Page 31

THIRTY-ONE

Ella

WHEN BLAKE INVITES his sister and her family over for brunch the weekend before the Mexico City Grand Prix, I paste on a smile despite my brain nearly setting itself on fire. Besides my brief run-in with Finn and Millie in Silverstone, I haven’t formally met anyone in Blake’s family. And meeting his sister is a big deal. A huge deal. She’s the only family he’s ever had and it’s important to him that we get to know one another. No pressure.

I spend all morning yanking ingredients out of the pantry like I’m on an episode of Chopped . Blake suggested Nicola make brunch, but that felt impersonal, especially because his sister is bringing over banoffee pie, his death-row dessert. Blake’s help is more of a hindrance considering he doesn’t know where anything in his own kitchen is. And it took him about fifteen minutes too long to zest a lemon. Now he’s assisting by taste testing everything “we” made.

“God, this is phenomenal,” he moans. The noises he’s making are absurdly sexual. “I love Battenberg.”

My eyebrows lift. “Battenberg?”

“That’s what this is called.” Crumbs fall out of his mouth as he grins. He takes another bite of the dessert he picked up from the local bakery earlier this morning, which is a cute cake made from different-colored squares and wrapped in marzipan. “Want some?”

“No.” I grab the remaining cake and place it out of his reach. “Keep your hands off the food.”

Blake waves his arms around his kitchen. There’s enough food to feed an army. I ignore him and stand guard in front of the spread so he can’t touch anything else until his family arrives.

When the doorbell rings, Blake intertwines our fingers and tugs me toward the door. Finn and Millie launch themselves at me, the foyer suddenly filled with nonstop babble.

“It’s lovely to finally meet you, Ella,” Ashley says warmly. She pulls me in for a long hug and my nerves slowly dissipate. It’s uncanny how alike she and Millie look. “These rascals have been very excited to see you again. They’ve been referring to you as Uncle Blake’s lady friend with the accent.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” I turn toward the two munchkins. “Did your uncle Blake tell you that I’ve been talking about how cool I think your accents are?”

This sets off a round of squeals. I notice Ashley smile at Blake as her kids clamor to get my attention. Most of the brunch is spent with Finn and Millie asking me every question that comes to their minds. Do I have a dog? Why do I say feet instead of meters? What’s the grossest thing I’ve ever eaten? Do I like yellow or purple more? What’s my favorite movie of all time? Did I know that it’s impossible to sneeze with my eyes open? Can I do a cartwheel?

After we’re finished eating, Blake and his brother-in-law, John, play Chutes and Ladders with the kids . I know it’s their way of giving Ashley and me alone time to chat, which we both appreciate.

“I haven’t seen my brother this happy in a long time,” she tells me. “Last year was really hard on him.”

“He’s stronger than he thinks,” I reply, adoration filling my heart. “It just took him longer to see what everyone else already knew.”

“Blake’s always had this secret hope that she’d come back.” Ashley rakes her hand through her hair, a habit I’m used to seeing him do. “I had a gut feeling she wouldn’t.”

“What made you want to look for her?” I ask softly. Taking a small sip of my coffee, I stay quiet. If Ashley is anything like her brother, silence is sometimes the best way to get an answer.

A few moments later, she gives me a pained smile. “I owed it to myself. It was never about reuniting with her, though. I mean, obviously, that would’ve been the best-case scenario, but it was more about proving to myself that I was strong enough to look for her, regardless of what the outcome may be. Does that make sense?”

I nod, unable to find the words to explain just how much I understand.

“I don’t regret finding her,” she continues, “but I wish the situation had turned out differently, especially for Blake’s sake. We just don’t fit into the new life she’s crafted for herself. I accepted that long before she said it, but for Blake, it was like she was abandoning us all over again.”

“I think he’s doing okay with it now.” I look over at where Blake’s sitting on the floor, pointing out something on the board to his niece. “Or better than he was before.”

“It’s—it’s nice to know he has someone.” She briefly rests her hand on my forearm. “Now, enough with the heavy stuff. Tell me all the Formula 1 drama. Blake never shares anything, but I know there has to be some good tea.”

Soon enough, the two of us are talking like old friends. She and Blake are yin and yang. Whereas he’s private and suspicious of newcomers, Ashley is an open book. It turns out she also thinks his Rodolfo painting is ugly. Considering she’s an interior decorator, my opinion feels vindicated.

We don’t even realize the Chutes and Ladders tournament has ended until Finn runs into the kitchen. He’s covered in colored marker. Red, blue, and green shapes take up almost every exposed inch of skin. It looks like he missed the paper and drew on himself instead.

“It won’t come off.” He pouts, burying his face in his mom’s side. “Millie said it would.”

I bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t laugh. As a sister myself, I’ve done similar things to my baby brother.

Blake appears moments later with a guilty smile. “My bad,” he apologizes while walking over to us. He tousles Finn’s hair before plopping into the empty chair on the other side of me. “John was in the bathroom and my lawyer called, so I stepped out.”

Ashley mumbles under her breath as she takes Finn to clean up. The moment they’ve disappeared from the room, I’m greeted with a deep kiss. The kind of kiss that makes me feel weightless. Like I’m levitating off the ground and floating in the air. My lips instantly miss his when he pulls away.

“You and Ashley seem to be getting on well,” he notes, intertwining our fingers. “What’d you chat about?”

“Your imaginary pet frog named Roger Ribbit.” I’ll need to dig deeper into that later; there’s a lot to unpack.

Blake narrows his eyes at me. “Anything else embarrassing?”

“Not really,” I admit, choosing my next words carefully. “But we did talk about your mom for a bit.”

His mom’s not an off-limits topic, but I pause anyway to gauge his reaction. He’s arching his eyebrows, his full lips slightly parted like he wants to say something but doesn’t know what.

“We don’t need to get into it,” I reassure him quickly. “I just, well, um, Ashley said something that made me think.”

“About what?”

“That maybe I owe it to myself to explore my options.” If Josie were here, she’d start singing “YOLO” by Drake. “George said I should utilize his contacts, so I was going to see if he knows any podcasters who’d be willing to chat with me.”

One of the best parts about this year is the autonomy I’ve had. Despite the strict time constraints and rigid schedule, George never micromanages me, instead trusting me to do my work, do it well, and do it on time. I’m not ready to give up that independence and freedom.

“An indie podcaster,” I quickly clarify. “Not someone at a big-budget media company.”

“That’s … wow. That’s a huge step, baby,” Blake murmurs. The boyish grin he’s wearing makes my heart beat ten times faster. “I’m so proud of you.”

I’m proud of myself, too. I’m sure as hell not the same person I was last year, but I’m okay with that. I’m starting to like this version of me better.