“Yeah.” She sighs.
I kiss the top of her head and catch Knox watching us in the rear-view mirror, eyes concerned and filled with about a million questions I’m hoping he knows better than to ask right now.
Then he opens his mouth, and for a second, I think maybe his curiosity has won out.
“Ice cream.”
Never mind. His curiosity clearly isn’t an issue. But now mine absolutely is. “What?”
“I think we all need some ice cream,” he says, eyes catching mine in the reflection again. This time, a smile is starting to surface in them. “And I’m not talking a little sundae somewhere. I’m talking a pint for everyone.” He slows to a stop at the end of the road before he looks over his shoulder, properly facing the both of us. “Where’s the nearest grocery store?”
“Make a left,” I tell him, gratitude rising in my chest. “Then a right at the light. Can’t miss it from there.”
“I haven’t had breakfast,” Sloan mumbles, apparently worried her admission will negate the ice cream plans, but too honest to omit that little fact.
I shrug, grinning. “Ice cream is practically all milk. Which is protein and calcium, and you know, totally good for you.”
She laughs but it’s cut short when a deep sigh escapes on the end, like a last blast of relief flowing from her. Then she settles, and her expression grows more natural again and less tense.
“So,” she starts, eyes darting nosily back and forth between me and Knox, “Wanna tell me how you went to a concert and then left with it?”
I gasp, feigning shock.
Knox just laughs.
“First of all,” I explain loudly, “I didn’t leave with him. He followed me. To all you can eat pancakes.”
“It’s true,” he admits.
“And second of all,” I pause. “I don’t really have a second of all. The first one covered it.”
Sloan’s eyes are still jumping back and forth between the front seat and the back, like she’s worried she’s missing something obvious somewhere. “But this is for real. He’s really Knox Marley.” I see now where her hang up is.
“Yes, he’s really Knox Marley,” I confirm, catching his gaze in the mirror again. He looks nervous all of a sudden. “But we just call him Knox.”
“We do?” She cocks one brow, trying to imply things her fourteen-year-old self just can’t quite pull off yet.
“Everyone does,” Knox adds in a hurry.
“So, you two aren’t, like...” Sloan’s eyes shift from side to side, like she’s torn between wanting to have her question answered and not actually wanting to have to ask it.
“We are.”
Instantly, Knox’s eyes search the mirror for mine. I smile at him. “You cleared the checkpoints,” I say softly. “You’re in.”
CHAPTER NINE
KNOX
The parking lot is packed when we get to the store. Which means inside is going to be so much worse.
But we’re here on a mission for ice cream, so I don’t waste time dwelling on the amount of people who could potentially recognize me and get out of the truck so I can get the door for the girls before Kenley beats me to it.
“Any idea what happened to my baseball cap?” I ask her as she’s climbing out. I didn’t see it anywhere up front. “I had it in my pocket last night, in case I needed it at Denny’s, but the place was pretty empty, so I never put it on.”
She looks back across the rear bench for a minute, then bends down. A second later, she pops up again, waving the navy-blue hat and red brim in my face. “This one?”
“That’s the one.”
