Cowboy Baby Daddy

“I know you might not want to hear this, maybe you moved on and have a new boyfriend,” she said quickly. “But I saw my parents together before the divorce, and my dad was never as happy with my mom as he was when I saw him with you. He was calmer. More patient.

And since you’ve been gone, he’s just kind of shut down and gone back to being a grumpy old man. I know he misses you.”

“I see,” I nodded, as I listened to her talk about the differences she’d seen over the past month.

“I thought maybe if you could talk to him…” she trailed off before shrugging and saying, “Maybe you could talk some sense into him, you know? I mean, maybe he’d apologize for being a jerk, and you’d take him back.”

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at the idea that it was Blake’s fault we’d split up. If only Nina knew the truth, then she’d probably hate me, too.

“Look, I know you’re sad about your dad and me, but I think he knows what’s best for him,” I explained. “I don’t think it’s right to blame him for everything, either. We are both adults.”

“They why don’t you both act like it?” Nina blurted. “You guys are always telling us teenagers to be honest and talk things out. Why can’t you follow your own advice?”

“Oh, Nina,” I said, chuckling as I rubbed my eyes. “Were it only that easy.”

“It is,” she said, staring at me. “It is that easy. You just have to say what’s going on and then talk about how to fix it.”

“Well, as much as I like the idea…” I began, as a knock on the classroom door interrupted the conversation. I looked up and called, “Come in!”

The door opened and through it walked Blake. I looked at him and then back at Nina, who now had a satisfied grin on her face. I shot her a look before I smiled and said, “Hello, Mr. Gaston. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Hello, Ms. Fowler; it’s good to see you, too,” he replied, giving Nina the same confused look that I had given her moments before. “Nina told me you wanted to see me about her grades.”

“She did?” I said, looking back at Nina, who was slowly making her way to the door. “Wait a minute, young lady.”

“Nope, I wanted you two to talk. Bye!” she chirped, before quickly yanking open the door and running out into the hall.

Silence filled the room as Blake and I stared at the open door and empty hallway, listening to the sounds of footsteps growing fainter. I looked back at him and inhaled sharply. He was even more handsome than I remembered. His hair was a little longer and, as a result, the salt-and-pepper gray was a little more pronounced, but the five o’clock shadow made him look a little more tired than I remembered him being.

I stood staring at him from across the room and couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Blake

I wasn’t sure if Emily was mad at me or not, but by the look on her face, I could tell she was surprised that I was here. I stood awkwardly at the door waiting for a sign from her, and when I didn’t get one, I cleared my throat and walked across the room.

“So, Nina tells me she’s failing History,” I said, feeling both angry and ashamed that my daughter was doing so poorly in Emily’s class.

“What are you talking about?” Emily asked, looking more surprised than she had when I walked into the room. “She just got her exam back, and she got an A on it.”

“You mean she’s not failing?” I asked.

“She’s passing with flying colors,” Emily replied tersely. “I’m not sure why you’re here.”

“I’m here because Nina…” I said, trailing off, as I realized that my daughter had set me up. I chuckled softly as I shook my head. “She’s a piece of work, that one.”

“What do you mean?” Emily asked, giving me an irritated look.

“I mean that she wanted you and me to get back together, so she engineered this whole thing,” I said. “For someone as smart as you are, you sure do miss the obvious.”

“Oh, right,” she said, turning her gaze toward the window on the opposite side of the classroom. “Missing the obvious.”

“Emily, why did you get so mad at me?” I blurted. As soon as the words had left my mouth, I wished I could haul them back and swallow them.

“I…don’t know how to explain my family,” she said, shaking her head slowly. She avoided my gaze as she continued, “My parents aren’t bad people, but some of the things they do…”

“It’s okay; you don’t have to explain. I get it; they’re your parents,” I said. “I just didn’t understand why you got mad at me.”