Right Back On

Eighteen

"You okay?" I finally asked, glancing over for a second before returning my eyes to the familiar road home. Blake sat in my passenger seat, obviously still angry but working hard to cool off for my sake.

I watched her shrug out of the corner of my eye. "I guess I've said my piece by now, but it didn't seem to do anything. That pisses me off either way. He didn't even listen."

Her usually robust voice was small and hurt.

I sighed. "He really messed this one up, huh?"

"You got that right," she grumbled. "I just want to know why he's bein' like this. It doesn't make sense that he'd just let the best thing--"

She was cut off by the sound of a phone that definitely wasn't mine. It rang several more times before she answered it hesitantly. "Hello?"

I turned down the radio so she could hear, also enabling me to catch snippets of the conversation.

"Blake, honey, where are you? Are you with Coda? Her pickup isn't here either."

"Hi, mama Callie," she sighed.

"Baby, are you okay?"

To my surprise, her eyes welled up with tears. Blake and Kellan shared the same baby blues. Though Wyatt and Oakley had them too, the shades varied slightly. Blake and Kellan's were exactly the same. Seeing the pools in those stunning orbs broke my heart.

She chewed on her lip in silence for a moment, leaving me and Kellan's mother to wonder what was racing through her mind.

"Not really. It's been a shitty weekend."

"Honey, are you with Coda?" Mrs. Dace's gentle voice pulled at my heartstrings in a way I hated. It hurt so much that my own mother would never care about me the way Callie cared about Kellan. And Blake, who wasn't even her own child.

"Yeah. We're on the way to her house."

"Do I even want to know what happened?"

Blake released a long breath. "What has Kellan told you?"

"Not a damn thing. I got in from my ride to find you and Coda gone and him in bed looking grumpy and miserable. I figure he can talk to me when he wants to."

"Oh."

"I take it something happened between you two?"

"Yeah."

"I'll tell you what. You take today to cool off and have some fun with Coda. Then tonight I'm gonna take you girls out to supper and we can talk about it, okay?"

Blake closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "Okay."

"Alright, you girls have fun and be safe. I'll meet y'all at the restaurant in Fairview at six."

"Got it. Love you."

"Love you too, baby."

She ended the call and we drove for several minutes in silence.

"What's wrong?"

My eyes snapped to Blake in confusion. "What?"

"You're crying," she stated, looking concerned. "Why?"

I reached up to slap away the tears I'd been trying to keep at bay. "Just listening to you guys talk... She loves you, Blake. She loves you a whole hell of a lot. Don't take her for granted."