State of Grace: A Moonflower Cove Romance

by Addison Clarke

  She watched as Alexis took a sip from her water bottle before screwing the cap back on and sitting it on the counter. Alexis looked uneasy. Blake wondered what had happened in her past that had given her such perspective at a young age. Instead of wondering, Blake decided simply to ask.

  “How’d you gain that perspective?”

  “Let’s say that life hasn’t been easy for me.” Alexis turned her back to her with a sad smile and walked over to the other side of the bar. She kept her back to her as Blake watched her wipe a tear from her eye. Blake wanted to kick herself for asking such a personal question to someone she barely knew, but she couldn’t take it back now.

  “Alexis, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s ok.” Turning back around with a smile on her face, Alexis prepared Blake another drink. She mixed it quickly before setting it in front of her and crossing her arms over her stomach. “You’re not running home, are you?”

  “Not unless the DeLorean shows up mysteriously.”

  “Well, my Civic isn’t nearly that cool, but I’m off in a few if you want me to drive you home. I owe you for the other night. And besides,” the playful smirk of Alexis’s lips made Blake’s heart skip a beat, “I’d hate to find out on TMZ that someone murdered you in small-town America.”

  “Oh, my god. I had that same thought yesterday when I was running the trails at Isla’s.” The two laughed together, and Blake loved the way their laughter mixed together. “I swear, she had those signs up along the trail, but I think they’re pointing in different directions with shit written on them.”

  “You do know that is exactly what she has done, right?” Alexis raised an eyebrow at her. “Vera was on to her to make signs because she kept getting lost, so Isla randomly put up signs to get Vera to shut up, but they’re not accurate at all.”

  “Holy shit,” Blake slapped her hand on the counter as her laugh deepened. “Oh, my god. That is so something I would do. I guess the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree.”

  “Oh, believe me, they don’t.” Alexis’s face softened and went dreamy. “Harper has taught me that. Sometimes she says something, and I’m like, ‘oh my god, I gave birth to my mini-me.’”

  Blake thought back to the dinner at the pizza place a few nights before. Harper had been adorable and was more well-behaved than Blake would have expected from a five-year-old. She loved the way Harper and Alexis were so in sync with each other, and it sent a pang of sadness through her body. They had what she wished she had been able to have with Isla.

  “She does indeed look like a mini-you.”

  “And acts like me too, for better or worse.”

  “I bet it’s more better than worse.” She watched as Alexis’s shy smile caused adorable dimples to form. Blake hadn’t noticed them the other night, and it only increased how much Blake liked her. Swallowing hard, Blake picked up her drink and took a long sip. “Harper seems like a great kid.”

  “She is.” Alexis sighed dreamily. “She's my world. She’s my reason for living.”

  Blake knew better than to ask Alexis what she meant. If Alexis wanted Blake to know, she would tell her. Instead, Blake simply smiled at her and nodded. She finished off her second drink and set the empty glass down by the other one.

  “So, you mentioned you’re getting off soon.”

  “Yup, at eight.” Alexis looked at her watch. “Which is right now.”

  “Were you serious about the ride home?”

  “Absolutely,” she nodded firmly. “I couldn’t have it on my conscience that I let the gorgeous and talented Blake Calloway walk home alone in the fading sunlight after I’d liquored her up. I would be the first suspect in your disappearance or murder, and honestly, I don’t look good in orange.”

  “Oh, I doubt that.” Blake was oddly satisfied her compliment had made Alexis blush once again. Alexis rubbed the back of her neck as she looked away from Blake for a moment before her green eyes found hers once more.

  “I’m going to go grab my stuff and let Emily know I’m leaving.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  “Great.” She didn’t think that Alexis’s smile could get any more prominent, and as she watched her disappear through the swinging kitchen door, Blake knew there was a smile equally as big on her own face.

  Chapter 10

  I’m going to be a little late. Going to drive Blake home. Please...no comments.

