First and Ten

Chapter 11

                                                                       Blair

"I would have thrown her ass out like the trash she is! You are a better woman than me! And those Louboutins are not two seasons old!" Bri snapped as she forcefully threw more flour onto the dough she was rolling out.

She had been helping me dissect the Camila situation since I got back to the shop from picking the kids up at school.

"What was I supposed to do, Bri? He has to do this benefit with her."

"How are you handling that?"

"Not good. She's freaking gorgeous, and there is no way I can compete against that. She is literally the Victoria's Secret Angel come to life."

"But there is no competition when Jax's heart belongs to you. It sounds like he made that crystal clear to her as well."

"It's still so new, Bri. He and Camila were together for at least a year if not more weren't they? It is hard to compete with perfection in the looks department as well as history. I'm not sure I can do this. After the divorce, I swore that I would never do anything that made me feel weak ever again, and the immense amount of insecurity I feel right now is making me feel weaker than ever. I knew falling for Jax Elliot was a stupid idea, and I should end it before I make a fool of myself being an insecure mess driving him away anyway."

"Do you really want to end things with Jax though?"

"No."

"Has he given you any indication that he still has feelings for Camila?"

"No."

"He told JB that he didn't have feelings for her now that you are in his life."

"Doesn't that mean that he would if I wasn't in his life?"

"Not necessarily. I'll straight up ask him at dinner. You know I will."

"I will be happy to let you interrogate if the need arises."

The next morning, I went upstairs to the apartment after school drop off to work on some blog stuff and this new party planning job that Jax had pulled me into. Working downstairs was still too distracting with people wanting to come and talk, and I had a busy rest of the week. I scheduled meetings with seven different boutiques wanting to collaborate with "Jax Elliot's girlfriend" and tours of venues for the Wildcats Care Benefit. Being busy helped my mind not have time to overthink things, so at least that was a positive.

After school pick up, I brought the kids back to Bri and JB's to find Bri already in her apartment kitchen working on all the samples of things to try for the shop as well as for the kids' school carnival that was coming up at the end of October. "It smells interesting in here."

"I'm cooking and baking all at the same time. There are three soups on the stove for dinner/taste testing, and I'm working on four different cookies and three different cupcakes for dessert/taste testing."

"What can I do to help?"

"Stir each of the soups."

"Yes, Chef."

JB and Jax arrived a couple of hours later both sweaty and starving. JB promptly kissed his wife while Jax was only able to smile at me as he took a seat at the kitchen island since the kids were in sight. I had never hated open floor plans more. I did discreetly grab his hand for a second as I handed him a bottle of water, but Bri, being the observant, amazing best friend that she is, quickly figured out a way for Jax and I to get to really say hello.

"Jax, will you grab my other KitchenAid mixer from the pantry for me?"

"Sure."

"Blair, can you get some pecans from the pantry?"