Chapter 7 #3
Despite the surreal wave of knowing that whacked me upside the head a minute ago, I also know that the likelihood of this thing between Everly and me going anywhere is microscopic. Still, just in case…why not test the waters with something of substance?
I set my mug away and lock my fingers into a clasp on my stomach. “My girlfriend wanted a dog, and she insisted on a French bulldog. So, I paid exactly one arm and one leg and gave Dozer to her on her birthday last year.”
Everly nods once, slowly. “I see.”
“To be clear, Becca is my ex-girlfriend. She and Dozer didn’t bond, so I got custody.” I’m all about honesty, but I’m not ready to dive deep quite yet, so the word fiancée doesn’t make it past my inner censor.
The faint tension on Everly’s cheeks eases as her thumbnails click against each other. “We broke up?”
“Well, I’m trying to not be overly pathetic here.”
Her smile is closemouthed and gentle. “She broke things off?”
“Yep.” I check my watch as if it’s a calendar. “Going on a year ago.”
“How long were you together? Was it serious?”
“A year and a half. And I most definitely was serious.” Becca? I now suspect she was holding back from day one.
“I’m sorry, Knox. I’ve been there. It stinks.” Everly sighs. “And the relationship that messed me up was only six months.”
Messed up? One point for perceptiveness, Everly. “Length of time isn’t always the key factor.”
“True.” She focuses firmly on her knitted hands.
I’m curious as heck, yet it feels too soon to push. Dipping a toe in, testing the waters. That’s all. I smile big. “So, what about you? Any pets? Maybe a snotty cat that likes to pretend it doesn’t need you?”
Everly rewards me with a full laugh the quip hardly warrants. “Nope, no cat. No pet at all—but I am considering a dog once I get settled in my new house.”
“You’re buying a house?”
Her shoulders drop. “I wish. This was supposed to be the month I took the plunge into home ownership, but instead…” She swirls her hand in the air.
I catch her drift as it floats by. “Instead, Uncle Charlie went and had himself a massive heart attack?”
“Rude of him, wasn’t it?”
Grinning, I shake my head. “Some people, right?”
“I’m a terrible person, aren’t I? His heart attack is sooo not a laughing matter.
” I imagine her hands pressed between her knees as she inclines toward the table’s edge.
“I truly do love him. I mean, he’s crusty and crotchety, and incredibly difficult to engage in pleasant conversation, but he’s family. ”
“I get it. There’s a branch or two on the Herd family tree I’d occasionally like to snap off.”
Everly claps her palm over her mouth, smothering a beguiling laugh.
Beguiling? That’s a fifty-cent word that’s only a first step in describing how she draws me.
This evening, pleasant though it is, barely scratches the itch of wanting to know her.
Do it, Herd.
“So. I was thinking, Everly. I’ve noticed posters advertising a Christmas tree lighting, and I was wondering if—”
“Oh, my gosh, what is she doing here?” Everly bolts for the door.
She? I swivel toward the interruption, a young woman rapping her knuckles on the glass. She’s a little shorter than Everly, and her hair is bright blonde, spilling over the collar of a full-length coat. A frown splits her face into jagged parts.
As if touched by a magic wand, the near-scowl morphs to a devilish grin when she spies me, wiping away the initial impression that she was a grump. Nope, this young lady oozes spunk and mischief—and is easily pegged as a sister, despite the night-and-day difference in her and Everly’s hair color.
Everly spins the lock and lets the whirlwind in. “What are you doing here, Oak?”
Eyes the exact shade as my favorite waitress’s consume the Christmas chaos scattered about. The lit tree, the empty mugs. Her gaze lifts to the ceiling and the turned-off lights.
Her mouth curls into an excessively thoughtful twist that makes it an effort to not spurt a giant laugh. “I might ask you the same thing, sister dear.”
Everly’s cheeks are far brighter than sixty seconds ago. “Oh, I…we…Knox and I…were just decorating the tree.”
One of the sister’s eyelids dips. “I thought you weren’t buying a tree until the weekend.”
Everly barely lifts one shoulder. “Knox brought it for me.”
“Is that so?”
Seems like a good time to step up. I take the bull by the horns, stand, and smile. “Knox Herd.”
Humor-filled eyes make a through perusal. As if on the heels of a grand decision, she extends her hand. “Oakley Wilkes.” She thumbs to her side. “The blushing one’s sister.”
Wilkes. Got it, and thanks so much. I shake firmly. “It’s nice to meet you, Oakley.”
“I assure you the pleasure is all mine, Knox. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Everly hip-butts her younger—I’m absolutely certain about the birth order—sibling. “Rein it in, will you?”
The mischievousness dials back, but the lady’s blonde head tilts. “You look familiar.”
Everly cuts off the response I might have given. “I doubt it, Oak. He’s here temporarily. He’s from Kansas City.”
Oakley doesn’t immediately abandon her study of me.
Everly crosses her arms over her chest. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
Finally, Oakley shifts her attention. “Mom was getting worried. You know, I’m all for you having a, but you’re living at home right now, and she’s reinstated old rules. You have to check in if you’re going to be late.”
The stricture obviously doesn’t sit well with of-age Everly, who huffs. “I’m twenty-seven years old. I shouldn’t have to.”
“I feel ya, sis, but at least check your texts once in a while next time you decide to have some fun.”
Everly pulls her phone from her pocket and promptly frowns at the screen. “Oops.”
“You can say that again. Why don’t you text Mom now so I don’t have to be the messenger that tells her you flouted her rules.”
Everly’s thumbs speed-text a message that’s fired off with a swoosh. My heart dips at her resigned smile as she tucks the phone away. “I’m sorry, Knox. It is late, and I’ll be back in this dump…er, restaurant…before I know it.”
Probably it’s too early yet to let my very real disappointment show. “Same here. Mornings come quickly.”
She scoots behind the checkout counter, a move communicating distance. For my sake or for her nosy sister’s? “You work on Saturdays?”
I take my jacket off the nearby chair and push my arms through the sleeves, lifting the collar that gets stuck in the neckline.
“We do this weekend since there’s no rain in the forecast for a change.
We’re falling behind schedule.” I grab my phone that’s next to the empty mug and the ornament my clumsy self dropped.
She nods. “Thank you for the tree, Knox.”
I stop with a hand on the door. “You’re welcome.
And thank you for the cocoa and a very nice evening.
It was nice meeting you, Oakley.” Despite her sister’s eagle-eyed watchfulness, I toss caution to the wind.
“And, Everly,” I wait until there’s full eye contact, and then another heartbeat, “I’ll be in touch. ”