by Cleo Jones
Blake showed up at Nia’s place the following evening after work, bumping heads with her just as she was walking out to her car. “It’s my night with Noah,” he explained when she asked him what he was doing there. “I didn’t want to let him down…”
Nia laughed and shook her head, setting the box in her hands down on the pavement. She was just about to tell him that his visits were over when Noah raced out of the house to greet him, rushing into his arms. Watching them hug pulled at her heartstrings, and she was left feeling powerless. Her problems as of late had left her with very little attention to give to her son, and she knew that it would be wrong of her to deprive him of it from his father. Regardless of how she felt about Blake right now, he was here, and she could certainly use some time to pack without Noah nagging her. “One hour,” she finally agreed, lifting her gaze from her son to meet eyes with Blake. “Then you leave.”
Blake smiled. “Deal
Chapter twenty-one
Blake was disturbed to discover that Noah’s bedroom was almost completely empty when he entered it. All of his toys had been packed away into boxes, and the only things left out were a few pieces of furniture and a handful of his favorite action figures. It was a scene that left Blake feeling nervous, and he made sure to confront Nia about it as soon as his hour came to an end. “So…when were you going to tell me you were moving?” he questioned, entering the kitchen to find her stuffing a box full of ceramics.
Nia shrugged. “It’s not like I have much of a choice. My rent is too expensive here.”
“Well where are you going?” Blake hedged, becoming increasingly more irritated by her nonchalance.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Nia muttered, wrapping a dish up with bubble wrap before placing it inside the box. “But don’t worry…I’ll make sure you know how to find us so that you can send Noah the occasional birthday and Christmas card. Because you’re so good at that, aren’t you?”
Blake picked up on the underlying sarcasm in her tone and rolled his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to fuel her fire by engaging her in an argument, but she really wasn’t giving him much of a choice. “Nia, come on, we need to talk about this. You can’t just up and leave on me…”
“Oh really? Why not? Isn’t that what you did?”
Blake fell silent then. Nia had him between a rock and a hard place and she knew it. He eyed her as she gave him a smug smile and continued with her packing, trying his best to remember the longwinded speech he’d practiced on the drive here. “Move in with me,” he finally blurted out, crossing over to her side of the table and forcing her to look at him. His next words came out rapid and jumbled, and his tone was thick with desperation. “Look, I didn’t buy this house for myself. I bought it for you and Noah. It’s huge, and right on the water, and it’s even in Noah’s school district…”
Nia balked at him. “What?”
“You heard me,” Blake repeated, taking another step towards her. “Move in with me.”
Nia shook her head and pulled away from him. “It would never work.”
“Why not?” Blake pried. “I’d take care of everything until you got on your feet again. You can even have your own room.”
Nia set down the roll of tape in her hands and took a moment to really consider Blake’s offer. “No thanks,” she finally decided, walking over to the front door and holding it open for him. “I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t need your charity.”
Nia finally got Blake to leave after some light urging, but his offer lingered in the forefront of her mind long after he was gone, and she was still thinking about it when she went over to Deidra’s the following evening to see her off before she left for DC. It was her last night in town, and Nia had volunteered to cook her dinner before she left. It was unknown when they’d be seeing each other again, and she was determined to make their last night together a special one.
“Noah, why don’t you go and play outside?” Nia suggested to her son as she stirred the pot of chili she was preparing. “Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.”
Noah pulled his gaze from the television and promptly did as he was told, grabbing up his scooter on his way out of the house.
“Mmm, whatever that is, it smells amazing,” Deidra said as she entered the kitchen. “Need any help?”
“Nah, I got this,” Nia said, offering her sister a small smile. “You’ve been my rock these past few years. The least I can do is make you dinner.”
Deidra returned Nia’s smile, giving her a soft hug from behind before taking a seat at the table. “I’m sure dad’s happy you’re coming home,” she remarked, studying her face for a reaction. Nia had been unusually quiet about her plans, and she was beginning to wonder why.
Nia shrugged and reached for the oven mitts on the counter, pulling a loaf of cornbread from the oven. She purposely turned her back to Deidra, not wanting her sister to see the look of uncertainty on her face. She’d yet to call their father and make arrangements to move back home to Houston, but she didn’t want to put a strain in their last night together by telling her so.
Nia was just about to speak when Noah let out a blood-curdling scream from outside, and she rushed out to find him curled up in a ball on the sidewalk with two bloody knees. “What happened?” she questioned, frantically searching his body for any other signs of injury before snapping into action and guiding him into the bathroom.
