“She likes chai tea and chocolate chip cookies,” I enlighten him, having just caught on to her true interest. “Which we always stop and get at the Starbucks. Inside the airport.”
“It’s conveniently located near the exit that goes back to the parking lot,” Sloan explains. “You kind of can’t walk past it andnotget something.”
He chuckles. “Is that so?”
She nods. “It is.” Then she smiles a wide hopeful smile. “So, can we?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
KNOX
Matti calls just as we’ve finished up with dishes and Kenley heads upstairs to remind Sloan it’s time to start getting ready for bed.
“Hey, man,” I answer, making my way to the sofa to have a seat. It’s been a long day after an even longer night, and while the adrenaline of it all has kept my energy high, my body could do with sitting down and stretching out.
“You’re not home yet.” Not exactly the greeting I was expecting. “I take it things with Kenley are going well.”
“How do you know I’m not at my house?” I ask, kind of amused by the way he’s checking up on me.
“Because I’m standing in your kitchen and you’re not here.” I can hear the refrigerator door shut as he speaks. “I came by to drop off some things you left on the bus I thought you’d want before the next show.” Now dishes are being moved around by the sound of things. “Apparently not the case after all.”
“Dude, what are you doing?”
“Having one of your meal delivery dinners since you’re not here to eat it and I’m hungry,” he says flatly. “What areyoudoing?”
“Sitting on the sofa watching Hannah, contemplate the possibilities of getting herself turned around and back out if she moves forward and wedges herself between the chair and the coffee bar.” There are zero possibilities of her turning around, but I have a feeling that’s not going to stop her. Until it literally stops her. I’m getting a very clear picture of how she gets herself stuck in places often enough for it to be a thing.
“Who’s Hannah?”
“Kenley’s three-legged dog. She’s super shy and keeps trying to hide from me but can’t really maneuver small spaces as well as she’d like to. Though, I have seen her successfully back out of a tight squeeze twice now, so maybe that’s her plan here as well.” I’m pretty sure her spot under the chairs and table was further away from where I’m sitting than her new choice of cover will be, so I have no clue what’s got her so set on forcing her way in there in the first place. Except maybe that she’ll have her back to me there, won’t be able to turn her head, and thus can forget I’m still in the room? I don’t know.
“How do you always end up having stories like these?” He laughs. “I could go through my complete list of contacts right now and no one else would answer to tell me anything as remotely random as a three-legged dog getting stuck next to a coffee bar.
“I do have a gift for unique encounters,” I muse.
“Speaking of.” But then he stops speaking to get his food out of the microwave. I know. I just heard it ding. “What exactly is happening between you and Kenley? You’re still at her house, so I take it you spent the day together?”
“We did.” I nod even though he can’t see me. Feels good though, to physically acknowledge my current reality and how fucking mind-blowing it all is. In the best possible way. “Me, her, and Sloan all went out on her brother’s boat for a day of fishing with his family. It was pretty great.”
“Who’s Sloan?”
“Her daughter.”
Matti stays silent on the other end. This time I don’t think food has anything to do with it.
“What?” I ask when he keeps internalizing whatever the hell he’s thinking.
“This shit sounds like it’s getting really fucking serious really fucking fast,” he says. “You spent the day with her kid?”
“It wasn’t planned,” I explain. “But then there were issues with the dad, and we had to go pick her up early.”
“You’re sayingwean awful lot here,” Matti observes. “Have you stopped for even a second since you met her to think any of this through? Have you even slept?”
“We slept.” Fuck. Again with the we. “I slept.” No. Fuck that. I like the we. “We slept. For a couple of hours. It was plenty. And I don’t need to think this through. I know what I’m doing. Hell, I knew before I had a chance to form any thoughts at all. She’s it. She’s every reason I wasn’t ready before now. Every second of waiting and walking away and getting my shit together to be the best version of myself for someone. She’s it.She’sthat someone.”
“Yeah, I know.” He sounds smug now, like he set me up and I fell for it. “I was just checking to see if you figured it out yet.”
“How did you know?” Matti’s known me the longest. If anyone could have seen it, it would have been him. But I’m still curious.
