Page 40 of The I Do Over

“Fine. Be snarky,” Babette countered. “But…and I say this with love…”

“O-kay…”

“That man doesn’t look like he has any trouble finding a woman to sleep with. I’m surprised women weren’t banging down his door while you were there!”

“I think he did have a date on Sunday that he had to cancel…”

“What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think this is about the sex,” Babette told her. “For starters, you live three hours away and now you’re going to have to schedule trips to see each other. That’s a lot of work just for sex.”

“I agree,” Jenna said. “If he was just looking for a physical relationship, you wouldn’t fit the bill.”

She wanted to be offended again, but…it made sense.

“So then we can agree that Knox is looking for an actual relationship with Maddie, right?” Heather asked, and everyone nodded. “Okay. Good. Glad that’s settled.” Then she stood and walked out of the room.

“When are you supposed to see him again?” Jenna asked.

“We looked at our schedules and it won’t be until next weekend.”

The girls nodded.

“Like next weekend as in two days from now or next weekend as in the end of next week?” Jenna asked again.

“End of next week,” Maddie clarified. “He has some training sessions scheduled for this weekend and we figured we already spent half the week together. Surely we can wait nine days to see each other again.”

“Aww…look how cute you are counting the days,” Babette cooed.

All Maddie could do was roll her eyes.

“Just know that we all support you, but that doesn’t mean we’re not worried and that we won’t jump in a car and beat the crap out of him if he hurts you again.”

It would be rude to point out that technically she was the one who initially hurt him, so she just said, “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Lunch is here!” Heather called out as she walked past Maddie’s office with their food.

“I’ll get drinks!” Jenna said as she got up.

When it was down to just the two of them, Maddie stood and smiled. “I really do appreciate how much you’re all concerned about me. I’ll admit that I have no idea how this is all going to go, but…I really want to try.”

Glancing over her shoulder, Babette took a moment before facing her again. “A lot of time has passed, Maddie. You’re not the same person you used to be, and neither is Knox. Make sure as you move forward that you’re seeing each other for who you are now. Don’t romanticize the past.”

“We’re not,” she said quietly.

At least…she didn’t think they were.

Walking over to her, Babette gave her a fierce hug. “I’m always here for you and I just want you to be happy.”

Hugging her back, Maddie fought the sting of tears. “Thank you. That’s all I want too.” But then her stomach growled loudly and it sort of killed the moment. She pulled back and laughed. “Well, that and to have lunch.”

“Then let’s go before the girls eat all the brownies!”

“Well, well, well…look who finally decided to show up for work.”

Knox flipped Xander the finger on the way to his desk. It was later than the time he usually showed up at the office—much later—but after Maddie had left, he needed a little time to himself to come to grips with a few things.

First, there was watching her drive away. It was ridiculous and it shouldn’t have been a big deal, but he had felt more than a little panicked as she pulled away. This was all still so new and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was really going to see her again or if she’d get home and realize she’d made a mistake.

And there was no way he was ever going to admit that out loud because it went against the cocky and confident persona he presented to the world. If anyone knew he was struggling with insecurity over a woman he’d been dating for three days, he would never live it down.

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