Page 29 of The I Do Over

His friend groaned again. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

That one statement left them both silent for several moments.

“I’m not comfortable saying shit like that,” Daniel explained, “but after everything I went through with Josie, I’d hate to think about you going into a situation that you know was going to mess with your head.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Yes, it is. I went into my relationship with Josie knowing it had the potential to get ugly and complicated and you’re kind of doing the same thing.”

“It’s just a couple of days,” Knox argued. “No one’s looking to get married again. This is simply about being able to walk away as friends.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

He shrugged. “Why shouldn’t it be? We’re both adults and it’s been a long time. We’re obviously never going to agree on the way everything happened, but we can’t change it. I’d rather be able to say that we wish each other well this time around. She’ll go back to her life in Chesapeake and I’ll be here doing my thing and there shouldn’t be any regrets.”

“I feel like you’re oversimplifying this. What if you have a bunch of heart-to-heart conversations and three days isn’t enough? Or what if you say the hell with talking and spend the next three days in bed trying to get each other out of your systems, and you don’t? What happens come Thursday morning?”

Good question.

But then Knox knew exactly why he was going to be okay. “Aren’t you forgetting one thing?” he asked confidently.

“I doubt it, but…humor me.”

“My three date rule. That’s been in play for a lot of years and it works. Come Thursday morning, I’ll be more than ready to say goodbye and wish her a good life. Trust me.”

“Yeah, no.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not buying it.”

“Why the hell not?” he yelled, flailing his arm out and splashing coffee all over the deck. “Dammit!”

“That rule works just fine with women you don’t really know. This is Maddie. There are a lot of emotions there and you cared about her enough—loved her enough—to marry her. This rule isn’t going to apply to her.”

“You’re wrong.”

“If you say so,” Daniel said with a hint of amusement. “But I’m telling you now, if I’m right, you’re going to owe me big.”

That made him laugh. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Seriously. I’m thinking you’ll have to take all my weekend shifts once the baby’s born. No trading off with Xander. You have to do them all.”

“Pfft…done.”

“Wow! No arguments? That’s surprising.”

“No arguments because it’s not going to happen. The deal is moot.”

“We’ll see.”

But Knox wasn’t going to be baited. “That’s right. We’ll see.”

“Well, you two kids go and play house for a few days and see what your lives would have been like and let me know how it all works out, okay?”

“No one’s playing house. That’s not what we’re doing.”

“Yet.”

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