by Cleo Jones
“Are you here to tell me you’re dying?” Nia hedged, directing Blake’s attention back to her. She looked inside her car at Noah and was relieved to discover that he’d weaseled her phone out of her purse and was in the process of playing Candy Crush.
Blake frowned. “No...”
“Do you have some kind of incurable disease?”
Blake sighed and shook his head. “Of course not. Look, I didn’t come here to give you a hard time. I just wanted to talk to you about—”
“There’s nothing for us to talk about,” Nia cut in, snatching his keys from him and pushing past him en route to his car. If he wasn’t about to move it, she would. “You made your decision nine years ago.”
Chapter seven
Nia tried her best to forget about her encounter with Blake in the days that followed, but a tiny voice in the back of her head wouldn’t stop reminding her that her avoidance would eventually come back to bite her in the ass. Not wanting to give it any energy, she threw herself into her work, but her anxiety spiked when she walked into the office one Monday morning to find a group of official-looking men she didn’t recognize huddled around the conference room table with her boss.
That was never good.
Nia settled into her desk and looked over at her co-worker, Andrea, who sat in the cubicle beside hers. “What’s going on?”
Andrea shrugged. “No one knows for sure,” she replied in a hushed tone. “But I did overhear some of the girls in HR talking about layoffs in light of the spill…”
Nia’s groaned. This was the last thing she needed on her list of worries. “What do you think the odds are that we’re on the chopping block?” she questioned, casting a discrete look back in the conference room at the men.
“Honestly, I have no idea, but you know how these things usually shake out for plebeians like us…”
“What about Robert?” Nia questioned, referring to their boss. “Have you confronted him with this?”
“No way. He’s been super on edge lately. The last thing I want to do is put myself in his line of fire.”
Nia sighed and rubbed her temples. Of course this was happening now. It was just her luck. Noah was starting fourth grade in the fall, and he’d need school supplies, and winter clothes, and a slew of other things she could already barely afford. If she lost this job, there would be no safety net for her to fall back on. She’d be forced to start right back from square one.
Deidra noticed that something was bothering her sister as soon as Nia walked through her front door after work to retrieve Noah. “You okay?” she questioned. “You look like you haven’t slept in days…”
“Gee, thanks,” Nia muttered. Deidra proceeded to hammer her with questions, but she simply wasn’t in the mood. Halfway into her drive home, she looked up at Noah in her rearview mirror and smiled when she noticed him staring back at her. Those big brown eyes of his were all it ever took to lift her spirits.
Nia filled the stretch of time between dinner and Noah’s bedtime with relatively brainless activities in an attempt at keeping her mind off Blake, but she was right back at square one as soon as she tucked him in. After taking a quick shower and changing into her pajamas, she entered her bedroom and pulled the business card Deidra had given her from her purse, giving herself a silent pep talk before dialing the number on it.
“Hello?”
Nia’s heart skipped a beat the moment Blake’s raspy voice filled her ears. “It’s me,” she spoke up. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Nah, you’re fine,” Blake replied, obviously eager to keep her on the line. “I’m glad you called…”
Nia swallowed hard. “Blake, what are you doing here?” she questioned, cutting right to the chase.
Blake sighed. “What do you think?”
“Don’t get smart with me. I’m serious. I’m not buying this whole ‘I just want to know my son’ diatribe you hit my sister with. You’ve had over eight years to get to know Noah. Why bother showing face now?”
Blake was silent for a moment before responding. “I needed to get my shit together first. I wasn’t any good for you or him back then…”
Nia wasn’t about to fight him on that. The Blake she knew was very much a mess, but she wasn’t entirely convinced yet that this one wasn’t. “Well you shouldn’t have involved Deidra. You should have come to me directly.”
Blake laughed. “Would you have let me see him if I had?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“Exactly,” Blake said. “Look…all I'm asking for here is the chance to know my only son. That’s not such a crime, is it?”
Nia exhaled a deep sigh and rubbed her temples. “So your sudden reappearance in my life has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I’m about to lose my job at your father’s company?”
Blake fell silent as soon as the words left Nia's mouth. It was obvious that she’d caught him red handed.
“I knew it!” Nia exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief. “I knew you had something to do with this! God, you’re such a liar! You even managed to have Deidra fooled!”
“Now hold on just a minute,” Blake interrupted. “I’m not lying to you, Nia. Inheriting my father's company wasn’t the only reason I came back. You and Noah were my main motivators.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I'm serious,” Blake insisted. “All I want is one visit with him. That’s all I’m asking. Just…give me a chance to prove I’m not the asshole you remember.”
