Page 45 of Need You To Choose Me

Levi nods, licking his fingers. “Yes, there is practice on Friday after school. Kyle is coming, too.” His gaze fixes on me. “Will you come and watch me, Dad?”

“Sure thing, buddy.” Levi’s grin grows bigger as he grabs another taco. “You know you can pick whatever you want, right? It doesn’t have to be football. You can do a different sport or activity.”

The last thing I wanted was for either of my kids to think they had to play football in order to get my attention.

Levi’s brows furrow at my comment, the trace of that stubbornness I was familiar with coming to the surface. “I know, but I wanna play football, just like you. I can play, right?”

“Of course.” I ruffle his hair. He really needed a haircut. I added a mental note to take him soon. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

The chair screeches, drawing my attention as Daniel pushes from his seat and grabs his plate. “I’m going to my room.”

Avoiding my gaze, he puts the plate in the dishwasher before he leaves the kitchen.

“He’s angry again,” Levi says, grabbing his glass.

All the canceled appearances pop in my mind. How many times had I told him I’d come to his school event or game, but I never showed up?

Too many to count.

“He’s angry at me and with reason.”

And before this whole thing is done, he would get even angrier. I just hoped that I’d get a chance to make this right.

For Savannah and our baby.

For Levi.

For Daniel.

CHAPTER TEN

BLAKE

“Hey, Mrs. M.” I knock on the kitchen doorway, the sweet scent of vanilla filling the space making my stomach growl. “What are you up to?”

“I’m baking some cookies. I figured I’d leave you boys something sweet over the weekend.” She looks up, watching me over the rim of her glasses. “Need me to do anything else before I go and pick Levi up?”

“I’ll be picking him up today.”

“You will?” Her brows quirk up, surprise evident in her voice.

I had originally planned to do more things on my own, including dropping the kids at school and picking them up. Still with everything that happened with Savannah, I asked Mrs. Maxwell if she could do it temporarily, until we settled in, to which she agreed.

“Yeah, Levi has football practice, so he asked me to come and watch.”

If possible, her brows rise even higher. “Levi? Playing football?”

I let out a soft chuckle and grab one of the baked cookies, popping it into my mouth. “I was surprised, as well, but he said one of his friends is joining the team, so he wanted to do it also.”

“We’ll see how that goes.” Mrs. Maxwell says diplomatically, returning to her cookie dough. “Levi seems to be adapting well. I don’t remember the last time he was so excited about going to school.”

“He is, isn’t he? He’s been asking me to go and play with Kyle, and school has barely started. It makes me feel less guilty for uprooting their lives.”

My gaze darts to the window and the house across the street. That unsettling feeling growing inside of me and making it hard to breathe. I seriously needed to tell the boys about Savannah and the baby. But it was so damn hard knowing how fragile our life here was. Levi was settling in nicely. Will the news upset him? She was his teacher, after all. And Daniel… Daniel was still struggling as it was. I didn’t know if he could take one more blow. If our relationship could take one more blow.

“Blake?” My head snaps up, and I turn to find Mrs. Maxwell giving me a curious gaze. “Are you okay?”

I run my hand over my face, my stubble prickling my fingertips. “Just a lot on my mind.”

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