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A text from Mia Petrov pops up on my phone, and I read it to Knox.
Mia: Hey, want to come sit with the WAGS at the game Thursday night? We have dinner together before the games, please come.
I turn to Knox, a little perplexed by Mia’s invite. “What are the WAGS?”
He hesitates before saying, “Wives and girlfriends of the players.”
“Oh.”
“The wives just like you, that’s all. They’re not trying to make things sound more serious between us than they are.”
I don’t like the sound of that, even though I should, given my reservations about getting into another relationship.
“So you don’t want me to go?” I ask.
“No, I do.” He gives me a serious look. “I’d love for you to go. I just don’t want you freaking out.”
“Do I seem like the type who gets freaked out?”
Knox looks like a deer in headlights as I wait for an answer. I make him sweat for a few seconds and then laugh.
“Okay, maybe when it comes to dating stuff, I do get freaked out. But the game sounds fun.” I look back at the phone screen. “Oh, crap. I just remembered that I’ll be in New York Thursday and Friday.”
“New York?”
I wave a hand dismissively. I’ve been meaning to tell Knox about my job offer, but this isn’t how I wanted to do it. “Just a work thing.”
“That’s a long way to go for a work thing. Is it a class?”
I exhale slowly, trying to come up with the right words. “A friend of mine from culinary school is starting a new place there and he wants to talk to me about it.”
“Oh, that’s pretty cool. As long as you’re not gonna go work there.” He grins over at me, but his smile drops away when he sees my expression. “Reese?”
“He did offer me a job there, but nothing’s been decided.”
Knox stares straight ahead, gripping the steering wheel so hard the muscles in his forearms flex. “You’re going to New York for a job interview? And you weren’t planning to tell me?”
“I wasn’t trying to not tell you.”
“Oh, don’t start that word-mincing bullshit.”
I narrow my eyes, both indignant and shocked by his visceral reaction. “Since when do I have to clear things with you?”
“I never said you had to clear anything, Reese, but when you’re with someone, isn’t it common courtesy to tell them you might be moving far away?”
“So we’re with each other now? Because I wasn’t in on that conversation.”
Knox silently turns to look over his shoulder so he can parallel park in a spot near Magnolia. It’s closed until tonight, but the staff is meeting up to make breakfast together, and I’m bringing Knox to meet everyone.
Once his vehicle is positioned, he throws it into park and turns to me, his eyes dark with anger.
“What it is, then? We spend all our free time together, we don’t see other people, we fuck regularly and we love each other. If we aren’t together, then what would you call it? Cause I’m not a fucking twenty-year-old guy who ‘hangs out’ with women so I don’t have to be faithful.”
“Oh, aren’t you?” I raise my voice in challenge. “Because you told me in Kauai that you hadn’t had a relationship in years, and that it had lasted a couple months. Did you just not have sex after that, until you met me?”
He gives me an exasperated look. “Yeah, I had sex. But it was casual. One night, maybe two. It was nothing like what we have.”
“I told you I didn’t want a relationship.” Tears of frustration pool in my eyes.
“Yeah, so we don’t call it that. But that’s what it is, Reese.”
My emotions rise hard and fast, spiraling out of control. “I’m not interested in your games, Knox. I told you I wasn’t ready, and you took it as a challenge.”
“You’ve never been a challenge to me,” he says hotly. “You know damn well you should’ve told me about this New York thing. Not asked me, but told me.”
I wipe my fingertips under my eye, clearing away the tears that wouldn’t stay put.
“I’m probably not taking the job. It’s just that it’s a dream job for me, and I have to at least go check it out. They’re starting a restaurant that will be staffed by homeless people overseen by chefs. I figured, why mention it when it’s probably not going to happen?”
He shakes his head. “If there was no way it was happening, you wouldn’t be going.”
“So what if I do go?” I cross my arms defiantly.
“Guess you’ll get what you always wanted. A life alone, where you never let anyone in again because you let Eric ruin every chance at happiness.”
I’m stunned into silence. Knox looks bitterly angry, a side of him I’ve never seen before. I knew he wouldn’t like that I’m considering the New York job, but I didn’t think he would take it this hard.