  Alexis sent off the text to Sophia as she headed out the back door with Blake trailing behind her. They walked over to her car, and Alexis paused before she got into the driver’s seat.. Over the hood of the car, she watched as Blake slipped into the blue vehicle. She took a long, slow breath in and held it for a moment, resting her hand on the hood of the car, buying time, and trying to calm her nerves.

  Blake was only a person. An adorable person in her running attire and Yankees baseball cap. A person whom Alexis was trying not to be interested in, but curiosity was getting the best of her. Alexis kept telling her mind that Blake was just a person. She’d driven people home before. It should be no different with Blake.

  Except it was.

  And it had nothing to do with the fact that Blake was a famous actress.

  No, it had everything to do with the fact that Alexis had never in her life been more at ease with someone than she had with Blake at the bar. Their banter had been so easy that Alexis hadn’t even felt nervous talking to her.

  There were very few people Alexis let into her life. Fewer she’d even consider letting in without years of knowing each other. She was content with her few close friends and didn’t feel the need to add to those numbers. And she definitely didn’t feel like dating anyone. She lacked the time and strength to go through that again. Alexis wasn’t proud that she had walls higher than skyscrapers around her heart, but that’s what kept her safe. That’s what kept Harper safe, and that was all that mattered.

  “Hey.” Blake waved her hand over the hood of the car. “Are you getting in, or do I need to pop the floorboard out and Fred Flintstone my way home?”

  “Sorry.” Alexis quickly scrambled into the car and buckled her seatbelt. For a moment, her mind went entirely blank on what to do next. It was a keyless car, so she frantically hit the red flashing Start Stop button to no avail.

  “To start engine, brake, and push start,” Blake leaned closer to Alexis as she read the flashing notification on her dashboard. With Blake’s warm breath on her neck, it took every ounce of self-control she had not to turn and kiss her.

  “Oh my god.” Alexis covered her face with her hands and shook her head. When Blake laughed, Alexis uncovered her face and laughed along with her. “I promise I’m not always such an idiot.”

  “I don’t think you’re an idiot.”

  “I’ve had this car for four years.” Starting the car the correct way, Alexis backed out of the parking spot and headed toward Isla’s farm. Her phone connected to the Bluetooth, and Taylor Swift played loudly from the speakers as Alexis frantically turned it down.

  “Are you a Swiftie?” Blake teased as Alexis shot a look over to her. Blake’s blue eyes were dancing with amusement, and Alexis feigned hurt as she clutched her heart.

  “Taylor Alison Swift is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation.”

  “You lived in the same century as John Lennon and Dolly Parton, and Taylor Swift is the greatest?” Blake dramatically held her mouth agape.

  “I said what I said.” Smugly, Alexis shimmied her shoulders as her body relaxed even more. She smirked at Blake, whose look of absolute bemusement was still plastered on her face. When Alexis winked at her, Blake shook her head and rolled her eyes. “What? Don’t tell me you don’t occasionally jam out to TSwift. She’s amazing.”

  “Oh, sweetie,” Blake’s eyebrow arched, and Alexis focused in on the way she’d called her sweetie, “we are going to have to educate you musically.” She held out her hand. “Where’s your phone?”

  “What?” Her brain was still f
ocusing on Blake calling her sweetie. She’d entirely missed anything that had come out of her gorgeous mouth since then. Get yourself together, Lex.

  “Your phone. I want to find you songs to listen to so we can expand your musical palate.”

  “My palate is fine, thank you very much. And the phones in my bag.”

  Alexis nodded to the small bag she’d sat on the cupholder in the console between them. Blake fished out the phone, and Alexis thanked the good stars above the only other items in there were her keys. While trying to focus on the road and the woman beside her, Alexis noticed a smirk and a slight blush come over Blake as she tilted her body and the phone away from Alexis’s view.

  Fuck. Sophia.

  No one ever knew what would come out of Sophia’s mouth, and she was substantially less predictable over text. There was no way to know what Sophia had sent back in response to Alexis’s text but judging by Blake’s face, the text must have been inappropriate.

  “Give me that.” Reaching over, Alexis tried to grab the phone back, but Blake swatted her hand away. She snapped her fingers and pointed out the windshield as her face grew mockingly solemn.

