Page 8 of The Lies
“She’s my life, I don’t know what I’d have done it if wasn’t for her. She’s the one who kept me going after Kayleigh died. She’s the reason I got up every morning and the reason I didn’t go to bed steaming every night as I tried to deal with everything. I never expected to be a single dad, let alone at twenty-seven with an eight-year-old girl.”
“You’ve done an incredible job. Do you want more kids?” I ask, broaching a subject that could have an interesting outcome.
Blake’s silent for a minute while he thinks. “Kayleigh and I always said we wanted more; we just wanted to wait a little. We were so young when we had Sinead that we wanted to enjoy our twenties a little first. But now…now, I’ve almost got a teenager and I’m not stupid enough to know the next few years aren’t going to come with a side dish of emotions, hormones and drama. I can’t imagine ever going back to having a baby and everything that comes with one—the late nights and early mornings, the nappy changes and the feeding.”
“Is that a no then?” I ask, just to clarify what he’s saying.
“I think it’s a no, yeah. Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, I don’t think so. Kids have never really been very high on my priority list. I can’t lie, the thought of you already having one has freaked me out a bit, but after spending time with Sinead, I’ve realised she’s not all that scary!”
“You’ve only seen her when she’s being good,” he says with a laugh. “So, didn’t your husband want kids?”
“Yes, he did—or more, his mother did. I could never imagine having one with him; I couldn’t picture us having that life. When I look back now, I’m amazed we lasted so long.”
“Why do you think you did?”
“Ease, comfort, familiarity…all those really boring things that I’m sure keep hundreds of couples together when they’d be much better off apart. We both worked so much that really we hardly saw each other enough to realise how miserable we made each other.”
“That’s really kind of sad.”
“I guess. It was what it was,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. “I can’t regret anything. I made the choices I did for a reason. It’s taught me a lot, mostly about things I don’t want in my life more than what Ido, but that’s okay.”
“What happened?”
I’m confused by his question because I’m sure we’ve already talked about Edward’s cheating. “He cheated with—”
“I know,” he interrupts. “I meant what happened to have you running straight to the airport yesterday?”
“Oh, I presumed Aunt Addy told you.” He shakes his head so I continue. “I discovered why my solicitor had been avoiding me,” I say with a sad laugh. “It appears that when she started digging into our lives and assets she found that we had none.” Blake’s eyebrows draw together in question. “Edward has a gambling habit. He’s lost everything we had. He even managed to get my name off our apartment before re-mortgaging it. He’s taken loans out in my name and defaulted on payments, hence I failed the credit check with the estate agents a few weeks ago. When I said to you at the airport that I have nothing, I meant it. I have nothing.”
“Fuck, what a wanker.”
“That pretty much sums it up. As a goodwill gesture, he kept my job open for me. All I could think was I could go back, work for a year or two to build up some money, then come back and start again with some cash behind me.”
“That makes sense, but—”
“But I forgot about what I’d be leaving behind.”
* * *
“That was Aunt Addy,” I say when Blake reappears showered and dressed a while later. “Sinead’s making Sunday lunch for us.”
“Oh, is she?” he asks, sounding amused.
“Is that weird?”
“She thinks the sun shines out of your arse, you know? I bet she’s trying to impress you with her cooking skills.” My heart swells for his beautiful daughter.
“Well, it does!”
“I’ll need to have a closer look,” he says with a wink.
“Hmm, we’ll have to see about that. We need to be there before midday.”
“That doesn’t give us long,” Blake says, looking at the clock on the mantelpiece that’s surrounded by photos of him, Kayleigh and Sinead.
I knew Blake had a plan because he put stops on my suggestion of joining him in the shower. Instead, he told me to get ready to go out so I spent the time doing my hair and make up instead of him. “What are we going to do?”
