Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
BLAKE
August
The flicker of blonde shines in the sunlight.
I narrow my eyes as I take in the woman, my heartbeat rising as recognition sets in. “Blondie?”
She turns around, eyes the color of the summer sky widening in surprise at being caught sneaking out.
Before I can think twice about it, my fingers wrap around her wrist and tug her to me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home,” she whispers, her teeth sinking into her lower lip.
My gaze falls to her mouth, wishing I could have a little taste. What would she do if I leaned in and kissed her? Would she pull me in or push me away?
I’m seriously contemplating testing my theory, but she takes a step back. “You knew the rules.”
One night. No names. No kissing.
Yes, I knew the fucking rules, and I cursed myself for agreeing to them in the first place. We weren’t some stupid kids playing games.
“Fuck the rules!” I yell, reaching for her, but it’s too late.
She’s already gone.
I sit upright, my heart hammering against my rib cage as I scan the bare room— my new bedroom. I run my palm over my face and rub at the stubble covering my jaw when the alarm clock catches my attention.
7:15 a.m.
“ Fuck. ”
Pushing back the covers, I jump out of bed and make my way down the quiet hallway.
All summer long, Levi’s been waking up at the crack of dawn, along with me, but the day school starts, of course, he has to sleep in.
Slipping into his room, I go straight to the bed. The covers are hanging off the mattress, and one of his arms is tossed over his head, his mouth open as he breathes.
“Levi, buddy.” I give him a gentle shake. “Time to wake up.”
His eyelids flutter open, sleepiness still clinging to his gray irises. “Dad?” he croaks out, rubbing at his face. “What time is it?”
“Late. I need you to put some clothes on, and we have to get to school.”
Levi groans. “Don’t wanna.”
His protest has me chuckling. “I’m afraid school’s not optional. C’mon.” I help him sit upright and grab his clothes from the chair where I put them last night. Thank God for that. “Here. I’m going to wake up your brother while you dress.”
Levi grumbles something but starts to change, so I call that a win while I go to the other side of the hallway and knock on the door before peeking into Daniel’s room. “Daniel, time to wake up. We’re already late.”
My oldest grumbles loudly in protest and tugs the covers over his head. “I’m not going.”
“Yes, you are. You have five minutes to get up; don’t make me drag you out.”
I wait for a heartbeat, but there is no answer.
“Five minutes,” I repeat as I exit the room, leaving the door open.
I go back to my bedroom and quickly put on some clothes. Going to the bathroom, I splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. When I get out, I can hear both kids moving around, so I make my way downstairs and grab them each a protein bar, just as there are footsteps coming down the stairs.
Thank fuck.
“C’mon, boys, we really have to hurry up,” I call out as I go toward the door.
Not like that was helping anything.
We were late.
And it was only the first day of school.
“I’m seriously killing this single dad thing,” I mutter to myself as I watch Levi rush down the stairs, his backpack bouncing on his shoulders.
I couldn’t believe that he was already starting school.
Seriously, where did the time fly? It feels like only yesterday I brought him home from the hospital.
“Put your shoes on,” I say gently, my gaze darting up the stairs. “Where is your brother?”
“In his room.”
“Dan—” I start to yell when my sixteen -year-old appears at the top of the stairs, a scowl that’s become a permanent feature between his brows greeting me.
“I’m here,” he grumbles. “You don’t have to yell.”
“I need to yell because we have to get on the road. We’re late.”
But my son likes to test my patience these days because he just sticks his hands in the pocket of his black hoodie. Why did he think wearing a hoodie in August in Texas was a good idea, I’ll never understand. Then again, if he wanted to sweat his ass off, who was I to object? There were many more important things to fight about, and this wasn’t making the list.
“Well, if we just stayed in Austin and not moved to the middle of nowhere, I could have taken a bus,” he mutters as he descends the stairs, stopping so we’re eye to eye. “Or you know, if you actually bought me a car, I could use that license I have and drive myself to school.”
Keep your cool, I coach myself, sucking in a long breath. He just wants to rile you up. There is no sense in fighting with him.
“Well, we live in Bluebonnet now, which means you have to drive. And having a car is a responsibility.” I quirk my brow at him. “Something you’ve shown me time and again, in this past year, you’re not ready for. Once you start acting maturely, we can reopen the topic of you getting that car.”
