Page 10 of Cursed to Love (Cursed to Love #1)

CHAPTER TEN

I n the garage, Paige followed Blake and Emmie to where their boxes were neatly stacked in one corner. It wasn’t everything she owned because of what was in her storage locker, but just seeing them stacked up, not taking up much room, made her feelings of failure rise to the surface, like they so often did. She should have a house of her own and belongings she was proud of by now. Maybe one day…

After some shuffling of boxes, Blake found several marked as Emmie’s toys.

“I’ll bring these in for you, kiddo.” He straightened and walked toward another pile of boxes Paige hadn’t noticed. “Do you like playing dress-up?” he asked her daughter.

Emmie clapped her hands together. “Yes.”

Blake grinned down at her. “Then I have something for you. Let’s go into the living room and then I’ll come back for your toys.” He lifted two boxes off a pile, and Emmie scampered ahead of him.

In the living room, Blake set the boxes on the floor and kneeled, opening them. “When I was sorting through my mom’s things, I found a bunch of stuff that I thought a little girl might like.”

“I’m a little girl,” she said, standing straighter.

“Yes, you are, and I think these will be perfect for you. Maybe you can dress up and play tea party with your dolls.”

Paige sat on one of the couches and watched as Blake and Emmie went through the boxes. They pulled out shoes, dresses, scarves, and some fancy wide-brimmed hats that Alex must have worn to weddings.

When everything was laid out on the floor, Blake went back to the garage for Emmie’s toys. “What else do you need to have a tea party?” he asked Emmie.

“Teacups.” She scrambled over to her boxes and rooted through them. “I found them,” she shouted, holding up a plastic teacup in one hand and a saucer in the other.

Paige chuckled softly. “Inside voice, Emmie.”

“Sorry, Mommy.” She turned to Blake. “I need a table.”

Blake pulled the coffee table into the middle of the room. “How’s this?”

She set her teacup and saucer on the table. “That will be fine,” she said, a perfect imitation of her grandmother. “And a mirror.”

“I think I have one downstairs.” Blake left and came back a few minutes later with a full-length mirror.

He propped it against the wall beside the fireplace. “I’ll leave the mirror here, but you have to promise not to touch it, okay? You can look into it, and if you need to move it, you have to ask me or your mom.”

“I will.” Emmie threw herself at Blake’s legs, hugging him. “Thank you, Blake. I love the dress-up clothes.”

“I’m glad.”

When Emmie began to play, he turned to Paige. “More coffee?”

“Yes, I’d love another cup.” Paige stood, but Blake put his hand to halt her.

“I’ll get it,” he said, “Then we can sit at the dining room table, so we’re close if Emmie needs you.”

Paige watched him walk into the kitchen before turning back to Emmie.

She’d been watching Blake too. “Blake said the door is supposed to stay open, so the kitchen isn’t a secret.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” She smiled, imagining the conversation that had brought that up.

“Still take it with just cream?” Blake asked.

Paige laughed when she turned and saw Blake poking his head out the kitchen passthrough when the doorway was just as close. “Yes.”

Sitting and letting someone wait on her when she wasn’t in a restaurant felt strange. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been waited on. It could have been when she’d last been with Blake, as sad as that was.

She and Blake sat at the dining table drinking their coffees and watching Emmie for a few minutes. As an only child, Emmie was used to playing by herself and didn’t seem to mind. Although Paige did. She’d never wanted Emmie to be an only child.

By the time she’d been born, Paige knew her dream of having several children wasn’t likely to come true. For a while she’d even contemplated staying with Craig just so she could have more kids, but then she realized she was being selfish. She needed to get Emmie out of that environment, not bring more kids into it.

“Now a penny for you, or a dollar,” Blake teased, echoing her earlier comment.

She looked across the table at him. His hair was messy from sleeping, but it was the kind of disarray that added to his looks, not detracted. She used to love looking at him in the mornings when he was all relaxed, the day yet to intrude with the million responsibilities he had on his plate.

