“Excuse me?” I ask, raising my eyebrows in question.

“You heard me. That’s complete bullshit. I get your issue with Derek. I knew your relationship personally so I know how much you loved each other and I guess you’ll move on in your own time. But you can’t sit here and tell me that you can’t date because you have three children, because you’re thirty-three, or because you have no time. Those are excuses that you’re using to protect yourself. I know you, Alex. Believe or not, I still know how you work. You have to be in control all the time or you’re out of your comfort zone. I’m sure dating would definitely fall into that category.”

He’s so close I can feel his breath on my face. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself, Alex. I know it isn’t pleasant to talk about, so I’m going to drop it because you’ve been through a lot today. But I don’t ever want to hear you sell yourself short again. You’re a great mom. You’re still very young and extremely beautiful – something you never realized and obviously still don’t. You have a lot of life left to live, Alex. I don’t want to see you give up when you still have so much to look forward to.” He gives me a shy smile and a shrug of his shoulders as he backs out of personal space. “I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t say something. I hope you aren’t pissed.”

I immediately look down to my feet and start picking off Nycole’s bright blue glitter nail polish. “No, I get it. I understand. Harlow just delivered me pretty much the same lecture. Nancy too. I know you guys are right, but it just doesn’t feel right, you know? I know my girls deserve more,” I say feeling my throat starting to constrict, “and I’m doing the best I can right now. I guess I just feel like I’ll be dishonoring Derek’s memory if I move on.”

Blake shakes his head at me. “Alex, you couldn’t be further from the truth. You’re not being fair to yourself.”

“It’s not about me or being fair to myself. It’s about Derek.” I feel moisture gathering in the corners of my eyes. “I guess I’m just scared that if I move on with someone else, we...,” I take in a deep breath, “we…won’t remember him.” I lose the battle against the tears and begin to cry.

Blake moves in once again to comfort me, placing his arms protectively around my body and pulling me close to his. And I let him. Because, with each tear that falls down my face, I begin to feel a peace in my soul that I haven’t felt in years. I have never revealed that to anyone. Not even Harlow. It’s something that I’ve kept safely locked up in my heart.

I feel like I’m taking my first real breath in three years and I have Blake to thank for that. So, I let him stay with me as I cry. The tears washing my soul with a peace I had no idea I would ever feel again.

Thank you, once again, Blake Morgan.

An hour later, Blake and I are still sitting on the couch. With my feet in his lap, I’m giving him the “Where Are They Now” version of the Waco High class of ’97.

I’ve been relaying to him how lucky he was not to marry his god-awful prom date, Ashley Thompson. For some reason, there has always been some unspoken hatred between us. I’m not sure what the reason was, if there even was one, for this animosity. But it was something that started when we were in junior high and still hasn’t been resolved.

“Blake, seriously, she’s slept with every man in Waco. It’s gross.” I make a gagging noise and look at him in disgust. “I can’t believe you took her to prom. She was such a hooker.”

Blake looks back at me and grins. “Hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Don’t blame me, blame my hormones.”

I give him my most disapproving look. “Gross, Blake.”

Elbows behind his head, he leans back into the couch and props his boots up on my coffee table. I push them off with my foot. “Don’t get all huffy because I didn’t approve of your date. You could’ve done much better. And her dress,” I wrinkle my nose and shake my head at him, “was rather unfortunate. Teal? Really? And it barely covered her ass. Don’t even get me started on her inebriated state. I was actually embarrassed for her.”

Blake immediately cuts me off. “First of all, the girl I really wanted to take was…unavailable. Second, she didn’t keep the dress on that long anyway. Trust me.” I make a much louder, much more overdramatic gagging sound. I can actually feel the bile in the back of my throat.

Blake rolls his eyes at me and smiles a sexy lop-sided smile. “Third…what do you mean you didn’t approve?”

“Okay…that’s really gross, Blake. I really don’t want to talk about her anymore.” I give him a light shove on the leg with my foot. “And of course I noticed. As your first best friend, I reserved my right to judge your dates. I just never said anything.” And I did. I remember that now. No one ever seemed good enough for him.

He gives me a satisfied smile. “Okay, we can drop all discussion of Ashley Thompson.” He shifts his body to face me. “How old is Rylie again?”

I let out a sigh of relief. Really, that woman gets my blood pressure abnormally high. I sit up and hug my knees to get comfortable before continuing.

“She’s four. She’s a handful, right?”

“No, not really. I think she’s pretty much a normal four year old,” Blake says confidently.

“How do you know so much about kids, anyway? Is there something you aren’t telling me?” I gasp and point my finger at him. “You’re not the father of her illegitimate children are you?”

He lets out a laugh. “Nope, no illegitimate children. But, Rebecca does have two legitimate children of her own. I hang with them all the time. They actually live about thirty miles from me, so I spend a lot of time over there. It gets kind of lonely living by myself sometimes. “

“Oh my God! I completely forgot to ask you how your sister’s doing! I’m such a shitty friend, Blake, I’m sorry.”

“Alex, it isn’t like we’ve had a lot of time to sit down and chat. We’ve been kinda busy with bar fights, finger contusions, glass breaking, Barney and his crazy adventures… don’t worry, it’s fine,” he says with a reassuring smile. “She’s good though. Happily married to her college sweetheart. She’s the stay at home mom of Jonathon, who’s seven years old, and Timothy, who’s five years old. She’s really happy.”

“That’s great. I’m glad for her. She was always so sweet to me. I remember that one time I fell down and ripped my skirt climbing your tree and I was freaking out that mom would find out…remember? She sewed it up like that,” I said with a snap of my fingers. “Mom never knew a thing. I guess she always had that maternal instinct. Me – not so much,” I finish with a laugh.

Blake smiles back at me. “Well, I don’t know about that. But I do know you have great kids. They each have a different piece of your personality. Even for the short time I’ve been around them, that’s pretty easy to see. They love you so much, Alex. You have no idea how lucky you are.”

I nod my head in response. “Yeah, I definitely have great kids. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It hasn’t always been easy. Especially after Derek passed, it was pretty difficult. But they’re strong and they made it through the hard parts. I think they’re happy. I hope they are at least.”

I can tell Blake is shaking his head, but I opt to keep looking at my feet.

“They’re strong because of you Alex. You’re one of the strongest people I know. You had the strength to make it through the loss of Derek, carrying your children along with you. That couldn’t have been easy. And look at how wonderful and loving they are, even after everything that they’ve had to go through. That’s a powerful testament to you and your strength. You should be proud of that, Alex. Not everyone could have handled that. But YOU did.”

I let out a sigh, finally picking off the last bit of nail polish from my toes.