Page 75 of State of Grace

“Aww, that was nice, Blake.” Emily looped her arm around Sophia’s as she pulled the woman toward her. “Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you, Blake.” Sophia offered a quick smile before sashaying into her apartment. She shut the door behind her, leaving Emily and Blake out in the hallway.

“I’m sorry if she was mean to you. She’s on edge.” Emily’s eyes were on the door. She looked torn between staying with Blake and going after Sophia. Slowly, her green eyes pulled away from the door and focused on Blake. “She doesn’t handle situations the best sometimes, and last night scared her.”

“Everything is fine between us now, I think.” Blake shrugged. “She apologized for snapping at me last night and blaming me for the accident.”

“Whoa, that’s big. Sophia doesn’t usually apologize, even if she knows she’s wrong.” Emily’s smile grew wider. “And you have to understand that Alexis and Harper are Sophia’s family. I mean, she has me, obviously, but those three are linked in ways even I don’t understand. Sophia was there for Alexis throughout her pregnancy. She was there when Alexis had a home birth for Harper in our guest room. She was there for every milestone in Harper’s life, and that’s all made them inseparable. They get each other in ways that no one else does, and if you’re going to be in Alexis’s life, you’re going to have to accept that. Sophia is always going to be a part of Alexis and Harper’s lives. If you want to be, too, you’re going to have to find a way to make peace with her.”

“I want to, but I feel like Sophia hates me.”

“She doesn’t.” She paused. “You intimidate her.”

“Psst.” Her laugh reverberated around the foyer. “I do not intimidate her.”

“You do.” Emily firmly shook her head as she took the coffee tray out of Blake’s arms before opening Alexis’s front door. “You stand up to her, and you don’t back down. Sophia is used to getting what Sophia wants. You don’t give in to her, though, and she doesn’t know how to handle that.”

“She could try by getting to know me instead of assuming she knows everything about me because she’s read about me on the internet.” Blake pulled out the to-go boxes labeled with their names as she sat them on the table. She sat hers, Alexis’s, and Harper’s to the side and handed Emily’s to her. Picking up the one labeled ‘Sophia,’ she shrugged and held it out to Emily. “Here.”

Emily opened the box as she quietly gasped.

“What? Did they get the order wrong?”

“These eggs are poached.”

“Yes?” Blake waited for her to continue.

“And this is turkey bacon.”

“Yeah, so?”

“You listen.”

“Excuse me?”

“I can’t believe you remembered how she liked her eggs and that she’ll only eat turkey bacon.” Emily’s eyes were soft, as if she appreciated someone had listened to Sophia. “You listen when people talk. You listen when Sophia talks.

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Blake rolled her eyes dramatically, and she was thankful that Emily dropped the conversation. She’d heard Sophia talk about her favorite breakfast items at game night one night, and it had stuck with Blake. Random things like that made their home in Blake’s mind for reasons she didn’t understand.

Quietly walking down the hall, Blake tapped on Harper’s bedroom door and opened it. Alexis was curled up on the bed beside Harper, who was spooned so perfectly in Alexis’s embrace that Blake hated to wake them. Blake gently placed her hand on Alexis’s shoulder. A smile formed wide on Alexis’s face when she opened her eyes and looked up at Blake.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“I brought breakfast.” Leaning down, Blake kissed her on the lips. Alexis reached up and ran her hands through Blake’s hair.

“You look pretty.”

“So do you.” They kissed again. “Come on. Let’s eat while it’s hot.”

Pulling Alexis to her feet, the two tightly embraced as Alexis sighed contently into Blake’s chest. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Me too.” Blake kissed the top of her head. “Me too.”

There’s no place else I ever want to be.

Chapter 26

The exhilaration of the opening night was palpable from the rise of the curtain to the final curtain call. As Alexis ran out on stage to take her final bow, the audience erupted into the loudest applause. She made eye contact with all her friends on the front row, but her eyes stayed locked with Blake’s the longest. Blake looked so damn proud of her, and it made her heart explode. Alexis had been so close to telling Blake that she loved her countless times before. Usually, that would have scared the shit out of her.

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