Page 27 of Between Us

Blake glances at me, then down at her lap. “Yes, Mom,” she quietly mutters before adding what I assume is a quick explanation in Spanish. “I think it’s just from driving through that pothole by the clinic.”

“You’re sure? It wasn’t—” But she’s cut off before finishing the question. Confused, I glance at the girl in my passenger seat.

Blake gives her a sharp look and shakes her head once. “No, Mom.”

Selena watches her daughter for a second before conceding. “Oh, I’m sorry,morrita. Your dad will go to the next council meeting. It needs to get fixed.” Blake just nods but won’t make eye contact with anyone. “Did we miss your call?”

She scoots down further in her seat. “No, I got a ride.” She gestures toward me. “And, Adrian, thanks for that. I’ll just…” She points her thumb over her shoulder toward the house, and I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face “…be going.”

“Don’t be silly,” Selena immediately jumps in. “Adrian, come have dinner with us. Do you like fajitas?”

Blake turns toward me with wide eyes, a clear sign she’s silently begging me to say ‘fuck no.’ But Idolike fajitas. And thankfully, her parents like me.

“I do,” I nod and ignore Blake’s death glare, “and I’d love to stay.”

I swear to God her eye twitches while I just keep grinning politely at her mom.

“Great,” Selena beams. “Would you mind helping with the groceries?” She drops the keys in Blake’s lap and walks away without a single bag in her hands.

I follow Blake to the car and grab a majority of the reusable bags before she can. Trudging up the porch steps, I follow her inside and take in their warm, inviting home for the first time. There’s a lot of boxes out with a variety of holiday labels, but it doesn’t detract from the natural comfort of it.

Blake drops the grocery bags onto the kitchen island and whips toward me. “You don’t have to stay,” she whispers. “You can sneak out. I’ll cover for you.”

“Cover for me?” I ask in a normal voice. “What would you say?”

Still whispering, she says, “I don’t know… that your girlfriend called—”

“Don’t have one,” I grin.

“Theydon’t know that,” she hisses. “Fine. You actually hate fajitas and didn’t want to be rude.”

“I love them, and I don’t want to back myself into that corner in the future.” Selena’s always bringing food to the clinic, who knows when she’ll stop in with fajitas? And like hell will I miss out on that because Blake wants to kick me out of her house.

“You… pulled a Benji then,” she smirks.

“Blake,” my voice is firm which only makes her lips turn up more. It’s such a rare sight that I’d let her tease me endlessly just to see it again. “I’m not going to tell your parents that I fuckingshitmyself.”

She sucks her lips between her teeth but within seconds she’s laughing. Really laughing. It overtakes her whole body until she actually clutches her stomach. It’s that low rumble that’s distinctly Blake.

“It was worth a shot,” she shrugs.

“What if I had agreed to that?”

She just continues to laugh, not offering me an answer. It’s such a soothing sound, so I just stand there and watch her like an idiot.

“IsGradycominghomethis year?” Blake asks hopefully from beside me. A few minutes after she accepted I wasn’t going anywhere, her dad came in to ask me for help at the Blackstone.

I suspect that there were some ulterior motives. I haven’t even found a time to ask Olivia for intel on Blake, but last week she informed me I’m not exactly subtle when it comes to my crush.

However he wasn’t interrogating me like Blake’s father, or interviewing me like Dr. Timothy Miller, DVM. He was just Tim Miller, getting to know me, Adrian Jones. Selena has been pretty much the same.

Even if Blake wasn’t here, I would still want to be. It’s the first time I’ve felt a semblance ofhomein months. Even if it’s not my home, it’s enough.

Selena shakes her head. “Arielle will be having the baby soon and she’ll need to rest. Your dad and I are getting on a plane as soon as she goes into labor, and we’ll visit again after New Year’s, if you want to go with us.”

Blake scrunches up her nose. I had a feeling she was a homebody—nothing wrong with that—but the way she blanches at the thought gains her a warning look from her mom that saysbe nice.

“He’ll be visiting toward the end of January,” Tim amends with a soft smile. Blake just nods.

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