“Yes, but now I don’t have the kids, so we can either go out or I can cook for you.”
“I don’t know if you know this or not,” she taps her finger on my chest, “but either of those mean I win.” I laugh at her. “So you decide.”
“I want to stay in,” I admit to her. “We haven’t been alone in a week.” She smiles. “Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, that’s more than okay with me. How were the kids this morning?” she asks me, not moving from my arms.
“Okay. Nora is always okay. It’s getting harder and harder for Vincent.”
“Yeah, I noticed his mood changed as of Friday,” she mentions. “He got testier and quieter.” She would notice this since Friday night she came with us to his hockey practice and he was grunting more than usual when he got off the ice. Even when we went to the game on Saturday, he sat with us, but he wasn’t the cheerful guy that he was the rest of the week. Sunday was the worst, he refused to do anything. Kylie had opted to let us have alone time but did come over for dinner. Which was strained to say the very least. He didn’t even watch television after, opting to go straight to his room and slamming the door behind him.
“He knows about what happened,” I fill her in as her eyes go big.
“That must be hard for him,” she says softly, “but lucky for him, he has a father who is looking out for what is best for him and not doing what is better for him than his child.”
“Yeah. What time do you finish work?” I ask her.
“In about an hour, maybe a little more.”
“Are you going to go home and pack a bag before you come to my house?”
“Do I need to go home and pack a bag?” she counters my question with a question.
“That’s totally up to you if you want to come to work wearing the same clothes,” I deadpan and she laughs.
“Is that your way of asking me to sleep over at your house?”
“No.” I shake my head. “That’s my way of telling you that you aren’t leaving my house until you have to come back to work tomorrow.”
“I guess I have to go home and pack a bag then,” she quips and I bend one more time to kiss her lips.
“That would be a good idea,” I tell her, “maybe for a couple of days.”
She laughs as I let her go and she walks me to the front office door. “That’s a stretch.”
“We can go to your place on Wednesday,” I compromise.
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
“That means no!” Lexi yells from her office. “When she says she’ll think about it, it’s always a no.”
“I’ll see you later.” She leans up and kisses me chastely as I turn to walk out.
“Bye, Lexi!” I shout over my shoulder toward her office door that has been open the whole time, but she never came out of it.
“Bye, Knox,” she says back to me, “have fun tonight.”
“Oh, I plan to.” I smirk and I see Kylie shaking her head.
“Don’t encourage her. She thought we did anal last week when you sent me flowers for my birthday.” I tilt my head to the side. “That requires diamonds,” she quickly adds, and I reach up and touch the necklace I gave her with the K dangling. “Bigger diamonds.” She pushes me out of the door. “Don’t push it.”
“See you later,” I tell her, giving her one more kiss before I walk out of her office and toward the elevator.
I’m getting into my car and making my way to the flower shop when my phone rings, and I look down to see it’s Josephine calling me. I groan before I press the green button after the third ring. “Hello.” I put the phone to my ear as I swing into a parking spot.
“Hey,” she says breathlessly, as if she is rushing somewhere.
“Are the kids okay?” I ask her as I shut the driver’s side door and walk over to the shop, stopping outside the door while I have this conversation with her.
