Page 61 of State of Grace

“Thanks for watching her.” Alexis carefully took Harper from Sophia’s lap and put her on her hip. Harper woke up enough to snuggle into Alexis’s embrace.

“She’s about to be too big to carry like that.”

“I’ll do it as long as I can.”

“You doing ok, mon amour?”

“Yeah, just a long night at work.” She kissed Harper’s head. “I’m going to get this one to bed. Good night, Soph.”

“Good night, Lex.” Sophia stood, pushed her glasses into her hair, and kissed Alexis on the cheek. With a smile, Alexis headed back across the foyer and back into her apartment. She’d expected to find Blake still awake but was surprised to see her already passed out on the couch. Blake hadn’t bothered to cover herself up with the blanket, so Alexis carefully draped it over her body while she balanced Harper on her hip.

“I swear if I wrote this in my diary, not even I would believe it,” she mumbled before carrying Harper down the hall to her room. Tucking her in, she kissed Harper on the cheek and turned on her Disney Princess nightlight before heading out the door.

She tiptoed back down the hall and watched Blake sleeping. Her chest’s methodical rise and fall were accompanied by soft snoring sounds and made Alexis laugh to herself. For a moment, she contemplated going across the hall to tell Sophia about her night with Blake and how she was starting to freak out about being with Blake.

But instead, Alexis flipped off the lights and went to bed knowing full well that she would get little sleep thanks to her overactive mind.

Chapter 21

The smell of pancakes and syrup mixed in a heavenly combination as Blake stirred awake on the couch. She pulled off the Marvel Comics blanket that had been carefully tucked in around her and wiped the sleep from her eyes. Blake looked around the unfamiliar apartment and tried to remember where she was. Of course, the two plastic lightsabers lying in front of the TV were a dead giveaway.

Standing up and stretching, Blake remembered every drink she’d downed the night before, thanks to the pounding in her head. She wasn’t one who usually drank too much, but after the argument with Isla, Blake had needed something to take the edge off. Walking into the kitchen, Blake leaned on the archway as she watched Alexis flip a pancake perfectly. Her head bobbed to some song in her head, and she looked happy in her sweatpants and T-shirt with a flowing, almost sheer robe on over it.

The entire sight in front of her made Blake’s heart yearn for the morning she’d wake up to a scene like that in her own house. She’d wanted a life outside the entertainment industry for years. However, the older she got, the more that opportunity seemed to be slipping away from her. Blake had thought she’d found it with Salem, but she’d been insanely wrong about that one. Salem was only interested in how being with Blake increased her name recognition.

Before becoming Blake’s agent, Salem was a total unknown in the industry. She’d arrived from some small midwestern town looking for a change from her marketing job, and since Blake was in desperate need of new representation, she’d hired Salem the same day they’d met. It didn’t take them long to acknowledge the chemistry between them, and within a few months, the two were living together. Blake had never been satisfied in that relationship; she’d often wanted something more than Salem wanted to or was able to give her.

Blake wanted a family. A real family that had family dinners together and had holiday traditions and wore matching T-shirts on vacations. She wanted that more than she’d ever verbally admitted to anyone. If she told anyone in her circle, they’d have laughed her off the soundstage. None of her co-stars were married, and the one person that had a kid only saw their kid every few months. It wasn’t the life Blake wanted, and seeing how perfectly domestic Alexis’s life was made her realize how badly she wanted a change.

No, how badly she needed a change.

“Morning,” Blake cleared her throat as she walked over to the L-shaped kitchen counter and sat at the barstool. She ran her tongue across her bottom lip as Alexis looked over her shoulder and smiled at her.

“Hey, good morning. Did you sleep ok?”

“Yeah, I did. Thanks.”

“The couch doesn’t look like much, but it’s comfy to sleep on.” Alexis plated three pancakes before putting more batter onto the griddle. She handed the plate to Blake, who couldn’t help but smile at the Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes. It was the most Alexis thing that she could have done; Blake didn’t have to know Alexis well to know that much. The plethora ofDisney décor in the kitchen was a dead giveaway that the Mouse was well-loved in the Holland household. “When I was pregnant with Harper, it was the only place I could find any comfort the last couple of months.”

“It was comfy.” She nodded toward her plate. “Do you do this for all your guests?”

“I do it for the needy live-in resident who lives here rent-free.”

As if on cue, Harper came into the kitchen wearing Doc McStuffins pajamas. In her hand was a Mickey Mouse plush, and her eyebrows furrowed as she stopped in her tracks and looked at Blake then Alexis. She shyly darted over to Alexis, hiding her face from Blake with Alexis’s robe. Harper looked like a miniature version of her mother, from her gorgeous dark blonde hair to her goofy smile.

“Silly goose.” Alexis rubbed her back. “You know Blake. Say hello.”

“Hi.” Harper quickly peaked out from behind the robe as she giggled.

“Good morning, Harper.” They smiled at each other before Harper covered her face again. Alexis laughed as she tickled her side. Harper’s giggles were music to Blake’s ear, and not for the first time in her life, Blake wondered what it would be like to have a kid of her own.

“Go have a seat by Blake, and I’ll get you some pancakes.”

“Ok!” Harper ran over to the barstool beside Blake and pulled herself up to the seat. She set the Mickey Mouse plush on the counter, and Blake sat it up against the napkin holder. The move made Harper grin up at her. Alexis sat a plate of pancakes in front of her before handing her a Minnie Mouse fork. She set a container of syrup between them and raised an eyebrow at Harper.

“Don’t get that all over the counter like last time, ok?”

“No promises.” Harper giggled as Alexis took two mugs out of the cabinet and held them up to Blake with a slightly raised eyebrow. Blake nodded, and Alexis poured them full of coffee before filling a thermos that had been sitting on the counter beside the coffee pot.

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