“Just sayin’, Daisy, your first night on the job, you gave me a sob story of losing your savings and supporting your niece. Now it looks like you’re feeding half the county.”
“It’s a potluck, Knox. By the way, you’re the only one who didn’t bring anything to share. Besides, I wasn’t doing it to socialize.”
I liked the way she said my name when she was exasperated. Hell, I just liked my name on those lips.
“All right then. Why are you hosting half of Knockemout for a potluck?”
“If I tell you do you promise to do us both a favor and go away?”
“Absolutely,” I lied.
She bit her lip and peered over my shoulder. “Fine. It’s because of Chloe.”
“You’re throwing a dinner party for an eleven-year-old?”
She rolled her eyes. “No! That adorable chatterbox is the most popular girl in Waylay’s grade. They have the same teacher this year. I was just trying to give them a chance to spend some time together.”
“You’re matchmaking sixth-graders?”
Naomi’s jaw jutted out and she crossed her arms over her chest. I didn’t mind because it pressed her breasts up higher against the neckline of her dress.
“You wouldn’t understand what it’s like to walk through town and be judged by people just because of who you’re related to,” she hissed.
I took a step closer to her. “You’re dead wrong about that.”
“Okay. Fine. Whatever. I want Waylay to go to school with actual friends, not just rumors that she’s Tina Witt’s abandoned daughter.”
It was probably a solid play. I’d had my brother and Lucian on the first day of school when we’d moved here. No one in school had the guts to say shit about one of us since we were protected by the pack.
“Then what’s this?” I asked, grabbing the notebook she had clutched in one hand.
“Knox! Stop!”
“Emergency Back-to-School To Do,” I read. “Pick up laptop. Try to schedule meeting with teacher. Back to school clothes and supplies. Money.” I let out a low whistle. “A lot of question marks after that one.”
She lunged for the notebook, but I held it out of her reach and flipped back a page. I found another to do list and another one. “Sure do like lists,” I observed.
Her handwriting started out nice and neat, but the farther down the list it got, I could practically feel the panic in her penmanship. The woman had a lot on her plate. And not much to do it with if the glimpse of her bank balances scrawled at the bottom of a shopping list were any indicator.
This time I allowed her to snatch the notebook back. She threw it on the desk behind her and picked up her wine glass.
“Stay out of my business, Knox,” she said. Her cheeks were pink, and there wasn’t a hint of frost in those gorgeous hazel eyes now. Every time she took a deep breath, her breasts grazed my chest and drove me just a little more insane.
“You don’t have to do this alone, you know,” I said.
She clapped her non-wine-holding hand to her forehead in mock excitement. “Of course! I can just ask for handouts from strangers. Why didn’t I think of that? That wouldn’t make me look like I’m incapable of taking care of a child in the eyes of the law. Problem solved.”
“There’s nothin’ wrong with accepting a little help now and then.”
“I don’t need help. I need time,” she insisted, her shoulders tensing, hand fisting at her side. “Sloane mentioned she might have a part-time position opening up at the library after school starts. I can save up and get a car. I can make this work. I just need time.”
“You want extra shifts at Honky Tonk, say the word.” I couldn’t seem to stop wanting this woman’s orbit to overlap with my own. It was a stupid, dangerous game I was playing.
“This from the man who called me an ‘uppity, needy pain in the ass’ and tried to fire me on the spot. Forgive me if I don’t ever ask you for anything.”
“Oh, come on, Naomi. I was pissed off.”
She looked at me like she wanted to light me on fire. “And?” she said pointedly.
“And what? I said some shit because I was pissed off. You weren’t supposed to hear it. Not my fault you were eavesdroppin’ on a private conversation.”
“You yelled two seconds after I walked out the door! You can’t just do that! Words have power. They make people feel things.”
“So stop feelin’ things, and let’s move on,” I suggested.
“That might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“Doubt that. You grew up with Tina.”
The ice in her had thawed and turned to molten lava. “I did grow up with Tina. I was nine when I overheard her telling my best friend they should play without me because I was too snobby to have any fun. I was fourteen when she kissed the boy she knew I liked and told me I was too needy for him or anyone to ever want me.”
Fucking A.This is why I hated talking to people. Sooner or later, you always stuck your finger in a wound.
I ran my hand through my hair.
“Then along comes Knox Morgan. Who doesn’t want me around because, despite my defective personality of being uppity and needy, you still managed to be attracted to my body.”
“Look, Daisy. It’s nothing personal.”
“Except it is deeply personal.”
“Put a lot of thought into being pissed off about this, haven’t you?” Maybe I wasn’t the only one losing sleep.
“Go screw yourself, Knox!”
The brisk knock at the front door made Naomi jump. Wine sloshed over the rim of her glass.
“Am I interrupting?” The woman on the other side of the screen door was a few inches shy of Naomi and wore a rumpled gray suit. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight bun.
“Ummm,” Naomi managed as she tried to blot at the wine on her chest with her hands. “Uhhh.”
“I’m Yolanda Suarez. With Child Protective Services.”
Ah. Fuck me.
Naomi went rigor-mortis stiff next to me. I snatched the box of tissues off the top of the desk and handed it to Naomi. “Here,” I said.
When she just stared at the visitor without moving, I yanked a few tissues out and started to blot up the disaster.
It took about two dabs into her cleavage before she snapped out of it and slapped my hands away.
