Page 20 of What He Always Knew

I loved Charlie, Ineededher, and I missed her.

I wondered if she missed me, too.

With Blake going out of town for the weekend, I finally had a chance to see Charlie — to have a night with just her and me. I didn’t plan to waste that opportunity.

“Okay,” Blake said, and with a sigh, she rounded the kitchen island until she was standing in front of my barstool.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, finding my eyes with hers.

“I guess I’m all ready to go then…” She swallowed, her voice lowering to a whisper as vulnerability slipped over her. “I’m scared.”

At that, my heart cracked.

I pulled Blake into me, smoothing her hair with one hand as I hugged her close with the other.

The night after the Reids came to watch me play at the restaurant, Blake had finally told me the reason she’d come into town — therealreason.

Her father had fainted at work, and when he’d been admitted to the hospital, they’d found a tumor on his brain.

Blake didn’t seem to know much about what was going on, other than there was a hospital in Pittsburgh that specialized in the specific kind of issues her father was facing.

So, when he’d flown out to check into that hospital, she’d flown out to stay with me.

She’d told me that the very same night I’d planned to tell her to leave.

It’d been impossible then.

She’d broken down in my arms, so scared to lose her father, and here I was the same man she’d helped survive the loss ofhisfather — and entire family — just three years ago. There were too many nights where Blake had peeled me off my bathroom floor and out of my whiskey-stained clothes, putting me to bed and holding me while I cried. She’d seen more of me in those few months of grieving than most people had in my entire life.

I remembered one night waking up, not remembering how I got home, how I got to bed, and there she was. She was sleeping right next to me, still completely dressed, and she was holding me. Her legs wrapped around mine, her hand on my chest, her hair sweeping up and over my own pillow.

And in that moment, I remember being overwhelmed with gratitude that she hadn’t left me alone. Everyone else had. Everyone else had moved on with their lives after they sent me flowers or brought me casseroles. But not Blake. She stayed.

And the simple truth was that Blake neededmenow, and I would be there for her.

I knew, eventually, I’d have to tell her about Charlie. I’d have to clear up what Blake and I were — and what we weren’t. But with Charlie giving Cameron his two-month time-frame, I didn’t feel the need to rush that. For now, I could be Blake’s friend.

I owed her that.

“It’s going to be okay,” I told her, holding her a little tighter. “They’ve been running tests and I bet you’ll all get good news tomorrow. There’s a reason they moved him here, right? To these specialists?”

Blake just shrugged in my arms.

“It’s because they know what they’re doing. He’s in good hands, just trust that.”

She pulled back, sniffling a little as she nodded. “You’re right. I just don’t know what I’ll do if… if…”

“Don’t think like that,” I said, cutting her sentence short. “Positive vibes, okay?”

“Okay.”

Blake smiled at me, her blue eyes still glossed with unshed tears.

“Thank you for being here for me,” she said. “I don’t know how I would do this without you.”

I swallowed, guilt simmering low in my gut as I squeezed her hand in mine. “You could, but I wouldn’t let you.”

Her smile grew at that, and she leaned in, pressing her lips to mine before I had the chance to stop her.