“I was just thinking about Emmie playing by herself.”

“Does she not normally?”

“She does. She has friends at daycare, but at home, unless I play with her, she’s on her own.”

“We can probably remedy that. Do you remember Linda and Denise?”

Paige narrowed her eyes, thinking back. “From Akerman’s? Oh, right. Linda was office manager and Denise was HR?”

“Switch the positions, but right. They’re grandmothers now and both have their grandkids over a lot. They babysit together, and I’m sure we can arrange for Emmie to meet their grandkids for a playdate.”

“I wouldn’t want Emmie to be a burden.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t.” He snapped his fingers. “I just remembered… Akerman’s annual Halloween party is on Saturday, October twenty-sixth. You’ll be able to see Linda and Denise then. Talk to them and then make up your mind.”

Paige nodded and ducked her head, taking another sip of coffee to hide her shock. Her eyes were probably as wide as saucers. October twenty-sixth was three weeks away. Last night she’d hoped she and Emmie would be out of his hair by then.

“I’ve been thinking…” Blake said.

She grinned at him. “Should I be worried?”

His smile was slow and wicked. Paige knew then that she should be the one worrying.

Blake laughed, relaxing his smile. “No, seriously. I was thinking about your situation and mine.”

“What’s yours?” She had no idea what his was since he looked like he had everything he could want.

“I’d like to be friends again. We were once, and I think we could be again.”

She hesitated for a moment. “We were more than friends.”

“I know. But that was a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.” He held up his hand. “I’m not blaming you. Like I said, it was years ago and we’ve both probably changed, so let’s get to know each other again.”

Paige stared him in the eyes, not wavering. “It was my fault, Blake. I broke up with you and went back to Craig.”

“It doesn’t matter whose fault it was; it’s done.” He looked over at Emmie and then met Paige’s gaze again. “Do you ever get lonely?”

“Yes.”

“Me too. I’m not looking for love. I don’t plan on ever falling in love and getting married. I’m just telling you this so neither of us has any false expectations.”

“Really?” Paige didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t that she felt any different because she wasn’t willing to ever risk having a man controlling her or being reliant on one again. But Blake had wanted a big family. Once, during one of their many deep conversations, he’d told her that he wanted a relationship just like his parents, but something had obviously changed with him.

“Really.”

He didn’t say any more, and she couldn’t help but think that his change of heart was her fault. If she hadn’t broken up with him… She looked over at Emmie as her voice raised in excitement, talking to one of her dolls. If she had stayed with Blake, she wouldn’t have Emmie, she reminded herself.

“I’m not looking for love either.” She didn’t tell him why, and when he smiled at her, it seemed like her reasons weren’t important. Only that they were on the same page.

He extended his hand toward her. “Friends?”

She wasn’t sure she could be only friends with Blake. At one time, she’d thought he would be her future. Now, she didn’t know if she could even trust him. Physically, she knew Blake would never hurt her or Emmie, but emotions were something else. She’d had hers manipulated before, and if Blake had ulterior motives, her emotions might not be safe. She would just have to be extra cautious and look for warning signs.

After leaving Craig, she’d looked back over her years with him and saw hundreds of them. In the beginning she had ignored every single one to keep the peace and please him. Never again. This time she would be more vigilant.

Paige shook his hand. “Friends.”

“Good… I’ve been thinking about one more thing.”

“Oh, no,” she teased.

He gave her a mock scowl and then huffed a laugh. “Let’s see how we do over the next few weeks, and if we get along well as roommates, I’d like you to think about you and Emmie staying here.”

“Staying? For how long?”

Blake shrugged. “I don’t know, and we don’t need to worry about timeframes right now.”

“Okay.” Even as Paige agreed she wondered once more if she was making the right decision. Friends was one thing, but staying here for an extended period and seeing him and living like a family every day was something else entirely. She’d have to see what she could do to not only guard her independence, but her heart as well.

* * *

Sunday, October 13

“Thanks,” Blake said and smiled at the grocery store clerk as she handed him his receipt. He stuffed it in the bag before walking to his truck to head home.