Daniel snorts. “Sure, Dad .”
Don’t let him provoke you.
I press my lips in a tight line as I watch him put on his shoes, and then finally, finally , we’re out of the house.
Locking the door behind me, I run my hand over my face as I watch my sons climb into my truck.
It’s fine. I can do this. I can totally do this.
Since Bluebonnet Creek is a minuscule town, there is only one school that’s divided by different grades, something that goes in my favor right about now.
“Don’t cause any trouble,” I glance toward Daniel as I pull in front of the high school, but he’s too busy typing away on his phone to pay me any attention. “Dan?—”
“Yeah.” He locks his phone and opens the door. “Whatever.”
“I’ll see you”—he slips out and shuts the door behind himself—“later.”
Running my fingers through my hair, I watch Daniel walk into the school, not once looking back. Letting my hand drop, I put my truck into drive and make my way to the parking lot.
Since we are running seriously late, I walk Levi into school. The security guard takes my information and gives me instructions on how to get to Levi’s classroom. With a nod in thanks, I place my hand on his back and urge him forward.
“What if they don’t like me?” Levi asks, his voice so soft it’s barely audible.
I look down to find the first traces of uncertainty written on his face.
Shit.
Screw being late; making sure my son was okay will always be the most important thing. I place my hand on his shoulder and crouch down so we’re on the same level. Levi bites the inside of his cheek and glances down at his feet.
Am I doing the right thing?
The question that’s been haunting me for the last few months comes back to the forefront of my mind.
While Daniel started to talk back and lash out after his mom left, Levi did the complete opposite. He closed off, became more uncertain, and a little bit clingy when it came to me. It was as if he thought that I would do the same thing. I figured retiring and moving to a new place—a smaller, more family-oriented place—would be the solution, but what if I was wrong? What if this move ends up bringing more anxiety to my kids?
Fuck, this single-parent thing is hard.
“Levi, look at me,” I say gently. Pushing back my own insecurities, I wait for him to lift his head and face me. “Where is this coming from?”
“I don’t know anybody. What if they don’t like me?”
“It’s the first day. First grade. Nobody knows anybody.” This was a stretch considering the size of this town, but what was a little white lie if it was going to make him feel better? “Besides, you’re a cool kid. They’d be silly not to like you. And you’ll see Gage later at recess. You liked playing with Gage, right?”
Miguel and his brother Aaron helped me move some furniture this past weekend, while Mrs. Fernandez and Rebecca watched the kids. Miguel’s fiancée was heavily pregnant and due in a few weeks, and Miguel was spending more time here than in Austin these days, not wanting to risk a chance of her going into labor without him there.
“I did.” Levi nods. “Why can’t I be in class with him?”
I chuckle softly. “Because he’s a year older than you, buddy.”
“Well, I wanna be older.” Levi purses his lips, which only makes me laugh harder. “Then I could be in the same class with Gage.”
“And just this morning you were saying you don’t want to go to school.” I shake my head. “C’mon, let’s get you to class.” Pushing upright, I slide my hand over his back, giving him a reassuring rub as we continue walking down the hallway. “I’ve heard you have a really nice teacher. Her name is Miss Parker, and apparently, she’s the best in the whole town.”
Levi looks up at me. “Is she?”
“That’s what the lady at the office said.”
“Is she old? Mrs. Andrews was old, and she was mean.”
Mrs. Andrews was his kindergarten teacher last year, and to say he didn’t like her would be an understatement.
“I don’t know, buddy. I didn’t get a chance to meet Miss Parker. But if people say she’s the best, I would hope there is a reason for it, right?”
“I guess so.”
“How about this? You be brave and go in there, and when I pick you up from school later today, we’ll go to Scoops for ice cream. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
He tilts his head back, his eyes lighting up. “For real? We can go and get ice cream?”
The way he asks, the clear surprise and sheer joy at the idea, has my chest tightening. But why wouldn’t he be surprised? I couldn’t remember when the last time was I took him to get ice cream or anything really. While I tried to spend as much time as possible with my kids, things came up more often than I’d like to admit. Practice would run late, one of my teammates would ask me for help with one thing or another, or I had to do PR or an interview or something . There was always something, and my kids were the ones who had to deal with canceled plans and broken promises.
This is why you’re here. So you can focus on them. So you can have more moments like this.