“Um! Welcome. This isn’t my wine,” Naomi said, eyes wide. The visitor’s gaze slid to the now-empty glass Naomi was holding. “I mean it is. I don’t know why I said that. But I’m not drinking a lot of it. I’m responsible. And I hardly ever yell at men in my living room.”
“Okaaaaaay. Is Chief Morgan here? He asked me to stop by,” Yolanda asked coolly.
KNOX GOES SHOPPING
Naomi
Two days later, I was still having mini heart attacks every time someone came to the door. Nash had invited Yolanda, Waylay’s caseworker, to stop by so he could introduce us. He’d just had no idea that she’d show up when I was in the middle of unloading a lifetime of baggage on Knox Morgan.
The introduction had been brief and awkward. Yolanda handed over a paper copy of the guardianship application, and I could feel her classifying me as a screaming shrew with a taste for too much wine. On the bright side, Waylay had been mercifully polite and didn’t mention how I was torturing her with vegetables in her meals.
I’d over-analyzed the informal meeting to the point where I was convinced I’d barely survived an interrogation and that Yolanda Suarez hated me. My new mission wasn’t just to be judged an “acceptable” kinship guardian—I was going to be the best kinship guardian Northern Virginia had ever seen.
The very next day, I’d borrowed Liza’s Buick and marched into Knockemout’s consignment shop. Pack Rats had coughed up $400 for my custom-made, barely worn wedding dress. Then I’d grabbed a coffee from Justice and gone straight home to finalize the back-to-school shopping list.
“Guess what we’re doing today,” I said to Waylay as we had our lunch of sandwiches and carrot sticks on the back porch.
The sun was shining, the creek burbling lazily as it flowed past the edge of the grass.
“Probably something boring,” Waylay predicted as she tossed another carrot stick over her shoulder into the yard.
“Back-to-school shopping.”
She looked at me with suspicion. “Is that a thing?”
“Of course it’s a thing. You’re a kid. Kids grow. They outgrow old stuff and need new stuff.”
“You’re taking me shopping. For clothes?” Waylay said slowly.
“And shoes. And school supplies. Your teacher hasn’t answered my emails yet, so I got a copy of the supply list from Chloe’s mom.” I was babbling because I was nervous. Waylay and I had yet to connect, and I was willing to attempt to buy her affection.
“Do I get to pick the clothes?”
“You’re the one wearing them. I might retain veto power in case you decide to go for a fur coat or velour tracksuits. But yeah. You get to pick.”
“Huh. Okay,” she said.
She wasn’t exactly jumping up and down and throwing her arms around me like she had in my imagination. But there was a twinkle of a smile happening at the corners of her mouth as she ate her turkey and provolone.
After lunch, I sent Waylay upstairs to get ready while I reviewed the mall research I’d printed at the library. I was only halfway through the store descriptions when there was a knock at the front door. Fearing it was another “drop-by” from Yolanda, I took a moment to run my fingers through my hair, check my teeth for lipstick, and close the lid on the rolltop desk so she couldn’t judge my obsession with notebooks and planners.
Instead of Yolanda, I found the most annoying man in the world standing on the porch in jeans, a gray t-shirt, and aviators. His hair looked a little shorter on top. I guessed when you owned a barbershop, you could get a haircut whenever you wanted. It was annoying how attractive he was, all bearded and tattooed and aloof.
“Howdy, neighbor,” he said.
“Who are you and what have you done with blond Oscar?” I asked.
“Let’s go,” he said, hooking his thumb toward his truck.
“What? Where? Why are you here?”
“Liza J said you needed a ride. I’m your ride.”
I shook my head. “Oh, no. I’m not doing this with you today.”
“Not playing games, Daisy. Get your ass in the truck.”
“As charming as that invitation is, Viking, I’m taking Waylay back-to-school shopping. You don’t strike me as a ‘spend the day shopping with the girls’ kind of neighbor.”
“You’re not wrong. But maybe I’m a ‘drop the girls off at the mall and pick them up when they’re done’ kind of neighbor.”
“No offense. But no. You’re not that either.”
“We can stand here arguing about it for the next hour or you can get your ass in the truck.” He sounded almost cheerful, and that made me suspicious.
“Why can’t I just borrow Liza’s car?” That had been the plan. I didn’t like when things didn’t go according to plan.
“Can’t now. She needs it.” He leaned around me and called into the house. “Waylay, get a move on! Bus is leaving.”
I heard the thunder of feet upstairs as my niece forgot to play it cool.
I put a hand to his chest and pushed him back until we were both standing on the porch. “Listen, this trip is important. I’m trying to bond with Waylay, and she’s never been back-to-school shopping before. So if you’re going to do anything to ruin it, I’d rather take a Lyft to the mall. In fact, that’s what I’m going to do.”
He looked downright amused. “And how are you going to do that with a piece of shit phone that’s too old to download apps?”
Damn it.
Waylay vaulted into the living room, landing with both feet before rearranging her expression into a look of boredom. “Hey,” she said to Knox.
“Knox is going to drive us,” I explained with zero enthusiasm.
“Cool. How much stuff are you planning to buy if you need a whole entire pickup truck?” Waylay wondered.
“Your aunt said she plans to buy out half the mall. Figured it was best to come prepared,” Knox said.
I caught the little half smile on her face before she led the way down the porch steps and said, “Let’s get this over with.”
* * *