Page 35 of Laws of Love
“No worries,” she responded, before giving her attention back to Yasmine. “I’m glad I finally got to meet you.”
“I’m glad you did, too,” Yasmine responded, smiling at her, and Aiva couldn’t help but return it.
“I’ll see you soon, Aiva,” Knox stated as his eyes locked to hers.
“I look forward to it,” she responded before waving to them both and heading toward the register.
When Aiva made it home, she turned on some music, washed her hands, and began cooking. As she did, her mind wandered back to Knox briefly. She hadn’t seen or spoken to him in two weeks. Not since the last time he’d been in her office. They were waiting for the judge to sign off on the divorce documents, and because there was nothing that could be done until they did, she hadn’t spoken to him.
She had spoken to Harvey twice because Mia wanted to make changes to the agreement after Aiva had already filed it. Both times, she reminded Harvey where they stood and that she was okay with them taking any changes directly before a judge in a hearing, where they would also change the terms of what they were requesting.
That was enough for Mia to remember that if they went in front of a judge without agreed upon terms, she ran the possibility of getting less than what the settlement gave her. She hadn’t heard from Harvey since, and with them being so close to the finish line, she wanted to keep it that way.
Aiva danced around the kitchen, singing as she cooked. Putting on a concert by herself, for herself.
Once her food was ready, she poured a glass of wine and sat on her couch. She turned her television on and picked up where she had left off on the last episode ofAbbot Elementary. She’d started the show the previous month and tended to binge-watch several episodes over the weekends.
After finishing her food and two episodes of the show, Aiva took her dishes into the kitchen and washed them, along with the cookware she’d used, before wiping down her countertops and sweeping her floor.
She poured another glass of wine and retook her seat on the couch, starting another episode. She would watch a few more before heading to bed. Aiva had a spa appointment the following morning at nine, and she’d paid for half a day. She hadn’t been in a while and was more than ready to relax and be pampered for a bit.
Knox sat on his couch; his feet propped on his coffee table as he scrolled through his businesses’ income reports from the last month. One of his short-term rentals had increased the occupancy rate of seventy-two percent from the previous month to seventy-nine percent. He was pleased with that fact. Knox liked to keep them all at eighty percent, and his staff ensured each rental was clean and stocked, and welcome baskets were left for new renters. They went above and beyond to help them find attractions and entertainment and provided a driver if needed.
There were little things he learned that kept past renters coming back and recommending his places to family and friends. It also helped that they left great reviews that others read.
He switched his attention over to the income for his dealerships. They were always consistently good and didn’t fluctuate too much. Knox had never considered himself a salesman, so he’d hired some great general managers to run his five lots. Two in town and the other three in the surrounding cities. He could sit back and draw his dividends from them.
He was looking over the income from his gym when his phone rang. Looking down at the screen, he saw Mia’s name. His first thought was not to answer it. However, Yasmine was staying with her for the week, and something could have been wrong or happened at school. Knox had decided to still allow Mia the weeks she was scheduled to keep Yasmine until everything was finalized. Then she would get every other weekend as agreed upon, and he’d let her take her during the week sometimes.
“Yes, Mia?” he answered.
“You need to wire me my settlement.”
“Excuse me?”
“The judge has signed off on our divorce. You need to wire me my settlement,” Mia informed him.
Knox furrowed his brow because he hadn’t heard that. He’d run into Aiva a few days ago at the grocery store, but he hadn’t heard from her since. Before running into her, he’d been doing all he could not to call her. It would only be torturing himself because she was still his lawyer.
When he’d seen her, he couldn’t help but take her in from head to toe. He’d missed laying his eyes on her, seeing her gorgeous face, and hearing her seductive voice. He was glad Yasmine had been with him. The small kiss he’d stolen hadn’t been enough to satiate his patience, and had he been alone when they ran into each other, he may have just stolen another.
He thought about what Mia said. Surely, Aiva would have called him if she’d gotten word that their divorce was finalized. He was not just going to take Mia’s word for it.
“I’ll call you back,” he told her, not giving her a chance to reply before he hung the phone up.
He thought about calling Aiva and asking her about it but decided to stop by her office. If he found out what Mia said was true, he didn’t want to ask her out over the phone.
Knox glanced at the time on his laptop. He had time to finish reviewing his income reports before heading to see Aiva.
Knox didn’t have to wait long in the waiting area before Finx led him to Aiva’s office. He stepped in to find her sitting behind her desk. She looked up when he entered.
“Knox, hey. Please have a seat,” she greeted and gestured toward the chairs in front of her desk. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
He took a seat. “Yeah, I’m sorry for just dropping in.”
“It’s no problem. What can I do for you?”
“I received a phone call from Mia, and she told me that our divorce was finalized.”