“For real,” I reassure him, ruffling his unruly hair.
He pumps his little hand. “Yes! I can’t wait.”
Chuckling, I lift my hand and knock on the door. Turning the doorknob, I urge Levi in front of me.
“Let’s g—” My voice trails off as I look up, and my eyes land on the blonde woman in front of me.
She turns toward the door, her attention on my son as she smiles brightly at him. “Well, hello there. It’s so ni?—”
“ Blondie. ”
She glances up, her eyes widening when they land on mine.
Holy shit, it really is her.
All the air is knocked out of my lungs as I stare at eyes as bright as the sky on a sunny day. The same eyes that were haunting my dreams even though I’d only seen them once before—months ago—when we shared that one passionate night that most days seemed more like a mirage than reality.
It was crazy. I was thirty-five, recently divorced, and a single dad. Hookup days were long behind me, but damn, something about that woman drew me to her from the very first moment I laid my eyes on her.
She was gorgeous, but that wasn’t it. I’ve met my fair share of gorgeous women over the years. I was married to one, and never before have I been as captivated as I was when I saw Blondie.
And then, as if she wasn’t tempting enough, she threw me a challenge.
One night. No names. No kissing.
I loved and despised the idea. I didn’t have time for dating, not with two kids who needed me. Not when I just bought a house in a small town and prepared to uproot their lives. Did I even know how to date? It’s been ages since I did it. Besides, who even dates at thirty-five? But there was something about this woman that drew me to her. It was the combination of innocence and allure around her, the sorrow I could see shining in her irises, and the spunky attitude that slipped out every once in a while. She was a walking, talking contradiction, and I couldn’t get enough of her.
So I agreed.
I had her, but the next morning, when I woke up, my bed was empty. The only sign that she was even there was her sweet scent lingering on my bedsheets.
But now she was here.
Not just that, but she was my son’s teacher?
My heart is beating wildly inside my rib cage as I stand still in the doorway, too afraid to even blink because what if I do, and she disappears?
Blondie.
My mystery girl.
Here.
In Bluebonnet Creek, Texas.
What were the odds?
I take her in slowly.
That gorgeous face I couldn’t get out of my head was completely drained of color.
Those full breasts peeking delicately from the cleavage of her white and blue floral dress rising and falling rapidly.
The curve of her waist.
The small bump.
Her hand slides to her middle as if she wants to hide it from me.
My stomach sinks as my brain slowly processes every little detail, and my whole world tilts on its axis.
Fuck my life.
My head shoots up, cold sweat washing over me as I meet those panic-filled eyes.
She’s pregnant?
“What—” My voice comes out rough, but before I can ask anything, Levi tugs at my hand, demanding my attention.
I glance at my son, still too stunned to think clearly.
Blondie is here. She’s here, and she’s pregnant. And based on her bump, she’s around four months? Maybe five. Which means…
The bile rises up my throat just when Levi whispers so loudly that the whole classroom can hear him. “She’s not old!”
Fuck.
Blondie lets out a strangled sound that has me looking up. Red floods her cheeks, her teeth biting her lower lip, as she’s trying to hide her smile.
No, she was most definitely not old.
I was screwed.
Completely and utterly screwed.
Her gaze meets mine for a moment before she shifts her attention to my son. “And you must be Levi, right?”
“Yes.” Levi eyes her carefully and tilts his head to the side, a lock of his hair falling into his eyes. “And you’re Miss Parker?”
He tries to blow it out of the way, but it’s useless. I should have probably found time to take him to the hairdresser, but between all the other things and the move, I completely spaced out. Just another reason why I was failing at this whole single dad thing.
“That’s correct. Why do?—”
“You look pretty,” Levi says, flashing her a toothless grin.
She looks stunned for a moment. If the situation were different, I might be embarrassed, but this was the woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of since the first moment I entered the room that night. Levi was most definitely his father’s son in that regard.
“Well, thank you.” She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Why don’t you go and take your seat, Levi? It’s the one in the last row.”
Levi nods once and hurries to his seat without a backward glance. At least he seemed content.
Blondie straightens to her full height, which is a good foot shorter than my six-five, her hand sliding to the underside of her belly.
“Blondie…”
Her head whips in my direction as if she just realized I’m still here.
I rub my hand over my jaw as I try to come up with the right thing to say, but there is just too much that’s swirling inside of my head. So many questions I want to ask her, starting with the most important one—whose baby is she carrying?
