33
AVA
“Mmm, bacon.”The sweet, smoky scent fills the air, and my mouth begins to water. I open my eyes to see Knox standing at the foot of the bed. His joggers ride low on his hips, revealing the V-cut abs and bunny trail that regularly star in my fantasies, but it’s the wooden tray in his hands that gets me. “If that’s breakfast in bed, I’m going to kiss you so hard.”
He chuckles. “It is indeed. I made blueberry muffins.”
I sling an arm over my face and groan. “How do you do it? You played sixty minutes of knockdown, drag-out hockey, you spent half the night at the hospital, and somehow you still managed to get up before me and make breakfast? You can’t be human.” I lift my arm to peek out at him. “Are you a robot? Because I feel like that would explain your stamina.”
“Sadly, no.” He moves around the bed and sets the tray down next to me. “But just imagine the possibilities.”
He pinches my thigh playfully, and I swat his hand away, gesturing to the tray. On it sit two glasses of juice and two plates, both of which are piled high with fluffy yellow eggs, crispy bacon, and golden-brown muffins that still have steam rising from the center.
“I love you, but nothing is getting between me and this meal. I’m famished and this food smells divine.”
Knox sits on the edge of the bed, and I take his hand in mine. “How’s Ollie?”
He gives me the rundown, and I struggle to process conflicting emotions. I’m relieved to hear Ollie’s in recovery, but his injuries are even worse than I thought, and the prospect of his career coming to an end makes me sick to my stomach.
Especially when there’s every possibility the accident could have been prevented.
“I have the two o’clock shift today,” Knox says. “I thought you might like to come with me.”
I’m nodding before he even finishes. “Of course. Even if he’s too tired to see us, it’ll be good for him to have people there who care about him. And I’m sure it will be a comfort to Frank too.”
“My thoughts exactly. We don’t play again until Wednesday, so I figure we can take the afternoon shift for the next few days to give him some relief.”
Knox hands me a fork and plate, but despite my earlier enthusiasm, I can’t seem to muster my appetite.
“Are you ready to talk about what happened with your father?” he asks, voice gentle.
Not even a little bit. Memories of last night come flooding back with a vengeance, and I rub my chest, trying to soothe the growing ache that’s taken up residence behind my ribs.
“I’d rather bury my head in the sand, but since that isn’t an option, we might as well get it over with.”
He lifts a forkful of eggs as if he’s making a toast. “That’s the spirit.”
“I don’t know how you can make light of this,” I say, pushing my own eggs around the plate.
“Sorry.” He lowers the fork. “I don’t actually think any of this is funny, but when things get too heavy, I have a tendency to use humor is a defensive mechanism.”
Of course. I should have guessed.
“It’s okay. It’s just…everything is such a mess, you know?
In just two months, I’ve managed to screw up my career and my family. That’s got to be some kind of record.
“Not everything is a mess.” Knox looks into my eyes, and the sincerity of his words nearly undoes me. “You and I are doing great, and we’ll get through this together.”
He’s right. Things with my dad may be rocky, and I may be unemployed, but I’ve still got Knox.
No, we still have each other, and that just might be the most valuable thing of all.
“It’s a long story,” I warn.
“I’ve got nowhere to be.” He picks up his plate and fork. “Let’s hear it.”
I tell him everything. About my ongoing trouble with Banks, about the good girl trap, about how I was concerned for Ollie and asked Banks to talk to him.