Page 38 of Koda's Love

“Honestly, I don’t even know. I know one time I went to a yard sale with my mom, and this guy had different knives on his table. I was curious, and the man showed them to me. I wanted to get one, but my mom wasn’t trying to buy me a knife at ten years old. After that, I became intrigued with knives. When I was old enough, I purchased my first knife, then it just went from there.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

I laughed because she didn’t sound impressed at all.

“You sound underwhelmed.” I chuckled. “You probably thought I had some elaborate story or something, but nope. A simple yard sale led me to this.”

“I did think it was going to be something sentimental or something.” She giggled. “There’s nothing wrong with your story, though. I think it’s cool. I didn’t know that there was so many different kinds of knives, so I’m intrigued.” She rubbed her free hand through my beard. “Thank you for bringing me into your world.” A quick peck to my lips, then she pulled me toward a table that she was interested in checking out.

When we reached the table, Avalon picked up a knife with an orange handle. I stood back while the guy told her what kind of knife it was and what it was best used for.

“You want that?” I asked when the guy was done talking.

“I wouldn’t use it for anything.”

“I don’t use all the ones I have. If you want it, get it.” I had already reached into my pocket for my wallet before she could even answer. Just the thought of her being excited about learning and indulging in a hobby of mine made me feel warm inside.

Avalon took a minute to decide, but she finally told me she wanted the knife, so I got it for her.

We spent a few hours at the convention, and I ended up getting her three more knives and a couple for myself. I spent a few thousand dollars, but it was worth it.

“I can’t believe I have knives that’ll I never use,” Avalon said as she looked in the shopping bag that sat on her lap.

“We’ll have to find a spot for them. Maybe I can build you a shelf or something. I’ll help you figure it out.”

“Okay. I know I said it already but thank you. I’m glad you feel comfortable with me enough to share this part of you with me.” She leaned over the console and kissed my cheek.

“I want to continue to show you all the parts of me, and I want to continue to learn all the parts of you.”

We ended the day back at my place, where we relaxed, ate, and even read a book together. By the end of the night, we were entangled with each other in my bed.

A few weekslater

“Thank you for coming with me,” I said to Diamond as we drove to Koda’s brother’s house.

“Of course.” Diamond smirked, and I had a feeling she wanted to see if Jacoby would be there.

It was the birthday party of Koda’s niece, and we thought it would be a good time for our families to meet. My family only consisted of Diamond and my father. My dad had something to do, so I gave him the address, and he would meet us there.

Koda and I spent the day before getting gifts for Karisma. He had gotten way more than he should have, considering she was only turning a year old, but he said he wanted his baby to haveeverything. I didn’t even bother with arguing with him, because it was his money, not mine. I didn’t want to put my name on Koda’s gifts, so I picked out a couple of outfits and sneakers to go with them. To me, it was never too early to start a child’s shoe collection.

“You met his family, right?”

“Yeah, but not as his . . .” I let my sentence trail off because I wasn’t sure what I was to Koda. We hadn’t established a title, but I was okay with that. I hadn’t had a single complaint about what we were doing. Since this was his first time taking a situation seriously, I wanted him to take his time before he solidified anything. I was confident in the fact that he was only dealing with me, because we spent pretty much all of our free time together.

On any given day, Koda would pop up at my office to bring me breakfast or lunch, along with flowers. Usually, it was tulips. He’d even gone with me to shop for things for my clients. By now, the people at the party supply store knew his name the same way they did mine. Every time we were together, we had such good times. There were plenty of conversations about life, but there were plenty of laughs as well.

“Whatever it is, I’m glad you actually gave him a chance. It’s been a long time since you walked around with a smile on your face. You look happy again. You even stopped wearing so much black, and I love that.”

It had been a while since I wore all black like I used to. For the party, I decided to go with a burnt orange maxi dress with some sneakers since the party was in the backyard. I didn’t want to have to walk through the grass with heels or sandals on.

“Koda has definitely brought the color back into my life, but it was time anyway. I couldn’t continue to live my life in mourning. Miles wouldn’t want that for me.”

“Exactly. And I’m sure his family will love you,” she said as we pulled up to the house.

Pink-and-white balloons hung in front of the house, and there were some on a gate that led to the backyard, so once I grabbed the gifts and made sure I looked okay, Diamond and I headed in that direction.

As soon as I pushed the gate open, my eyes landed on Koda as he was talking to his brother. He smiled widely when he saw me, then swaggered his way toward me.