He and Paige had been cooking together, taking turns coming up with what to have for dinner each night. Since he’d been in the mood for grilled steak, he popped by the grocery store and picked up the other items they needed as well. There’d only been a short, tension-filled conversation about who was going to pay. Except for Paige being homeless, he didn’t know anything about her financial situation. That alone meant things couldn’t be good, and as her friend, he wanted to help her. They’d finally compromised—he would buy the groceries, and if she needed anything extra for Emmie, she would buy it.

The week had been one of the best he could remember, and he wanted to keep the peace. He could live with compromise. His dad had told him once, during one of the times he was renovating a room—for the third time—that it was a small thing to keep his wife happy.

Every night he’d looked forward to coming home. Sometimes he beat Paige and Emmie home, and other times they arrived first. They’d make dinner and talk about their days as they ate. Then Paige would give Emmie a bath while he cleaned up.

A few times, if he or Paige didn’t have work to catch up on, they would all play a game together. He smiled as he thought about the day before. Emmie had asked to go bowling. She said a girl in her daycare went and said it was the bestest .

Blake wasn’t sure if he agreed that bowling was the bestest , but they’d had a great time. After dinner he and Paige put on a movie, some action flick she’d picked. It was one he’d been wanting to see, but if someone asked him what he’d thought of it, he couldn’t have said what the plot was.

He’d sat on the opposite end of the couch from Paige for over two hours, her scent of vanilla and orange blossoms driving him crazy. It was the same scent she’d worn in college, and it had driven him crazy then too. The only difference was back then he could act on his feelings.

He probably hadn’t been this sexually frustrated since he was a teenager, but he was loving their arrangement. He wasn’t lonely, and he looked forward to coming home. Maybe he had been kidding himself into thinking that casual dates and hookups were enough. If he and Paige could stay friends and just be roommates, he would miss sex, but his life would still be pretty perfect.

Just thinking about Paige and sex in the same sentence had his cock hardening and his jeans tightening. He pulled into his driveway and turned off the engine.

Shifting to adjust himself, he blew out a breath, hoping his dick would behave by the time he walked into the house. As he reached for the door handle with one hand and the grocery bags with the other, a familiar tension took over his body. His hands dropped as his back stiffened against the seat.

Since he knew he couldn’t fight it, he closed his eyes and let the curse take over.

Images swam in his mind for several seconds before they slowed down, and he found himself on a fog-covered street in San Francisco beside the beach. He knew the year was 1924. The street he was on wasn’t yet paved and the smell of salt water mixed in the air with horse manure.

A wind came off the bay, making him shiver as he stood alone in the fog. Just like he knew when and where he was, he knew it was early morning.

A deep sorrow, like it was his own, crawled along his skin. It wasn’t grief like he’d felt when his parents died. More of a longing for something that would never be.

He turned slowly, trying to figure out where it was coming from. On the beach, he spied a man standing as if watching someone. Looking in the same direction as the man, Blake saw a woman walking toward him.

She was wrapped in a cloak, gloves on her hands. The hood of her cloak flew back in the wind, exposing her wavy bobbed hairstyle. She looked like she was in her twenties, her face unlined and smooth.

Blake stepped off the street and trudged through the sand. He knew now that it didn’t matter how close he got to the couple; they wouldn’t see him.

“Martha, are you alright?” the man asked. “You sounded urgent on the telephone.”

“Thank you for coming, George.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper as she looked down at her hands as they fidgeted with the ties of her cape.

Blake stepped closer to listen.

Finally, she looked up at George. “Your friendship has meant more to me than you could ever know…” Her words trail off and George took a step closer.

“Martha, I have valued your friendship also.”

She laughed nervously. “It has taken me years to muster the courage to say this to you, but I need to be honest.”

“What is it? You know you can say anything to me, Martha.”

“Can I?”

“Of course.”