“Here, hold these on them,” Deidra said from the doorway, handing Nia two icepacks from her freezer.
Nia thanked her and began to nurse Noah’s wounds as best she could, grabbing a handful of Band-Aids from the first aid kit she kept in her purse. “He’s fine now,” she announced when she reentered the kitchen. “Thank God he didn’t break anything. The last thing I need right now is a ridiculously expensive trip to the ER.”
“That reminds me. Have you ever thought about asking Blake to add Noah to his insurance plan?” Deidra questioned, treading lightly. “It’d be one less expense for you to have to worry about…”
Nia stiffened at the mention of Blake. “No, but since you brought him up, you’re not going to believe what he hit me with the other day…”
Deidra looked concerned. “Oh Lord…”
“He just bought this massive house, and he wants Noah and I to move in with him,” Nia explained, looking over at her sister for her opinion. “Unbelievable, right?”
Deidra’s jaw dropped. She was expecting something terrible, not an over the top gesture straight out of some romantic comedy. “Well?” she hedged. “Are you going to do it?”
“Are you kidding?” Nia laughed as if she’d just been told a joke, but Deidra didn’t return her laughter. “No way…it would never work…”
“Why not?”
“What do you mean why not?” Nia questioned, giving her sister a perturbed look. “Look at my life. Hasn’t Blake already fucked it up enough already? I’d have to be the biggest fool in the world to walk right into his next game of cat and mouse…”
Deidra hesitated, avoiding looking her sister in the eye. “I don’t know…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nia questioned. “Are you saying you think I should move in with him?”
“I’m not saying anything,” Deidra said, holding up her hands. “This is a decision you need to make on your own, but I do think you should at least consider it until you get back on your feet again.”
Nia sighed in acquiesce. “I guess it would make things a lot easier on me until I found another job…I just don’t like the idea of being financially dependent on a man, you know that.”
“So don’t be,” Deidra said. “Contribute as much as you can, and make good on finding another job. Just don’t let yourself get too comfortable and you’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but that’s not my only worry,” Nia admitted. “What if Blake starts dating someone? What if I start dating someone?”
“Yeah…that could get pretty awkward,” Deidra said, deciding
to humor Nia. Deep down, however, she didn’t believe her or Blake would be dating anyone other than each other.
Nia frowned. “Wait, so is that you saying I shouldn’t move in with him?”
Deidra laughed, standing up to fix herself another bowl of chili. “Again, I can’t make that decision for you,” she reminded her sister. “You need to go with what your gut is telling you. If you honestly feel like the cons outweigh the pros, then yeah, you shouldn’t do it. If they don’t…you should really only be asking yourself one question…”
Nia pulled herself from her trance to meet her sister’s gaze. “Which is?”
“What do you have to lose?”
Chapter twenty-two
Blake took the following day off work to move Nia and Noah in, and it went without saying that Nia was anxious. She’d yet to actually see where they’d be living due to the short period of time between her decision and her informing Blake of it, and she could hardly believe her eyes when she finally pulled into the driveway. While she’d always done pretty well for herself in the past, it was hard for her to imagine herself living in a place so…regal. Not only was the house huge, but it was also the perfect embodiment of everything she’d dreamt up for herself as a child, fit with a white picket fence.
“What am I doing here?” Nia asked herself, speaking aloud. It was the type of neighborhood she’d only ever fantasized about Noah growing up in, and now here they were. It didn’t feel real yet, and she wasn’t so sure it ever would.
“Is this really our new house?” Noah spoke up from the backseat, failing to mask the excitement in his tone.
Nia looked up at him and smiled at the enthralled expression on his face. “Looks like it…” she confirmed, unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping out onto the driveway.
“You alright?” Blake questioned from behind the moving truck, taking notice of her shell-shocked expression.
“Yeah, it’s just…you sort of downplayed how big your place was,” Nia explained. “I was expecting a house, not a mansion.”
Nia briefly wondered how much money Blake had dropped on the home. It certainly looked expensive, and she could only assume based on its close proximity to the water that it was somewhere in the high seven figures.
“Can I see my room?” Noah questioned before Blake could respond, breaking his train of thought. It was unclear clear whether he was talking to him or Nia. “Please?”
Blake glanced over at Nia for her approval. “You two go ahead,” she said with a nod, waving a hand in the air. “I’m going to start unpacking the car.”