  “Eyes on the road, missy. We cannot have TMZ reporting ‘Blake Calloway dies in fiery crash thanks to a mysterious but gorgeous distracted driver.’”

  “You worry too much about TMZ.” She begged her mind not to focus on Blake calling her gorgeous. Alexis wasn’t sure how much more her brain could handle without exploding.

  “You would, too, if you were me.” Not offering any more explanation, Blake turned to lean her back slightly against the passenger door. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she cleared her throat. “So, Sophia would like to say that you can stay out as late as you want, and she says to remind you to chew a breath mint and put on some ChapStick before any kissing happens.” Yet again, Alexis begged for a hole to open up in the Earth and swallow her whole. “She also included an excessive amount of that kissing face emoji.”

  “She’s annoying,” Alexis nervously laughed as she gripped the steering wheel.

  “Do you want me to respond?”

  “Hell, no.”

  “What’s your passcode?”

  “Stop it.” Alexis giggled as she tried to take the phone from Blake once more. Another swat of the hand and a pointed finger out the windshield made Alexis nod as she turned her full attention back to the road. “0508.” Blake typed in the code. “It’s Harper’s birthday.”

  “Oh, so she had a birthday a few weeks ago, huh?”

  “Yup. She turned five but is going on twenty-five.” Alexis tried not to look over at the phone in Blake’s hand to make sure she was only on the music app. The beginning of a song she didn’t recognize started, Blake turned up the volume as she set the phone down in the console between them. “What is this?”

  “Are you seriously telling me right now you’ve never heard ‘Jolene’?”

  “Who’s Jolene?”

  “Only the biggest whore in the world.” Blake looked utterly exasperated, and it was insanely adorable. “She tried to steal Dolly’s man.”

  “Wait.” Her nose scrunched up in confusion. “Who’s Dolly?”

  “Stop talking before I find you less adorable, and just listen.” Blake clicked the button on the screen in the car to restart the song. When Alexis opened her mouth to speak, Blake shushed her. Despite the song’s catchy beat and lyrics, Alexis couldn’t focus on anything but the fact that Blake had called her sweetie, gorgeous, and adorable all within the last five minutes. Alexis didn’t know her well enough to know if that was something she did with everyone or…

  No. Don’t go there. Nothing good can come from that.

  “Well?” Blake paused the music before it could change to another song.

  “Well, that’s going to be in my head for a while.”

  “Right? It’s as catchy as Taylor Swift.”

  “So, you admit her songs are catchy.”

  “Never.” Blake picked up the phone, unlocked it again, and put another song on.

  “Isn’t this a Whitney Huston song?”

  “Yes, but Dolly wrote it and recorded it first.”

  “Are you a Dolly Parton fangirl or something?”

  “I mean, she’s amazing. She was a trailblazer for women. She started out writing songs, then started singing, became super popular, appeared in movies, and then bought Dollywood. Dollywood. I’ve always wanted to go to Dollywood for the chance to meet her.”

  “So, the short answer to that question is yes.”

  “Yes.” Blake’s hearty laugh filled Alexis’s ears and warmed her heart. She loved seeing Blake so passionate about something, and she would never have pegged her to be such a fan of Dolly Parton. “This is gonna sound so lame, but if I could have any job in the world, I’d work at Dollywood.”

  “I totally get that; I’d work at Disney World in a heartbeat.”

  “You got the mouse, and I got Dolly. We’re all set for our retirement jobs.”

  “Oh yes, once I retire from the bar with my millions, I will move to Florida.” She said sarcastically. “That’s a dream that’ll never be fulfilled.”

  “You could, you know?”

  “Retire with millions?” Alexis scoffed.

  “Move to Florida.”

  “I could never leave the Cove.” Alexis tightened her grip on the steering wheel. The thought of leaving the Cove, even in a hypothetical sense, made her stomach tighten. “My family’s here; Sophia and Emily and Maddie and Isla and my friends. They’re my family, and I couldn’t leave them. They all help me with Harper, and without them, I honestly don’t know where I would be.”