Martha’s fingers continued to play with the tie of her cloak. “George.” Her voice was soft, almost carried away on the wind, and again Blake moved closer to hear them.

“George,” she said again, her voice stronger. “I have loved you for as long as I can remember.”

“I love you too.”

She shook her head. “No, not like that. I am in love with you, George. I can’t keep it a secret any longer, no matter how much it will change everything between us. I kept telling myself that if I loved you fiercely and long enough, it would be enough for both of us.”

Her voice wobbled as she let out another nervous laugh. “But that’s foolish, isn’t it?”

Sadness came over George’s features before he smiled softly. He lifted one of Martha’s gloved hands and clasped it between both of his.

“Martha, I care deeply for you,” he said, his tone reflecting the warmth of his words. “It is my fault that I did not say something sooner. I have known for a long time that your feelings for me were different than mine are for you. I wish I could return your love, but I love another. I have decided to propose to Ruth, and I have her father’s permission to marry her.”

Taking a step back, Martha pulled her hand from George’s and grasped her ties once more.

As the air hung heavy between them, neither of them saying a word, Blake felt a connection with Martha. It wasn’t exactly the same, but he understood what she felt to hear someone say they were in love with someone else.

Finally, Martha wrapped her arms around herself, as if she could give her heart strength and protect it from shattering. “I see,” she whispered, her voice huskier than before. “I’m glad you told me and I’m happy for you and Ruth.”

George looked down and kicked some sand with the toe of his shoe. “I wish things could be different…” His words fell flat; even Blake knew he didn’t really mean them. “Well… I must be going, but we will still be friends and see each other. And you’ll come to the wedding?”

Martha nodded and turned away, heading back the way she’d come from. “I will never love another,” she whispered to herself.

This time, the wind carried her words to Blake.

The air shifted, and Blake found himself in a well-lit ballroom. A band played on a stage as George and his bride, both dressed in wedding attire, danced while everyone watched.

Blake looked for Martha but couldn’t see her in the crowd. He walked through the throngs of people and shivered as his hand went through the arm of a guest.

He spotted Martha leaving the ballroom and followed her. She stopped an attendant and spoke too quietly for Blake to hear. A few moments later, a woman came back with Martha’s cloak. Wasting no time, she donned it and left the building.

When the air shifted again, Blake braced himself for what he was about to see. He felt for Martha but understood George too. Love couldn’t be forced.

Blake found himself in another brightly lit room, but this time it was a small kitchen, not unlike his own before the renovations.

Martha sat at a table, far older now, perhaps in her fifties or sixties, her hair almost fully gray. Her complexion was no longer one of youth, wrinkles etched into her skin.

She’s holding a young child in her lap and laughing with someone.

Blake had hoped she would find love after George, but regardless of the laughter and child, a shroud of sadness hung over her.

“Thank you for stopping by,” Martha said as she stood and handed the child to a much younger woman. “It’s so nice to meet new neighbors. You’re welcome to drop by anytime.”

They said their goodbyes, and Martha closed the door behind the other woman.

Blake was ready for the shift in the air. Instead of being transported to another time, a movie reel of Martha’s remaining years flashed in front of his vision. He saw her going about her daily life, connecting with people and sometimes laughing, but each night she went to bed alone, wrapped in her unrequited love.

A draft hit Blake as the curse released him. He still sat in his truck, all the warmth in the cab long gone.

He could picture Martha getting on with her life, but never quite feeling complete. A pallor of sadness for her loss of love surrounded her for her entire life as surely as her cloak did.

Blake looked at his house and debated what to do. With Martha’s sadness clinging to him, he wasn’t sure if he should go inside. He could text Paige that an emergency had come up at work. That didn’t happen often on a Sunday, but it was possible.

He took the grocery bag and got out of his truck. Hiding wasn’t the way to go. He needed to stick to his plan to have a friendship with Paige. With each curse episode, he knew he’d made the right decision. He’d guard his heart at all costs to avoid the lifelong pain that came with heartbreak. Even the curse was showing him that’s all that was possible.