Nia bit down on her bottom lip as she considered it. “I don’t know…”
“Please?”
Nia sighed. “I really don’t think that’s such a good idea. All it’s going to do is leave him hurt and confused when you inevitably take off again.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Blake stated, his voice firm. “Nia, come on. I was just a kid…a stupid fucking kid. If you’d just give me a chance, you’d see I’m not that person anymore.”
“What does being a kid have to do with anything?” Nia questioned. “Last I checked, I was one too, but I stayed put and took care of my responsibilities. Our responsibilities.”
Blake groaned. “Look…I’m not about to argue with you. If you’re not going to be receptive to this, then I guess I’ll just have to go the official route…”
Nia’s jaw dropped. “Is that a threat?”
“No, It’s a promise,” Blake corrected. “I’m going to know my son, Nia. I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to find a way to accept it.”
Chapter eight
Nia was sure that Blake’s attack was eminent. Every time her phone rang, she was expecting someone with a menacing voice to tell her that they were representing Blake in a custody lawsuit, and she felt even worse after sitting down to assess her financial situation. Blake’s car and the perfectly tailored business suit he was wearing the last time she saw him screamed success, and with it, money. More money than she had to work with anyway.
“I don’t get it,” Deidra spoke up. “If you’re really so nervous about this, why don’t you just let him see Noah? I mean…what’s the harm? I know he hurt you, but you’re too smart of a woman to think he doesn’t have a right to his own child…”
Nia clenched her jaw and refused to grace her sister with a response. Instead she went into the living room to say goodbye to Noah, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before leaving for work.
The tension was palpable when Nia arrived at the office. The news of a potential mass-layoff had begun to spread like wildfire, and everyone was on edge. No one would answer any of her questions, and she was really starting to worry about the future of her career. She needed this job, and while public relations was definitely no breeze, it sure beat the third shift call center jobs she worked throughout college.
“How’s it going?” Nia asked Andrea once she was settled at her desk. “Have you heard anything?”
Andrea shook her head. “Nada, and surprise, surprise, most of the calls I’m getting today are compl
aints about the spill. I have no idea what Robert expects us to say. ‘Oh, yes ma’m, we’re aware that our rig exploded, dispensing over 300 gallons of crude oil into the ocean that will have disastrous effects on the environment for decades to come. We sincerely apologize.’—I mean, come on!”
Nia let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, it’s not like we’ve exactly been briefed on how to handle something of this magnitude…”
“Right?” Andrea said. “I did notice that there were some new fixers here today though, so maybe that means they’re making some leeway?”
Nia perked up at that, doing a slow scan of the office in search of them. When she didn’t find anyone she didn’t recognize, she turned her attention back to her work and pummeled through the handful of calls that were awaiting her. “You weren’t kidding,” she said to Andrea when she finally got a chance to catch her breath. “People are out of control today…”
Andrea started to respond, but two men approached from the stairwell with Robert leading the way before she could. Among them was Blake, and Nia immediately set about in seeming distracted. The rest of her workday passed at a snails pace, and she was completely drained by the time she walked through Deidra’s front door to pick Noah up.
Nia made some light hearted conversation with her sister before making the drive home, and the more she thought about it, the more she decided to take her advice. After feeding Noah dinner and getting him ready for bed, she dialed Blake’s number and silently willed him not to pick up.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t so lucky.
“Nia?” Blake questioned, obviously surprised to hear from her.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Nia confirmed, closing her eyes and swallowing hard in an attempt at forcing the words out. “I…I was just wondering if you’d like to come over for dinner tomorrow.”
“Dinner?” Blake sounded in utter disbelief. “If this is about the rumors about a mass layoff…you should know that I’m not in any position to comment on that…”
“It’s not,” Nia clarified. “I’ve just…I’ve had a chance to think things over since our last conversation, and I’ve had a change of heart.”
Nia was met with silence. Eventually she came to the conclusion that Blake must have hung up, and she was just about to do the same when she heard him clear his throat.
“What time should I come by?”
Nia’s heart skipped a beat. “Around seven is fine.”
“Great,” Blake said. “I’ll see you then.”
Nia immediately got second thoughts, but Blake hung up on her before she could renege on the offer. She rushed to her car as soon as she got off of work the following day, and she spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house, assessing each room not as someone trying to impress an old flame, but as someone who was trying to locate any signs of weakness. The very last thing she wanted was Blake looking down on her humble lifestyle anymore than he she was sure he already did.