  Blake looked out the window without saying anything for a few moments.

  “So,” she popped her knuckles, “are you and my mom close?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Alexis couldn’t help but smile at all the beautiful memories she’d shared with Isla over the years. “I don’t have a great relationship with my mom, and Isla stepped up after I got pregnant with Harper. She and Sophia never left my side for nine months. And I mean that literally at times. They were there even when I wanted to be left alone.”

  She noticed a change in Blake’s posture as she set the phone down. Blake rubbed her hands together nervously a few times before rubbing them on her thighs. Scratching the back of her neck, Blake cleared her throat and looked out the windshield.

  “That’s great.” The sadness in Blake’s voice was undeniable. Alexis paused the music as she pulled into the long driveway at the farmhouse. Putting the car in park, she turned to face Blake the best she could in the small car.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have...”

  “No.” Blake put a soft hand on her arm and shook her head. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Yeah, but I made you sad.”

  “You didn’t make me sad.” Blake turned to face her. “I love hearing how Isla helped you when you were pregnant. I’m so happy that she had you and you had her. What makes me sad is the fact my father took me away from my mother, and I don’t have memories like that with her.”

  “Well, you can create them now.” Alexis tried to make her voice as optimistic as she could. “You and Isla have been given this second chance. Take advantage of that.”

  “I will,” Blake sadly smiled.

  “Good.” She firmly nodded.

  “And maybe you and your mom could try and work on things too?”

  “Maybe.” Alexis shrugged. There was so much baggage impeding her relationship with her mother that Alexis didn’t know if it was even worth the hassle anymore. She had several mother figures in her life, and Harper had more surrogate aunts than an ant hill, which was more than enough for both of them. But still, Alexis wondered.

  Reaching into the center console, Blake pulled out a rock and held it up.

  “Why do you have rocks and leaves in here?”

  Alexis laughed, knowing there were plenty of rocks, leaves, and sticks in her bags, house, an
d car from Harper. “Harper loves to collect things when we go for walks. Rocks, leaves, lizards.” Alexis smiled at the sweet soul her daughter had. She’d present a rock she’d found as if it were the most precious thing in the entire world.

  “Lizards?”

  “Yup.”

  “She ever brought them home?”

  “All the time.”

  “Do you let her keep them?”

  “Gosh, no.” She shook her head as she laughed. “Well, except for Carl.”

  “Carl?”

  “The lizard that she found one day at the park and put in Sophia’s Birkin bag for safe keeping. Although Little Miss denies she did that.” They shared a laugh. “It was all fine until later that night when I heard a blood-curdling scream coming from Sophia’s apartment.”

  “Oh no!”

  “Yep. But Harper can talk anyone into anything, so instead of killing him, Carl now lives in a tank nicer than my house at my friend Maddie’s apartment.”

  “I love that.”

  “Me too.” They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, and when Blake didn’t make any attempt to get out of the car, Alexis turned and leaned her head back on the headrest as she decided to see if Blake would open up to her about Isla. “So, how’d you find her?”

  Blake let out a huff of air in annoyance, shaking her head as her eyes averted away.

  “So, my show gets canceled, and then my dad dies, right? And I have to move out of our condo cause the studio was paying for it, and I find this old chest that I had when I was little. It was full of letters from Isla and Vera and my baby blanket that she’d made me when I was little. I thought I’d lost it, but he always knew where it was.”

  “Do you think...” she shook her head. “No, never mind.”

  “Oh, come on.” Blake playfully shoved her shoulder. “You can’t do that.”

  “Do you think he meant for you to find them? The letters, I mean.”

  “I don’t think so.” Blake shook her head. “My father’s not one to play kind games like that. I think he legit forgot the chest was there. The last letter was dated a couple of years ago, so he hadn’t put any more in there recently.” She leaned her head back on the headrest and looked over at Alexis. “Even on his death bed as he was trying to tell me everything he wanted me to know, he never once mentioned anything about the chest or even my mom or Mason. It’s weird, thinking back on that now, you know? He should have apologized for what he did.”