Page 65 of The I Do Over

ChapterEleven

“Whether it is a friendship or a relationship, all bonds are built on trust. Without it, you have nothing.”

Unknown

The next several weeks flew by and Maddie felt better than she had in years. She was happy and in love and it felt like this was exactly where she was supposed to be in her life. Her mother was doing well, and it seemed like things were finally falling into place.

It was a Friday afternoon and Knox texted a few hours earlier to say that he was on his way. Their plan for tonight was to go out to dinner and to see a movie and, as simple as it sounded, she was really looking forward to it.

Instead of her usual half day, she took the whole day off because she’d been putting in a lot of extra hours and was feeling a little exhausted. Jenna was out earlier in the week with some sort of bug, and Maddie had picked up several of her clients to cover for her. She and Knox only had the weekends and as much as they both seemed to enjoy having a couple of lazy days together, this weekend Maddie really wanted to get out of the house.

After she took a short nap.

She was a light sleeper and knew if she just got comfortable on her couch, she’d hear Knox’s arrival. He slammed car doors and knocked loudly and there was no way she was going to sleep through any of that. Plus, if she didn’t answer the door, she was sure that he’d start calling her.

Feeling good about her options, she curled up on the sofa and figured she had an hour before he arrived.

Then the banging started.

Slowly, Maddie came awake and felt disoriented for a moment. Picking up her phone, she saw that she’d been asleep for over an hour.

“Maddie!” Knox called out as he knocked harder on the door.

Stumbling to her feet, she made her way to the front door and pulled it open. “Sorry!”

He took one look at her and instantly stepped inside. “Are you okay? Are you sick?”

“What? No! No,” she said quickly. “I just took a nap and must have been sleeping deeper than I thought I would. How long have you been knocking?”

“About five minutes. I was ready to kick the door down. You scared the hell out of me!” He led her back over to the sofa and watched her warily. “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t normally nap like that.”

She waved him off. “I worked extra hours this week because Jenna was out sick. I guess it just caught up with me.” Yawning, she shook her head. “I thought a nap would help me stay awake for the movie tonight.”

Knox didn’t look convinced as he stared down at her with those big arms crossed over his chest. “If you’re tired, we don’t have to go out. We can do our usual takeout and watch something here, and then go to the movies tomorrow night.”

As much as she hated to change their plans, maybe it wasn’t the worst idea. After all, it was just a movie. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Mads, I’d much rather that you feel alright and be able to stay awake,” he said as he sat down beside her, studying her face. “I can run out and grab some groceries and we can cook something if you’d prefer. I know how much you love it when I grill a steak for you.”

“Ooh…maybe that would be…” She instantly stopped as her stomach seemed to clench and roll. Her head began to pound and she was starting to sweat. “Um…I’ll be right back.” Then she dashed to the bathroom and promptly threw up everything she had eaten today. Knox was hot on her heels and instantly on the move, wetting a washcloth for her and then kneeling beside her.

Kill me now…

He was so gentle with her as he carefully felt her forehead, rubbing it with the washcloth along with her cheeks. When he helped her to her feet, he scooped her up in his arms and walked to her bedroom. Once she was on the bed, he straightened. His expression was full of worry.

“What can I get you?” he asked. “Do you have any ginger ale or some crackers? Should I go to the store and get some?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll shoot Jenna a text and see what helped her. She was only out for two days and the second one was just to play it safe.”

“Where’s your phone?”

“On the couch.” Laying back against the pillows, all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. When Knox came back and handed her the phone a minute later, she quickly typed out a text to Jenna and figured it might be a while before she responded.

Her phone dinged a minute later.

“Huh. That’s weird,” she murmured as she read Jenna’s message.

“What is?” Knox sat down beside her and looked at her phone. “So she didn’t have a stomach thing?”

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