Deidra and Noah were out in the backyard playing when Nia arrived to pick him up. “Sorry I’m late,” she apologized. “How’s he doing?”
“Well, he refused to nap,” Deidra said, looking visibly exhausted. “The poor boy is wired. I bet you won’t even make it through dinner before he starts begging for sleep.”
Nia knew the feeling all too well, but she was secretly glad that Blake would get the chance to see Noah in his less charming state. “Well on that note, I’d better get him home,” Nia said, glancing down at her watch. At this rate she’d barely even have time to change out of her work clothes before Blake arrived. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
Nia raced home as fast as the speed limit would allow, and she was in the process of getting Noah out of the car when she looked up to find Blake approaching them from the end of the driveway.
Shit.
Was it really seven already?
“I’m a little early,” Blake explained, hanging back as Noah raced inside the house. “I got off work sooner than expected.”
Nia didn’t say anything. Instead she waved him inside after her, setting the bag of Chinese takeout she’d picked up on the way home down on the kitchen counter.
“He’s a little unpredictable, isn’t he?” Blake noted, nodding out the back window to where Noah was racing around the backyard.
Nia followed his gaze and snickered. Deidra was right. The boy was practically delirious with fatigue. “Yeah,” she whispered, briefly making eye contact with his father. “I think I know where he gets it from...”
Chapter nine
Noah dominated the conversation during dinner, listing off all the things he’d done with Deidra earlier that day while Nia sat back and remained quiet, allowing Blake to converse with him as she stood watch. “So…are you my mom’s new boyfriend?” he finally mustered up the courage to ask, catching Nia and Blake both entirely off guard.
“Noah!” Nia hissed, feeling her face flush. She exchanged a look with Blake and swallowed hard. “I told you. Blake and I are just friends from work.”
Noah seemed skeptical about the response, but he turned his attention back to his food without another word. He and Blake retired to the living room to play after dinner, and Nia was surprised by the fact that Blake didn’t seem bored in the least. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying every minute of his time with his son.
“I’m going to be nine soon,” Noah announced out of nowhere, tossing his action figures off to the side. He proceeded to tell Blake all about his grand plans for his birthday party, and Blake made a big show out of seeming impressed.
“I’ll be right back,” Nia called out from the kitchen, sprinting down the hall to the bathroom. She was hoping to hold off her urge to pee until Blake left, but it proved easier said than done.
Nia gasped at the sight that awaited her when she reentered the living room a few minutes later. Noah had climbed into Blake’s lap to read a book, but he’d fallen asleep, leaving Blake trapped beneath him.
Blake looked up when he noticed Nia lingering in the entryway. “He just passed out,” he explained, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb his son.
Nia nodded and stepped forward from the doorway, welcoming the distraction. “I’m not surprised. Deidra said he didn’t nap today.”
Nia started to lift Noah from Blake’s arms, but he reached out to stop her. “I can take him,” he volunteered, standing up. “Where’s his room?”
Nia started to protest, but she stopped short when she noticed the desperate look on Blake’s face. “This way,” she whispered, leading him down the hall to Noah’s bedroom.
Blake entered the dimly lit room and laid Noah’s small body down on his bed, stepping back when Nia came forward to remove his socks and replace his shirt with a clean one. “Wow he’s a hard sleeper,” he remarked. “He must get that from me too…”
Nia let out a soft laugh and led Blake back into the living room, however, her standoffish body language made it clear to him that she had no intention on prolonging the visit any longer. He’d come to see Noah, and as far as she was concerned, that purpose had been served.
“Nia, look,” Blake spoke up, breaking through the barrier of silence that had settled over them. “I know you’re not one to take handouts, but I want to do my part here. I…I want you to let me support the two of you…”
“No thanks,” Nia said, avoiding making eye contact with him as she began to gather up Noah’s toys. This wasn’t good. If he was offering to give her money, that meant he pitied her, and the last thing she needed was anyone’s pity. “I appreciate the gesture, but that’s not necessary.”
“Come on,” Blake pleaded. “It’s the least I can do.”
Nia sighed, pulling herself upwards and crossing her arms. “You can’t buy our affection, Blake. That’s not how this is going to work.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Blake stated, taking a careful step towards her. “All I’m trying to do is prove myself to you, and like it or not, money is a big part of that. You’ve raised Noah all
by yourself, and you’ve done an incredible job. I’m not trying to mitigate that. You’ve always been the better parent, and you always will be. All I want to do is lessen your load...”