“What if,” I started, my voice trailing off with my nerves. “Do you think I could survive on my own? Would anyone hire me? I don’t have any work experience.”
Knox froze. “Wait, what?”
I flinched, pulling back. “Forget it. It’s not important–”
“Like hell.” Knox pulled my chin so I was looking at him, shame and all. “You want to move out?”
I nodded, closing my eyes tightly.
I felt his mouth against my cheek then. Soft kisses from one to the other. “Please move out, Lucy. They’re horrible to you.”
I gasped. “What?”
“Open your eyes.”
I did, curiosity outweighing my nerves, if only slightly.
He was smiling at me, something soft and…proud?
“You should absolutely move out, and I know you can make it without their help.” Knox kissed me once, twice—quick kisses that startled me and relaxed me at the same time. “We can figure this out.”
I frowned. “I wasn’t talking about—I don’t need you to take care of me next. Your nana’s house is yours, and I don’t want–”
“My nana’s house is gone.”
My eyes widened. “What? Why? When? What happened to it?”
Knox sighed. “I blew my interview today. Walked out right in the middle of it. And tomorrow is my deadline. I lost it, Lucy.”
“You walked out? Knox, why?”
Knox rolled his eyes and squeezed my hips. “Because I needed to be here. I needed to see your face and apologize for what a dick I was last night. You deserve better than that.”
My stomach twisted. “I ruined your chances to get the job?”
“No!” Knox insisted. “It was my choice, not yours. And I probably wouldn’t have gotten it anyway. I’ve applied and interviewed at dozens of places by now, and this one wouldn't have done anything differently, I’m sure.”
“What place?”
Knox frowned. “Valero Pub & Grill. It’s new, just down the street. A brother and sister own it. Why–”
“I know them.”
I’d known Felix and Isabel since we were kids. Until we turned thirteen, we spent almost every day together. Their dad pulled them away then, I think, because of some business deal gone flat. Dad had been holding a grudge ever since, but I’d stayed in contact with the twins.
They’s honestly been two people who I always considered family. Their parents, too. Until our parents stopped talking to each other, I spent probably a hundred nights at their house having dinner with their whole family. I remembered their mama’s cooking and how they dreamed of opening a restaurant together.
Last I heard, Isabel and Felix were in the process of hiring and training their kitchen staff before their grand opening.
Knox’s jaw dropped. “You what?”
“I know them.” I nodded. “We were friends growing up. Our dads had some fight when we were going into high school, so that we couldn’t go to the same one, but once we got cell phones, we found each other again. I text them all the time. Isabel and I just got lunch together last week, when you were at the interview for the cheesesteak house.”
“You know Isabel.”
Knox sounded numb, like he couldn’t quite believe what I was saying, but he trusted my words anyway. It sent a flutter of butterflies in my stomach that he trusted me even a little.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Do you want me to text her? She left me a voicemail this morning after everything. I still need to call her back and tell her I’m okay, or she’ll come over here and break down my door. We have a twenty-four-hour policy with things like this. I was, uh, maybe procrastinating a bit, because I knew she’d be mad at my dad.”
