Page 20 of Pieces into Place
Blake
Blake felt like a kid in timeout as she sat at the table beside Alexis. Everyone around them was leaving; the party was clearly over after Isla had stormed out. Deep down, Blake knew she was the cause of that. Not only because Isla had yelled at her but also because neither Vera nor Mason would look at her.
“We should go.” Alexis finally said after sitting in silence for what felt like forever. As they gathered up the kids, Emily pulled Blake aside.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Well,” Emily gestured around the room, “everything that went on tonight. You being late. I just wanted to check in.”
“I’m fine, Em.”
“You know I’m here if you ever need to talk, right?”
“I told you I’m fine.”
“Because I’ve been where you are. Fairly recently actually.” Emily nervously fiddled with her fingers as she spoke. “My pregnancy made all my emotions so heightened. I know how hard that can be. I’m just saying… you’re not alone. And I’m here if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Blake hated how the word came out almost as a snip, but there was no taking it back. She put Archer’s jacket on as the five of them headed out the door.
Since their house was so close, they had walked to the party. Alexis and the kids had left well before Blake, but Blake had been in the middle of working and didn’t want to lose that momentum. Especially when it was rare that she had a moment of free time to focus just on writing.
Deep down, Blake knew the real reason she hadn’t gone to the party with Alexis and the kids. And she knew Alexis did, too. But Blake struggled to admit out loud that the Mackenzie parties made her sad. She never had that kind of family growing up, and it was a glaring reminder of everything she had missed.
Blake spotted Mason putting her son, Silas, into his car seat. She smiled at her, but Mason turned away from her. If the daggers in Mason’s eyes were real, Blake would have been dead.
“Hey, I’m gonna go talk to Mason. I’ll meet you at home.”
“Okay.” Alexis nodded, continuing down the street with their kids following her like little ducks.
As Blake walked toward Mason, she tried to think of anything to say to her. Anything at all that might salvage the night ever so slightly.
“Hey.”
“I’m not in the mood, Blake.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Blake,” her voice sounded more like Isla’s than Blake had ever realized, “I said no. Not tonight. Not after everything you’ve already done.”
As Mason shut the back door to the SUV, Blake took a step in front of her to block her from getting into the passenger seat.
“Don’t do this.”
“I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
“Well, it’s too fucking late for that, isn’t it?” Mason tossed her arms up in the air before crossing them over her chest. “My mom hasneveryelled at me the way she did tonight. And the only reason she did is because of you. You’ve hurt her so damn much that she can’t crawl out of her grief.”
“Mace,” Chase’s voice was stern as she got out of the SUV and walked around to Mason. But Mason shook her head.
“It’s okay.” Mason took hold of Chase’s hand. “I need to say this.”
Blake tried to prepare her already breaking heart for whatever Mason was about to say. But nothing could have prepared her for what came out of Mason’s mouth.
“I’ve wanted nothing more than to have my sister back for the last thirty years. I waited and waited for that day and then one day, you showed up out of the blue and I thought,this is it. This is how I get my sister back.But it wasn’t.”
Tears pooled in Mason’s eyes as she continued.
