Chapter Fifty Five

                                    

                                          
- Cover by Mikayala7700 😍
                          
I crept back into the bedroom the girls and I were borrowing, wiping stray droplets of water from my mouth.
Getting up to bolt to the toilet, in a bout of morning sickness, in a new house, that is owned by people I don't know that well...
Well awkward is an understatement!
Thankfully I didn't appear to have woken anybody up.
The rather spacious spare room was coated in darkness, with a gentle glow of light coming through a crack in the blinds at the window.
I could make out Noah's sleeping form on the blow up mattress on the floor and I could see Hayley's sleeping form in the double bed we'd shared overnight.
I grabbed my phone from the bedside table to check the time, incase it was useless to climb back into bed.
Though judging by the low colour of the light at the window, it was probably a bit too early to get up, especially for being on 'holiday'.
I pressed the lone button on my phone to activate the screen.
5:20AM.
My mind seemingly automatically flicked to Blayze.
Would he be up yet?
Would Zuke have woken him up much in the night?
Chances are Blayze will never volunteer to puppy sit again...
My mind flickered back to our conversation from last night.
The way the ring's kept going, I'd been fairly dishearteningly certain Blayze wouldn't answer.
"Allo."
My heart had tripled its pace, his voice eventually coming through the line.
"Hey."
I found myself basically whispering.
Gentle volumes of music that was probably background noise, reached my ear, informing me he might be at the pub but had possibly gone outside to answer the phone.
"You don't have to leave handsome."
A faint voice reached my ear.
What the?
My heart seemed to clench and then beat at triple its normal pace.
I heard a frustrated sigh from Blayze's end.
Just talk Bailey.
You knew he was at the pub.
You know that means there's people around.
You know women flirt with him.
He's tall, dark and handsome, while also being successful and well renowned in our town.
What's not for them to admire and even want a piece of?
I forced my mouth to work.
"Are you okay?"
"Just...makin my way out to some peace and quiet."
Blayze responded, his voice sounding just a little tense.
I heard the crunch of boots on gravel.
"Where are you going?"
I was confused.
The only place at the Riverston Hotel that has gravel, is the parking lot.
"To the Ute."
Oh.
"I know you're at the pub, you don't have to talk."
I didn't necessarily mean the words.
But it was fair to put it out there.
Though I'm sure he already knows it.
"The pub's not goin anywhere."
Blayze replied.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Plus, the way things are goin I reckon I'm probably better off out here anyway."
What the?
What does he even mean by that?
Is somebody there who's annoying him or likely to annoy him?
The only people I could think of who would irritate Blayze that much was my own supposed Father, Paul or that Austin creep.
Or maybe Rikki's there.
I could practically taste my bitterness at that thought.
But none of those people should or would be able to make Blayze feel like he has to run away.
Running away isn't in his blood or nature anyway.
"What...exactly do you mean?"
I was curious as to what he was on about.
"Apparently I suck at everything tonight. Troy even beat me on the table."
Umm what?
"Troy beat you at pool?"
That was basically unheard of!
"Yeah."
Blayze sounded frustrated.
I couldn't help but to smile.
Though I made sure to hold back my laugh.
"You're having a tough night then."
"Quit being so amused."
He grumbled.
Now I was unable to hold back my laugh.
"Shut up."
I could tell that Blayze attempted to sound stern.
But the amusement too was easily audible.
"How's Zuke been?"
I asked, casting my eyes up to the star covered sky.
The puppy was safe territory to talk about, right?
"Good. Was sleeping when we left. I'm expecting I'll get back and find a few accidents though."
I heard the wince in his voice.
Yeah puppy toilets aren't much fun.
I winced.
"Sorry."
"I offered."
I could visualise Blayze shrug.
"Plus, he's locked inside so it's not exactly his fault."
"No."
I agreed.
I skimmed the toe of my boot across the ingrained wooden balcony slats.
"I hope he doesn't wake you up too much, whenever you actually go home to sleep."
"I'm sure we'll deal."
"He's mostly only been getting me up once."
I explained.
"But that also could be coz the alarm goes off by like five-thirty anyway."
"I'm sure we'll be alright. I'll be gettin up at about six."
"Have you still got work to do tomorrow?"
"Mostly workin horses."
Once again I could picture him shrug.
A thought occurred to me.
"Hey did you ever hear from that girl and her Dad, with that Paint?"
"Ashley?"
I felt my heart almost stop.
He remembers her name?
"What-? Well I- I don't know. I can't remember."
Why the hell does he even remember her name?
What exactly had been so special about her?
Blayze laughed.
"Settle down. I only know coz they left me a voicemail today."
I felt my eyes widen.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I- well I was gonna tell ya but I guess maybe I got distracted with the rest of the shit goin on."
Maybe.
"What did they say?"
I was way too curious and maybe a little excited.
