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Blake
“Are you guys not talking to me?”
Missy folded her arms over her chest.
Charlie rocked Clara in his arms.
“Are you guys that mad that I bought you a stroller? It was on your damn registry.” I moved the stroller back and forth. “It’s not the one you guys asked for, but it’s way better than that hooptie you wanted.” I knew I had gone off the hip with a different stroller, but I had really researched this thing and knew it was top-of-the-line. “And it even has little pink accents.”
Missy glared at me, and Charlie looked at me knowingly. The thing was, I had no idea what he was trying to tell me.
“Can one of you tell me what the hell is going on?” I demanded. “I came here to spring you, and now you’re not even talking to me.”
“Because you’re being a butt to Shannon,” Missy finally revealed.
I looked at the door. “Shannon? I didn’t even do anything?” I had walked in, and she left to go see what was going on with the discharge papers.
“You’re doing something because every time you two are in the same room, she runs for the hills.” Missy narrowed her gaze on me. “I don’t like it.”
“She does run whenever you’re around, bud,” Charlie called.
“Maybe that’s her fault, not mine,” I replied defensively. “I’m just living here.”
“Have you two talked about your brother since you’ve seen each other?” Missy asked.
I wrinkled my brow. “No, why would we?”
“Did you guys ever talk about your brother?” Missy enquired. “Like, when the accident happened?”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Uh, I don’t really want to talk about this, guys. My brother...” I sighed and dropped my hand. “I don’t want to talk about my brother.”
“You need to talk to someone about him, Blake.” Missy stood and moved closer to me. “Shannon still thinks you blame her for your brother’s accident.”
My jaw tightened, and my lips thinned.
“Do you?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” I growled. This was supposed to be a happy time with Clara coming home, and instead, it was an inquisition about Shannon. “Sheldon has nothing to do with... anything. It’s done and in the past.”
“Then listen, Blake.” Missy smiled sadly. “I can’t even imagine to know how it feels to lose someone so close to you. Honestly, I hope I never know that kind of loss. But I do know Shannon knows how it feels. When she talked about Sheldon, she was on the brink of tears. He may have been her friend, but she loved him like a brother. You could tell with every word she said. I’m not saying you need to talk about Sheldon constantly, but maybe you could talk to someone who maybe loved him as much as you did.”
Charlie stood and strolled over with Clara in his arms. “We all care about you, man. We’re not telling you how to feel, but we think you should at least talk to Shannon.”
“I don’t have anything to say.”
Charlie held Clara out to me, and I folded her in my arms. “Then maybe you need to listen to what she has to say,” he suggested.
I cradled Clara to my chest and felt a swell of protectiveness wash over me. “I’ll talk to her, but only for the sake of Clara since you guys picked both of us to be her godparents.” Before Sheldon died, I had strong feelings for Shannon. It might have had something to do with the fact that I lost my virginity to her, but those feelings I had were still below the surface.
Eighteen-year-old Blake totally thought I would spend the rest of my life with Shannon, but then everything changed. Sheldon was gone, and it felt like there wasn’t anything left of me.
“That’s all we can ask for.” Missy surveyed the stroll and moved it back and forth. “You really did get the Cadillac of strolls,” she hemmed. “Do I even want to know how much this thing cost?”
Clara gave a little squawk in my arms. “Only the best for Clara,” I cooed.
“Lord,” Charlie grunted. “Not even out of the hospital, and she’s wrapping Uncle Blake around her finger.”
She most certainly was because this little baby was the reason why I was going to talk to her Aunt Shannon.