“ Miss Parker ,” she says sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.
The motion should be defensive, but it only presses her tits closer, giving me a better look at her cleavage. They were nice before, but pregnancy only made them more alluring.
Shit, get a grip, dude. You’re in a classroom full of children, for fuck’s sake.
“We have to talk.”
Her fingers grip her arms so tight her knuckles turn white, but her voice is steady as she says, “If there is anything you want to discuss you can ask for a parent-teacher conference.”
I open my mouth to protest, but she stops me. “I have a class to get to. And please, try not to be late next time, Mr. Walker.”
Class, right.
I move closer. Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t back away.
“This isn’t done, Miss Parker . Not in the least,” I whisper so only she can hear me, my voice saccharine sweet. “We’ll continue this conversation later.” My eyes skim over her body one last time, pausing on her stomach before I meet her gaze. “It seems we have a lot to discuss.”
Her throat bobs as she swallows, but she doesn’t try to deny it.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Waving at Levi, I turn on my heels and get the hell out.
With each step I take, one thought keeps echoing in my mind.
Blondie— my Blondie —is here.
And she is pregnant.
How the fuck did that happen?
The old-fashioned way, that’s how.
I try to remember that night. Did we use protection? I thought we did, but then again, her current state would suggest otherwise. And before her, it had been a while since I used condoms. A while since I had sex, really.
Maybe it’s not even yours, the little voice at the back of my head whispers. Maybe she got back with her ex. Or maybe she found somebody else.
Then why would she react this way at seeing me?
And that wasn’t just a surprise at running into somebody you hadn’t expected or didn’t want to see again, no there was a trace of fear shining in those blue depths too. The protective way that she hugged her bump.
Why would she do that if the baby wasn’t mine? It made no sense whatsoever.
I run my hand over my face. I could feel the soft throbbing building behind my temples as my mind still tried to process what had just happened.
With one last glance at school, I put my car in reverse and head out of the parking lot.
I would get to the bottom of this.
She was working here, it’s not like she could just up and leave.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Aaron Fernandez says in the way of greeting when I get out of my truck. A man our age who’s standing next to him says something, and Aaron nods, patting him on the back before he starts walking toward me. “What brings you here, Walker? Don’t tell me you’re already bored of retirement and are looking for a job.”
I let out a snort. “Highly unlikely.”
I was good at a lot of things, but I was no rancher.
“Shame.” Silent amusement dances in my friend’s gaze, but his face remains serious. “I think it would be entertaining to see you try to get your ass on a horse.”
“Entertaining for you, maybe.” I look around the clearing noticing a few ranch hands mingling around. I didn’t think this through very well. “You have a few minutes for me?”
Some days it was hard to remember that other people had jobs and obligations while I was retired at the ripe age of thirty-five and had no freaking idea what to do with my life.
“Sure thing.” He tilts his head toward the barn. “Let’s go inside.”
Not waiting for an answer, he starts walking toward the building, and I follow after him to the small office attached to the barn.
While I might have been friends with Miguel first, since we played two seasons together in the NFL, Aaron and I clicked the moment we met last year when Miguel invited the boys and me to spend Thanksgiving with his family. I’m not sure if it was the fact that we were closer in age or that we were both single dads. Either way, I was glad that I had somebody I could talk to and who could understand things I was dealing with.
Not that Aaron would ever get a girl he barely knew pregnant. No, he was too serious, too stoic, too responsible for something like that. Unlike me.
“Want a drink?” Aaron crouches in front of the little fridge that’s sitting in the corner of the room. “I have water, Coke…”
“Do you have something stronger?”
Aaron’s brows shoot up, but he doesn’t say anything as he closes the fridge and walks to the shelf. Turning two glasses around, he grabs one of the bottles standing there. Jack. The amber liquid gleams in the sun that peeks through the window, and the memories of that night emerge in my head.
The way those lush honey curls swayed as Blondie tilted her head back to down her drink. The smell of Jack on her breath as we were mere inches apart.
One night. No names. No kissing.
A glass clinks against the desk when Aaron places it in front of me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I wrap my fingers around it and down it in one go, letting the alcohol burn on its way down to my stomach.
“Will you finally tell me what happened that drew you to drink before noon?” Aaron asks as he slides into the chair opposite me.
