Page 21 of Falling Together

“Bear, you coming to the pool with us?” Nolan asked as Blair put on her shoes to leave.

Blair ruffled his hair. “Not today, buddy. I have tickets for a show.”

Nolan tilted his head at her. “What kind of show?” His eyes suddenly lit up. “Bluey?”

Blair laughed. “No. DefinitelynotBluey, unfortunately. It’s music. EDM. Have you ever heard of that?” When Nolan shook his head, Blair laughed again. “I didn’t think so. EDM stands for Electronic Dance Music. It’s when people called DJs play really loud, awesome music.”

EDM music? Really? Even when Erin was younger, she was never into that kind of music. She liked her lyrics to have meaning, and so far, she hadn’t found a DJ that used meaningful lyrics (not that she’d been looking). “You mean it’s when people who call themselves musicians push buttons, right?” Erin joked. She just hoped Blair would see it that way and not be offended.

“Ouch.” Blair brought a hand to her chest as if she had just been shot there. “Skratch Sick is amazing and does so much more than just push buttons. Your lack of knowledge is hurting me.”

“Skratch Sick?” Erin couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that who you’re going to see?”

“Yep! Have you heard of him?”

Of course not. Erin was still listening to the same music she had been since she was a teenager—mostly Taylor Swift. “I haven’t. It’s just a very interesting name.”

Blair scoffed. “If by interesting you mean slay, then yes, you’re right.” She looked down at the Apple Watch on her wrist. “I better go, though. I have to get my outfit ready. We’re getting dinner and then going to a bar while we wait for him to go on. I think he said his set starts at midnight, but I better check that again.”

Slay? Midnight?This whole conversation only confirmed even more that Erin’s fantasies would only ever be fantasies (and really shouldn’t even be that), because she and Blair had nothing in common. “I guess you better go if you’re going to make it there in…” Erin made a point of staring at the clock across the room. “Nine hours.”

“I promise I’m not making up an excuse to leave. We’re heading to dinner in three hours.”

“I’m just messing with you.” Erin waved a hand toward the door. “Go get ready to watch some man push buttons.”

Blair frowned at Nolan. “Your mommy isn’t being very nice to me right now.”

Erin expected Nolan to tell Blair that his mommy is always nice, but instead, he put his hands on his hips and stared at Erin with a scowl on his face. “Be nice to Bear.”

Blair mimicked the face Nolan was making as she looked at Erin as well. “Yeah. Be nice to me.”

Butterflies fluttered through her stomach at the sight of the two of them standing in front of her. Aside from her family, no one else had ever developed this type of relationship with Nolan. Not even her ex-wife. It probably had a lot to do with her having issues letting anyone in after what Bianca did to her, but it was still so nice to see. “Fine. Have fun watching this very talented musician.”

“That’s better.” Blair threw her a wink thattotallydidn’t make those butterflies in her stomach get even worse. Neither did the high five she gave Nolan right before she left.Nope. Definitely not.

“Ready to go to the pool?” Erin looked at Nolan who was staring at the door, his shoulders now hunched forward as if he was sad. “What’s wrong?” Erin reached out and squeezed his shoulder, but he didn’t look back at her.

“I wanted Bear to come to the pool.”

“I know, buddy, but Blair hung out with you all day. Now she has to go hang out with her other friends.” Was it her friends, though, or was it that girl she said she met at the bar a few weeks ago? Maybe it was another girl. The idea of Blair with other girls shouldn’t make Erin sick, so she decided to ignore the tug at her stomach from just the thought.

Nolan nodded slowly, but continued to stare at the door. A minute later, he finally turned around to look at Erin instead. “I really like Bear, Mommy.”

“Aw, sweetie, I really like her too.”

That was the problem. They both liked her way too much. What happened when this summer came to an end and Nolan went back to daycare and Blair found a new job? Would the two of them be okay?

Luckily, there was still a lot of time before she had to worry about that. They practically had the whole summer.

Chapter 8

Blair

“Are you feeling okay?” Erin asked as soon as she opened the door for Blair.

“I’m fine,” Blair said. It was a complete lie. She wastechnicallyfine. She was just exhausted. After going to a concert on Friday night, out to a bar on Saturday night, and lying in the sun all day on Sunday, she needed a day just to nap. Unfortunately, that would not be possible with the three-and-a-half-year-old she was spending today with.

“Long weekend, I take it?”

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