Page 123 of Bad Love

Even before he says the words, every muscle in my body istight.

"Ex-husband,” I correct, but he—Blake, I remember—grins. "What?"

He waves me off and drops onto the step, looking at ease. "Relax. You're not hertype."

As someone else walks into the building, I step back, nodding at the woman. Blake does thesame.

And because I’m—at worst—the second-to-last person Kendall wants to be hearing from, I take the moment to grab my phone and fire off a text to warn her Blake is here. I can’t imagine she invited him to stop by when she wasn’there.

"Don't see how you know her type,” I say, tucking the phone away without a word. “You walked away fromher."

The smile falls away, and he shakes his head, resting a foot on the frame of the bike. "That what she told you? There's a few things you shouldknow."

I snort. "I’m not going to believeyou."

He shrugs. "Up to you. You can go on back to your fancy car. Or while we're both killing time, I can tell you how it all wentdown."

27

"Anything happen today at school?"I ask Rory as we walk home fromBumblebee.

"Nope. Day after your birthday is the most boring, especially when it’s someone else’s birthday. They sang for Ainslie instead." He shifts his bag higher on his back. “Is Logan coming over soon? I want to tell him about a new recipe I'm workingon. "

I swallow as we round the corner to our street. It’s been a long time since I broke things off with someone. When Blake and I split up, Rory was too small to have anopinion.

"Honey, I don’t think we’re going to be seeing as much of Logan as we havebeen.”

If I thought this would be easier to deal with in the daylight, I was wrong. My entire day at work I was miserable. But I have to be strong for my son. Tonight, when I sink into bed, I’ll let myselfwallow.

I dig in my bag for my swipe card, noticing the blinking on my phone and pulling it out at the sametime.

Blake:Where are you and Rory? I thought school let out at three or four orsomething?

Followed by:

Logan:Your ex is at your apartment. Thought you’d want toknow.

Ifrown,confused, as Rory pulls up where the pathway to our door meets thesidewalk.

We’ve officially entered a parallel universe, because Logan and Blake are sitting on my doorstep.Talking.

Logan spots me first, but he’s too far away for me to decipher the expression on hisface.

Blake shifts off the step to approach Rory. "Hey, bud. I brought you a present. Meant to get it to you last weekend, but your mom didn’t tell me you’d bevisiting."

I ignore the dig as I force my feet to carry me up the walkway as Blake wheels the bike onto the grass in front of thebuilding.

"I remember you liked blue, so I had a blue seat put onit."

Years ago. Rory prefers red now, but I don’t say anything because this is Blake’s version of making amends. I know because it’s accompanied with that puppy dog “look what a good thing I did, give me a medal”expression.

My son reaches for the handles, running a finger along the rubber. "I don't know how toride.”

Blake lets out a noise of disbelief directed at me. "He doesn't know how to ride abike?"

"I haven't had time to teach him," I say under mybreath.

"I'll teachhim."

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