Nia stayed put in the front yard as Blake and Noah made their way inside the house, exhaling a deep breath when she was finally alone. After inspecting her surroundings for a few more minutes, she regained her composure and lifted a couple boxes from her car before hauling them inside. Not so surprisingly, the inside of the house was every bit as nice as the outside—high ceilings, marble flooring, five figure appliances and all.
Blake made his way into the foyer as soon as he heard Nia enter, and he wasted no time in giving her the grand tour. It was the realization that her and Noah’s bedrooms were on the other end of the hall from his that finally caused some of her anxiety to lift.
“Mom!” Noah called out, bounding down the hall towards his parents. He pulled at Nia’s dress with a breathless sense of urgency. “Come see my room! There’s a wall with all my favorite basketball players on it!”
Nia followed her son down the hall, and she saw what he was talking about as soon as she entered the room. The wall to the left of her did indeed have one of those peel away decals stretched across it, although she’d certainly never seen one with this level of detail before. “Wow,” she spoke up, turning to Blake. The look on her face gave way to the fact that she was impressed. “You did this?”
Blake nodded. “I didn’t forget how much Noah loves the Lakers,” he said, exchanging a knowing smile with his son and ruffling his hair.
Nia’s heart skipped a beat at the interaction. She spent the next few hours getting everything unpacked and set up, and she didn’t call it quits until Noah started nagging her for dinner. “Should I order a pizza?” Blake questioned when he entered the kitchen, eyeing her as she unpacked the last box of canned goods she’d brought over from her place.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Nia reassured him. “Noah’s a bit cranky. I just want to get something light in his stomach so I can get him off to bed. Are there pots in the kitchen, or do I need to unpack mine?”
Blake nodded, reaching around Nia to pull one out of the cabinet she was standing in front of. His fingers brushed up against her back in the process, and she remained still, reveling in his touch as her mind immediately began working itself into overdrive.
Blake allowed the moment to stretch on for just a second too long, but he eventually pulled away from her, not wanting her to get the idea that intimacy was the only reason he’d asked her to move in. “Here you go,” he whispered, handing her the pot before making his way upstairs to check in on Noah.
As the days came and went, it began to slowly dawn on Nia just how much easier her life had become since the move. She was taking daily walks along the water, reading more than just magazines, and she’d even started eating clean again. That’s why it came as a major shock to her when, about a month after moving in with Blake, she came down with the worst bout of stomach flu she’d experienced in years.
At least...she hoped it was the flu.
Blake returned home from work that morning after pulling an all-nighter to find Nia curled up next to the toilet sweating bullets. She’d been up vomiting all night, and she was struggling to catch her breath from all the heaving. “Are you okay?” he whispered, kneeling down beside her and brushing her hair back away from her face.
Nia nodded, using his shoulder to pull herself to her feet and wobbling over to the sink to rinse out her mouth. “Let me do it,” Blake insisted when she made her way into the kitchen to fix Noah breakfast, taking the box of cereal from her. “Go lay down and get some rest.”
Nia looked up at him with tired eyes and started to protest, but the urge to vomit overcame her again before she could. She raced down the hall and made it to the bathroom in the nick of time, hurling herself in front of the toilet before the contents of her stomach could come spilling out onto the tile. “It’s just the flu,” she whispered, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. “It has to be…”
Chapter twenty-three
“Morning,” Blake said as he entered the kitchen, stretching his arms and yawning before approaching the counter to pour himself a mug of coffee.
Noah laughed from his spot behind the island, pointing a finger at his father’s hair, which was sticking up in every direction. Nia followed his gaze and froze when she realized Blake was shirtless. It’d been quite some time since she’d seen his body in all its glory, and she couldn’t help but stare. “We’re going to the store,” she announced as casually as she could manage. “Did you need anything?”
Blake thought it over for a second before nodding. “Do you have a second to make a list?” he questioned, grabbing his wallet from the counter and ruffling through it.
“Sure,” Nia said, welcoming the distraction. She grabbed her phone from the living room and returned in the kitchen a few seconds later with her grocery list app pulled up.
Blake proceeded to give her a quick list of all the things he needed, handing her a thick wad of money when he was finally done. She stared down at it like a deer in headlights before raising an eyebrow and lifting her gaze to meet his. “I don’t think I’ll be needing this much,” she said, attempting to hand most of it back to him.
“Yeah, but what about your stuff?”