14. Blake
Chapter 14
Blake
I paced back and forth on Delaney's porch, stopping to peer down the driveway every few steps on the lookout for Xander's truck.
Every minute felt like an hour.
Surely the fact that I was so nervous about this was evidence that we were doing something wrong.
I kept rehearsing what I was going to say to the others who were waiting inside, but the words sounded ridiculous even in my head.
Hey everyone, Xander and I are engaged!
No, we haven't been secretly dating. Yes, we're doing this so I can keep my niece.
Surprise!
We'd lured everyone here with the idea of an impromptu cookout. The weather was lovely, everyone seemed to have a rare day off at the same time. And it was the perfect time to break some weirdly awkward news to your friends and family and loop them in on what I was still convinced was our criminal activity.
Would you like some co-conspiracy charges to go with your burger, Delaney?
My stomach twisted itself into knots as I imagined the looks on everyone's faces.
We'd considered not telling them the truth. Giving them the same story we planned to tell everyone else in town. But Delaney would see right through me. She always did. And Booker? That man could read people better than the smutty books of Reece's he pretended not to read.
It would never work, and I didn't really want it to. These people were family to me, and lying to them would have made this situation even worse than it was.
The sound of tires on gravel snapped me back to attention. Xander's truck pulled up in front of the house, and I rushed down the steps before he'd even turned off the engine.
"Are we doing the right thing?" I blurted out as he climbed out of the truck. "This is crazy, right? Oh my god, we're going to prison. I can't go to prison. I don't have any prison skills."
Xander's eyebrows shot up. "What's a prison skill?"
I could see the smirk he was trying to suppress and knew he was laughing at me, but I was too busy freaking out to care.
"I never learned how to make soap!" I said, throwing my hands in the air.
Xander just looked confused now, but I was already hyperventilating too much to be able to explain the intricacies of prison life to him. He'd have to learn the hard way.
Xander put his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to stop pacing. I looked up into his eyes, finding them steady and calm despite my meltdown.
"Blake," he said, his voice low and serious. "Did I ask you to marry me?"
"You're right, maybe you could get off with a temporary insanity plea."
"Blake," he said more sternly, and I sighed.
"Yes."
"Then you haven't done anything wrong, and you haven't told anyone anything that isn't true."
I guess technically he was right.
He pulled me into a hug, and I felt a sense of calm settle around me. His arms were solid and warm, his heartbeat steady against my cheek.
"It's going to be alright, Blake. I won't let anything happen to you or Amelia. I've got you. I've got you both."
And the craziest part was, I believed him. Standing there, wrapped in his arms, I actually felt like everything might be okay.
"We should probably practice this," I murmured against his chest.
"Practice what?" His voice rumbled through me.
I pulled back slightly, my hands finding his. "This. The whole engaged couple thing." I laced our fingers together, surprised by how naturally they fit. "If we're going to convince the whole town, we need to look like we're comfortable with each other."
His thumb brushed over my knuckles, sending an unexpected tingle up my arm. "Good thinking."
We stood there for a moment, hands linked, eyes locked. Something shifted in his expression, a softening around the edges I hadn't seen before. I tucked my hair behind my ear with my free hand, suddenly self-conscious under his gaze.
The lingering touch of our interlocked hands felt electric, charged with something I wasn't ready to name. I reluctantly pulled my hand away, immediately missing the warmth. "That should work."
A commotion from the house made us both turn. The entire family was lined up at the window, watching us like we were the season finale of their favorite show. As soon as they saw us looking, they all started cheering and jumping up and down. Cade had broken out into a full-on dance, spinning and flailing with all the uncoordinated enthusiasm that I usually expected from Delaney. The only one not actively bouncing was Booker, but even he was grinning and shaking his head, which I knew was about as much silly emotion as he'd ever be willing to show in public.
"Idiots," Xander muttered, but there was affection in his voice.
With an arm still around my shoulders, we walked toward the house. As soon as we went through the door, he pulled his arm away and took a step back from me, and I almost mourned the loss.
Delaney was so excited she was practically vibrating. "Tell us everything," she demanded, her eyes gleaming. "When did this happen? How did it happen? Why didn't you tell me you were even dating?" There was a bit of sadness in that last question and I could see why she'd feel that way. Delaney and I had no secrets, or at least we never used to. I seemed to be racking them up recently and I wasn't feeling great about that.