"Well they want to drop him off next weekend. But I told em I'll be in Hunter Valley for the rodeo so they're gonna bring him to the farm by Tuesday."
"As in this Tuesday?"
This surprised me.
That's only a few days away!
"No next."
"Oh."
Hang on he's going away next weekend?
"I...didn't know there was any Rodeo's coming up."
A childish part of me felt hurt he hasn't told me about it.
I'd placed well last Rodeo, did that not mean I somewhat qualified for this one?
"Well yeah Hunter Valley is on. Sorry. E-mails came in last week and I just figured that...well y-know with..."
He broke off, but it was pretty obvious what he was saying but not saying.
Rodeo is yet another thing this pregnancy is going to change.
I quite literally felt like my heart dropped a few notches.
The Rodeo's were a welcome getaway.
Plus they seemed to be a space where Blayze and I could act just how we wanted to.
There was no pussyfooting around and looking over our shoulder.
And now that would be stopping.
Was that Blayze's way of saying he wanted it to stop?
Mentally I face palmed.
It was just too exhausting thinking about it all.
I couldn't help but sigh.
"We'll have fun."
"It's not till next weekend. I guess I'll probably have to leave Thursday mornin."
Yeah.
You'll pack up and leave and go Rodeo and have fun.
Rikki will probably even chase you there.
I tried hard to swallow down my negative thoughts.
"Enough of that. How's things down there with the twins?"
Apparently Blayze too sensed we'd ventured toward awkward waters.
"We had a nice dinner."
I told him, thinking back to our meal at the Hotel that looked much like a huge old farm house that had been renovated on the inside.
"Did you eat somethin decent?"
I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"Yes Grandma."
Blayze laughed.
Smiling, I shook my head.
"Oh and don't think I don't know you called ahead and warned some Lloyd bloke."
A beat of silence ensued.
"I only told Lloyd to make sure nothing happened to you."
Stupidly enough, I felt my heart warm a little from his words.
"How exactly did he know who he was looking for?"
This question had gnawed at me all night.
I hadn't told Hayley, Noah, or Aayla and Bindi that we'd had a spy.
Or more that I had a spy.
Lloyd didn't mention any of the other girls.
"I may or may not have...sent him a photo of you girls?"
"Blayze!"
I groaned.
"He scowled."
"What?"
Heaving a sigh, I just shook my head.
Even though he couldn't see me.
There was no use butting heads with him over it.
Suddenly I had to slap a hand over my mouth to attempt to somewhat stifle my yawn.
"Go get some sleep."
Blayze urged.
"It's not even that late."
I protested.
"It's...after midnight."
I guess he'd pulled his phone from his ear to have a look at the screen.
Shit!
Our plan was to be at the mall for when the doors were opening at 9!
"Maybe I should try get some sleep."
In the end I was attempting to stifle yet another yawn.
"Do it."
Blayze agreed.
"I'm thinking of telling these knuckleheads that whoever wants a ride home needs to come now."
In terms of leaving the pub, it was only early.
But they had over an hour of driving to do to get home and that was with Blayze deciding to be behind the wheel.
And Blayze said he's got to get up early to do more work.
Plus he's got my pup waiting at home, hopefully not causing too much trouble while in the babysitting paws of Azlan and Zeus.
"Thank you for looking after Zuke and loaning your car."
I all but whispered the words, realising I haven't even exactly thanked him properly for all his generosity yet.
"You don't needa thank me. Just have fun tomorrow and make sure ya make the most of the sale."
"Well Grandpa and Mum were both naughty and shoved money in my hands before I could leave."
So I had an extra couple of hundred dollars up my sleeve to play with, to add to my few hundred I'd managed to save from working.
"That was nice of em."
"Yeah."
"You sound knackered, go get some rest Bails."
"Okay."
The softness of a mattress and the warm comfort of a doona had me almost shutting my eyes now.
"Be safe on your way home."
I warned.
"Always am."
"Say hi to my Phoenix and Zukey."
Tiredness was about to win me over.
"Okay."
"Night Blayze."
I practically whispered.
"Night Bails."
I shook my head, a small smile gracing my lips.
It was nice to just have an easy chat.
After hanging up the phone I'd gone inside and informed the girls I was ready to hit the hay.
Nobody looked as tired as I was feeling, happily munching snacks and sipping on warm drinks while watching a chick flick.
Lingering shared glances told me they assumed my sudden tiredness was likely due to my phone call or my pregnancy.
I'm tired all the freakin time at the moment so I certainly put it down to the pregnancy.
I'd barely settled in bed when Hayley and Noah had snuck into the room, declaring a reasonable hour of sleep was in order so we could make the most of the next day.
I unlocked my phone, opened my messaging app and sent Blayze's phone a quick message.
Me: iMessage: 5:26AM: ☀️😊 Good Morning ☀️😊😘
With that, I locked the phone again, set it onto the bedside table and crawled back into bed.
"You okay?"
Startled, I turned my head to look at Hayley.
Her eyes were still closed, but I could see the worried etch in her brow.
"I'm okay."
I whispered.
"That's good."
Her voice was a sleepy whisper as she snuggled deeper into the pillow she was using.
My eyelids grew exceptionally heavy and I let myself go to the call of slumber.