Page 3 of Laws of Love
Knox took a long drink of his beer. “I’ll be by tomorrow to pick up Yas for the weekend.” With that, he hung up the phone.
He knew she would call several more times and send him text messages, but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with her anymore that day. So, he placed his phone on silent. He would be sure to check it now and then in case Yasmine or someone else called him.
Knox flipped through the channels on the television before settling on a documentary about the guillotine. He watched it for the next hour, grabbing a second beer when his first one was gone. He was picking up the remote to change the channel when he noticed the notification light on his phone was blinking.
He was positive that all of them were from Mia. Knox checked them anyway. Most of them were from Mia, but there was one from his father asking if they were still on for Saturday. Knox texted him back, telling him they were before setting his phone back down.
His parents, himself, and Yasmine were going to watch the puppet shows in the park. It was one of his daughter’s favorite things to do, and his parents always enjoyed coming along with them. Neither of them were the biggest fans of Mia, and they hated having to deal with her in order to see Yasmine. So, whenever Knox had her, they would all spend time together since his parents didn’t like shorting Knox’s time with his daughter.
He flipped through the channels for several minutes but couldn’t find anything else to watch. So, instead, he went over to the keyboard that sat in the corner and fiddled with the keys. It wasn’t the same as the piano he’d left at the house, but he hadn’t wanted to deal with Mia in trying to get it.
Knox enjoyed playing. Had loved doing it as a child, and after two ACL injuries that caused him to end his professional football career early, it had been a sort of therapy for him. A way of helping him deal with it. So much so that he started experimenting with composing his own songs.
He played around for a bit, but honestly, he was restless. He’d been in the house for the past few days, and he knew he needed to get out. He could check on one of his investments, but he ended up working when he did that. Which simply was because he’d find something he wanted to do.
Everyone he employed was more than competent, and he had a general manager who ran each venture, so he could simply sit back and collect a paycheck. Instead, he decided he would go for a jog on the nearby trail. It would get him out of the house but also help him relieve some of the tension he was holding in from his conversation with Mia.
He was tired of the back and forth that the two of them had. Knox knew that, for him, at least, the only reason they were still married was for Yasmine, but that honestly wasn’t doing much good with the two of them living apart.
Knox had told himself that if their separation lasted for a year and they hadn't worked it out and still could not make life together work, it would be over for them. They needed to go their separate ways and find other people. Though he wouldn’t wish the version of Mia, he received now on his worst enemy.
As Knox changed into a pair of basketball shorts, running shoes, and a t-shirt, he realized the year was approaching in a matter of days.
2
It had been a little over two weeks since Aiva’s last meeting with Kyan. However, she would see her within the next hour to give her papers to have her husband served. Normally, when a professional company was hired, Aiva would have requested that whoever was going to serve him come pick them up. However, Kyan had informed Aiva she would have one of her friends serve Andrew, so she would give them directly to Kyan, but make sure she knew she could not, under any circumstances, serve them herself.
There was a knock, and Aiva looked up to see her sister standing there. The look on her face answered the question Aiva was about to ask.
“How was your mediation?”
“Please tell me you have vodka in here,” Meila stated, walking in and taking a seat across from her.
“I do not,” Aiva responded. “I have tequila, though.”
“I’ll take it.”
Aiva slid her chair back, opening one of her bottom drawers and pulling out a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses. She placed them both in front of her sister and filled them. Meila took down one and then the other. The fact that her sister was drinking at two in the afternoon told Aiva two things. The mediation had gone worse than she initially suspected, and she wasn’t meeting any more clients that day.
“You want to tell me about it?” Aiva questioned, as her sister sat the shot glass down.
“Look, you know I’m all for taking someone to the cleaners when they deserve it. But I’m seriously contemplating dropping this client. Her soon-to-be ex-husband is being more than gracious and is giving her half of everything, not to mention more alimony than any judge would ever order him to pay, and she wants more. Wants me to work some sort of miracle and pull an elephant out of my pussy.”
Aiva laughed at her sister’s last statement. “And what did you tell her when she said she wanted more?”
“I told her ass she was loonier than a fucking toon if she thought, for a second, a judge would grant her more than her husband was offering.”
Aiva paused, almost tempted to ask Meila if that was actually what she’d said to the woman. However, she refrained because she was sure she indeed had.
“She’s a special type of goofy if she doesn’t realize that a judge will more than likely reduce what he’s offering her now.”
Aiva sighed. “You shouldn’t talk about your clients that way.”
“It’s the truth, and I’d say this to her face. So…” Meila trailed off with a shrug. “Anyway, what are you doing tonight?”
“I don’t have any plans.”
“Good. Come over. We can order some takeout and watch a cheesy romance movie.”