Everyone was talking at once, firing out questions faster than we could possibly answer them. It was overwhelming, and I could feel myself starting to panic again.
The room went suddenly silent when they realized that neither Xander nor I was responding, and in that awkward moment, I blurted out, "We're engaged!" just as Dex walked through the door, a grocery bag in each hand.
He stopped dead, looking from me to Xander and back again. "Holy shit, how long was I at the store?"
And then everyone started talking at once again. Delaney and Reece were practically in wedding planning mode already, discussing venues and color schemes like the wedding was next week.
"I'm thinking a spring wedding," Delaney gushed, one hand resting on her growing baby bump. "Or maybe fall? Oh, we should do it at the ranch!"
"You'd look gorgeous in something simple but elegant," Reece added, looking me up and down thoughtfully. "Maybe a mermaid silhouette?"
I shot a panicked look at Xander, who seemed equally overwhelmed. Booker, bless him, was watching us with narrowed eyes. He could clearly see that something wasn't adding up.
"Alright, everyone shut up for a minute," Booker said, his voice cutting through the chaos. The room fell silent immediately. "Let them talk."
Xander nodded at his brother in thanks.
"It's not what you think," I started, my voice shaking slightly. I looked at Xander, who gave me an encouraging nod, and together we explained the whole situation—all the requirements to keep Amelia with me, Xander's proposal, the DCFS visit, my lie to Susan, our plan to fake an engagement until I secured custody of Amelia. Now I was laying it all out I was almost certain normal people didn't solve their problems this way.
"We're telling you all this because you're family, and we don't want to lie to you," Xander said when we'd finished. "But the rest of the town needs to believe this is real if it's going to work."
Silence fell over the room. I could see the concern on their faces, and it twisted my heart. Delaney looked particularly disappointed, and I understood why. She'd been genuinely excited at the prospect of Xander and me together. Now she knew it was all just an act.
Then Reece leaned over and whispered something into Delaney's ear, and the two of them broke into suspiciously identical grins.
"You know what?" Reece declared, looking way too pleased with herself. "I think this is a great idea. Now you two can figure out your feelings for each other without all that pesky dating pressure."
"We don't—" Xander and I both started at the same time, then stopped, looking at each other.
"We don't feel like that," I finished lamely, but even as I said it, a tiny voice in the back of my mind whispered, Are you sure about that?
The way my heart had skipped when he pulled me into that hug. The comfort I found in his arms. The way I'd missed his touch when he stepped away.
I stole a glance at Xander, wondering if he was thinking the same thing. His expression was unreadable, but there was a faint color high on his cheeks that hadn't been there before.
Huh.
Maybe I needed to figure out how I really felt about Xander Farrington before this whole fake engagement was over. I probably should have done that before it even began.
"So let me get this straight," Cade said, crossing his arms and looking between us. "You two are going to live together, raise a baby together, and pretend to be in love, but you're not actually together?"
When he put it like that, it sounded ridiculous.
"That's..." Xander started.
"Basically it, yeah," I finished.
"Uh-huh." Cade nodded slowly, his expression making it clear he didn’t understand anything about what we were trying to do. Oh to only have the problems of a ten-year-old again.
Trace clapped Xander on the shoulder. "You're either a genius or completely insane, brother. Either way, I'm impressed."
Booker hadn't said anything yet. His silence was making me nervous.
"What do you think, Booker?" I asked tentatively.
He studied us both for a long moment. "I think," he said finally, "that you might be missing something important right in front of you."
The way he said it made my cheeks heat. Beside me, Xander shifted uncomfortably.
"But I also think," Booker continued, "that family takes care of family. And that little girl needs you both. So whatever you need us to do, we're in."
A wave of relief washed over me. They were with us. They understood.
Delaney came over and wrapped her arms around me. "Just promise me that when you actually do fall in love with him, I'll be the first to know," she whispered in my ear.
"That's not going to—" I started to protest, but she just patted my cheek condescendingly.
"Sure, honey. Whatever you say."
As everyone moved toward the backyard to start the cookout, Xander's hand found mine again, giving it a quick, reassuring squeeze before letting go.
That small touch sent another jolt through me, one I couldn't ignore.
This was going to be a lot more complicated than I'd imagined.