“What do you know about Miss Parker?”
Fuck, I still don’t know her name.
Aaron’s brows furrow in confusion. “Miss Parker? You mean Savannah Parker?”
“Savannah Parker,” I whisper, testing the sound of it on my tongue. My fingers curl around the glass as her name echoes in my head, in tune with the wild beat of my heart.
Sa-va-nnah. Sa-va-nnah. Sa-va-nnah.
“Is she Levi’s teacher?”
“Yes. What do you know about her?”
Aaron shrugs. “Not much. She teaches first grade. Gage was in her class last year, and he liked her. She also runs a reading group for kids at Reading Nook. Cheryl usually takes—” Aaron’s words trail off. He runs his hand through his hair, a dark expression passing over his face. “She used to take Gage there.”
I feel a pang of guilt at stirring the painful memories. Aaron’s wife died last year in a car accident. I didn’t know the details, but Miguel said that Aaron hasn’t been the same ever since.
While taking a pull of his drink, Aaron’s dark eyes fix on mine. “Why are you asking about Savannah? Did something happen today?”
“No, nothing happened, I just…” I rub my hand over my jaw. “Do you know if she’s seeing anybody?”
“If you wanted to get some town gossip, you should have gone to the café or something.” If possible, that scowl deepens even more. “But seriously, what’s with the twenty questions about Savannah Parker?”
I run my fingers through my hair, letting out a long breath. “You remember when I came here back in March?”
Aaron nods. “What about it?”
“Well after I left the ranch, I didn’t go home.”
My friend’s brows pull together. “You didn’t?”
I shake my head, the memories of that day coming back. “I got on the road and started toward Austin, but everything that had been going on got the better of me, so I decided to make a pit stop. I just needed a moment to breathe, and since I knew Mrs. Maxwell would stay the night with the boys… Anyway, that’s where I met her.”
The image of Blondie—Savannah—from that day flashes in my mind.
So beautiful she took my breath away.
“She was…” I shake my head. The sadness in her eyes that was erased with one comment from me, bringing out that fiery temper she’d been leashing in tightly. “Unlike any other woman I’d ever met. Not that I’ve met many women since I got married, but there was just something about her that drew me in. So we chatted and had a few drinks. When the bartender told us he was closing, I invited her to my room, and well…” I shrug, letting my hand drop. “She didn’t want to exchange names, and when I woke up, she was no longer there.” My throat bobs. “Until I saw her again today when I dropped Levi at school.”
“Damn, man.” Aaron shakes his head. “That’s so messed…” His voice trails off as he narrows his eyes at me. “Wait, when did you say you guys hooked up?”
“End of March.”
“March,” he whispers, and I watch his face intently. “Because I saw her last week at the store and…” His eyes widen, mouth falling open. “She’s pregnant. That’s why you’ve been asking all these questions. She’s pregnant, and you think…”
“It could be mine,” I finish, some of the weight falling off my chest.
So I wasn’t completely crazy to think this could be my baby after all.
“ Damn .” Aaron grabs the bottle of Jack and pours us each a new drink, taking a long pull from his glass. “Did she tell you that?”
I shake my head. “No. I wanted to talk, but there was a classroom full of kids there, including Levi, so I left.”
Aaron nods. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Try to talk to her. See what she has to say.”
“And if the kid is yours?”
My mouth goes dry at his question, my stomach tightening with nerves.
It felt like I was thrown back in time, and I was that eighteen-year-old kid again sitting in the bathroom with my girlfriend watching the big, fat plus sign sealing my fate.
Only I wasn’t that eighteen-year-old kid. Not any longer. And Savannah was not Reina. I don’t know how I knew it, but I was sure of that one thing.
“Then I’ll do everything in my power to make this right.”
I meet Aaron’s grim face.
“I guess now is as good a time as any…”
A chill goes down my spine. “What?”
“Savannah is Becky’s friend.”
Becky’s…
“As in Miguel’s Becky?”
“The very one.”
My heart does a little jump inside my chest. “You’re shitting me.”
“I’m afraid not.”
Becky’s friend.
Savannah was…
“Fuck my life.” I run my hand over my face. “Miguel wasn’t joking when he said this town is too fucking small.”
Aaron just silently lifts his glass in the air. “Welcome to Bluebonnet Creek, my friend.”