friends with Kevin. The Myers are old family friends…”
Cole shook his head. “You’ll have to ask Blake about that.”
Dammit. I wanted to know now.
“Blake Myer?” someone asked to my right. I hadn’t realized someone had taken that vacant stool. And I wasn’t too pleased with who had.
Rory Francis had a reputation for being a partier back when we were younger, and whenever he got in trouble, his family got him out of any discipline or clapback. I never knew him directly, since he had to be about ten years younger than me. It didn’t matter. Whether it was Reagan or Rory, cousins, I seldom wanted anything to do with the Francis family. They were more trouble than they were worth. With the way Rory leaned over and faced me and Cole, it seemed he had been listening in.
“She’s my girlfriend,” Rory said.
Cole huffed.
I raised my brows. “Bullshit.” It wasn’t a censored reply, but it shot out of my mouth too quickly to stop it.
“No, seriously. Blake’s my girl.”
“That’s not what I heard,” Cole said wryly.
Rory smirked. “What you heard? Like you’d know.” He rolled his eyes.
“I would know,” Cole argued. “Considering Sara is Blake’s best friend.”
I faced him. “Sara?”
He nodded. “You saw her at the office. She’s the front office receptionist.”
Huh.
“That’s not true. Sara’s got it wrong,” Rory said. “Blake and I took a break, but that was nothing. She’s with me.”
“So, you’re the father of her child?” I asked. I couldn’t put pressure on Cole to give me that answer because of his position at the school, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t ask this dumbass. As I considered the idea of Blake with this loudmouthed clown, I held in a groan. I didn’t care for this connection. Not one bit. Not… Rory.
“No.” Rory held his hand up. “But yeah. I’ve always considered George my son.”
I blinked then widened my eyes. The short, nervous boy in the office? The one who stood up to Brent being a bully? “George?” I volleyed my gaze back to Cole, who winced. “George? That boy is Blake’s son?”
He nodded but didn’t stop furrowing his brow.
“He’s not my son, but I think of him as mine.” Rory grinned. “Little tough guy there.”
I frowned. “Tough?” He couldn’t be talking about the same kid I saw. George looked short and thin, not unhealthily but just enough to suggest he might not be an athlete.
“Yeah. We play football together. He’s gonna be a pitcher, though. Baseball’s more his thing. I mean, when I can get him to stop playing Grand Theft Auto .”
That didn’t sound like George at all. I had no knowhow. I only sat next to the kid for a few minutes, but in that time, I got a read on him. Being in the military trained me to always size up people—a natural need to separate friends from foes.
George seemed like a quieter, calmer boy, not prone to aggressive things like contact sports and violent video games.
Confusion settled within me, and I frowned down at my drink. Blake and Rory… together? She’s the mom to that kid? The one I said sounded like a smart lady? Blake was smart. And… she was also a mother to a young boy. It blew my mind.
“I think I’ll propose to Blake on Valentine’s Day,” Rory said. “That’s how good we are together.”
Again, Cole laughed once, bitterly. “Yeah, right. She dumped you ,” he reminded him.
“It’s just a break,” Rory protested. “She’s been talking about getting back together. We’re so good together. A perfect couple.”
I could not picture it. Blake was so soft spoken and polite. Calm and sweet, like a reassuring presence. She lit up a room and made others smile. Whereas Rory was loud and cocky, a typical “man’s man”.
But I also couldn’t picture Blake having a child. “Who is George’s father?” I asked it again, out loud, but more as a musing than expecting an answer. Rory seemed to want to claim George and Cole wouldn’t answer. I looked at him, though.
“Sara won’t even say,” he said, as though counting on me to press the question again.
“Does she know?” I asked.
Cole shrugged. “If she does, she won’t say. They’re like sisters more than friends.”
“Yeah.” Rory huffed a laugh then sipped his drink. “And I could do without that.” He sneered at Cole. “It sounds like Sara was the one who talked Blake into telling me she wanted a break.”
“No, it sounds like Blake finally came to her senses and knew she’d be better off without you,” Cole replied.
“She’s raised him on her own?” I asked. “All this time?”
Kevin was gone. Her father died from alcoholism and before that, her mother passed away from cancer. If she worked for Grandma Jenny, she had a friend in her. Grandma Jenny had always been fond of both Kevin and Blake, letting them sleep over when Mr. Myer was drunk and Mrs. Myer was too sick or tired to make dinner.
“She’s had help,” Cole said.
“And once I pop the question, she’ll have a husband.” Rory shrugged. “He’s not my kid, but I can pretend that he is when I need to.”
I fumed, glaring at him for such a shitty perspective like that.
Not on my watch.
Learning that Blake was a single mother was a curveball I hadn’t expected. I wouldn’t be here long, but while I was, there was no damn way I’d let this guy, or anyone else, prey on her.
One way or another, it was past time for me to figure out who George’s dad was.
And it was even more overdue for me to find out just what Blake had been up to since she’d taken me into her arms and held me on one of the hardest nights of our lives.