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 are you doing?”
“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 saying we an 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’s that 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.
“You left your guitar on the bus.”
Holy shit. “I did.” And I didn’t even notice until he said it.
KENLEY
“I think we need to have a little chat,” I tell Sloan, patting her mattress beside me for her to come and sit.
She sighs, rolling her eyes ever so slightly. Enough to make her point, not enough for me to tell her to stop being a yucky teenager. “Is this about Knox?”
“Yes.”
She plops down beside me as I requested.
“You can relax,” she says calmly, like she’s suddenly the mom and I’m the kid.
“I know you just met him and he’s not my new dad and I promise I’m not getting carried away with some silly fantasy about a future where you marry a rock star, and we all live happily ever after. ”
“Good.” At least one of us is keeping their wits about them here.
“I just wanted to make sure. You two seem like you’re getting along really well, and I know it’s totally crazy that he’s staying here at Frieda’s with us while he’s in town, and I don’t know, a reality check seemed like a smart idea for both of us. ”
She arches her left brow. “Are you having silly fantasies about a future where you marry the rock star, and we all live happily ever after?”
“No.” I had those plenty before I met him, but I haven’t allowed myself to even consider taking a peek at old daydreams since he showed up in my reality.
“The truth is, that I don’t know what’s going to happen.
All I really know right now, is that I want to keep being in the moment, however long the moment lasts.
I just want to enjoy it. And not worry. And not daydream. Just be.”
She nods but stays quiet.
“But what about you? What do you want?”
She frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, are you okay with him staying here? Is it freaking you out seeing me with him? Does any of this make you uncomfortable?” Sloan may be a teenager, but she’s never seen me date and I doubt she has any recollection of seeing me and her father in this way.
“Ma,” she says, leaning in and bugging her eyes out at me, the way she does when she wants me to know she’s super serious.
“All he does is make you smile and laugh and relax. He helps you cook and clean and he takes us for ice cream when we’re upset.
I’d be like the crappiest daughter ever if I told you I didn’t want him here.
” She smirks. “I’d also be a liar. Because I think he’s awesome. ”
I can’t help but mirror her sentiments. “He kind of is, isn’t he?”
“You really think he’ll be back after he leaves to go back on tour?
” she asks the question I’ve been asking myself ever since he assured me the answer was yes.
Why I can’t seem to believe him when he’s given me no reason to doubt him, is annoying as shit.
But even as I sit here, telling her I think he will, feels irresponsible. Foolish, even.
“I think right now, he has every intention of coming back,” I say slowly, choosing my words carefully.
“But I also think, it’s too soon for any of us to get attached to any plans.
We’re all just getting to know each other.
And as perfect as today was, it was also a Sunday.
No work. No school. No regular life stuff.
” I make a face. “Or regular rock star stuff.” Whatever that is.
“But whatever happens, I do believe he genuinely cares about us, even if it turns out his life and our lives can’t continue to overlap after he leaves to go back on tour. ”
She twists her mouth back and forth trying to hide her disappointment. “I kind of thought you might say something like that.”
“You know me pretty well.” I smile, reaching over to give her a
hug and kiss the top of her head. “And, since that’s a mutual level of knowledge, please don’t stay up until two in the morning working on some sketch or another.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says, feigning innocence. “I was just going to go brush my teeth and go straight to sleep.”
“Yes.” I get up from her bed, casually pointing at her notepad and pencils already sitting on her nightstand. “I’m sure that’s exactly what you had planned.”
She just grins and watches me leave, waving me along at the end when I linger in the doorway too long.
I pause when I reach the stairs, taking a moment to anticipate what this night still has in store for me.
I can’t get too literal about things. Stripped of all the feelings and gut knowing, the basics of this whole thing still sound a little too daunting.
A strange man is staying in my house. Not just any strange man.
A famous one. A musician. One I’ve witnessed women throw themselves at in many a YouTube video.
Not to mention, the antics I saw firsthand at the show last night.
Last night.
Was it really only twenty-four hours ago?
It feels like it should be longer. Forever even. Because being with him feels like I’ve always been with him. Like we’ve always been.
But we haven’t.
It’s only been one day.
One day since I got lucky during the meet and greet with Knox Marley.
How many other women were hoping he’d go home with them? How many have had their hopes fulfilled in the past?
No.
Definitely can’t go there.
Which leaves me with only one place to go instead.
Downstairs.
To Knox.
“So,” I ask, taking a seat beside him on the sofa and pulling my feet up onto the coffee table to rest near his. “What do you want to do tonight?”