Page 54 of The I Do Over

It was such a simple and pure statement.

She burst into tears.

“Maddie…” And then he was out of his chair and on his knees in front of her. “I swear I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just thinking out loud! If I had thought…”

“Oh my God,” she said loudly. “Just shut up!”

That had both their eyes going wide.

“You have got to stop apologizing!” she said firmly, wiping her own tears away. “I pretty much just got done telling you how emotional I’ve been all week! Not everything is about you or what you say!”

“O-kay,” he said cautiously. “Then what made you cry?”

Crap.

Feeling mildly ridiculous, she had to admit, “Um…what you said.”

Rather than jump up, Knox simply sat back on his heels and studied her for a long moment. “So basically…you’re emotional and it’s not about me, but…it is kind of about me. Do I have that right?”

Yeah, now she felt wildly ridiculous.

“Um…maybe?”

“Maddie?”

“I know it doesn’t make sense and now I feel like a complete idiot,” she told him miserably. “All I can say is that I’m exhausted and emotional and…and…”

Now he did get to his feet and went back and picked up his phone.

“What are you doing?”

He typed out what she figured was a text, and she felt a little guilty because she was fairly certain she knew what it was about.

After a minute, he put the phone down and looked completely at ease. “We’ll reschedule with everyone. This weekend, we are going to focus on you being able to have a conversation without crying.” Grinning, he walked over and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “And before you start saying that you feel bad or guilty or whatever, you should know that I had kind of a crappy week and I am more than happy to stay home and relax too. Okay?”

Maddie couldn’t help that a part of her wanted to argue and say that she was fine and they should reconsider seeing his friends. It was just who she was. She was a people pleaser.

Even when it wasn’t what was best for her.

But since he had a bad week too, maybe it did make the most sense for them to stay in and just veg.

And she was going to try really hard not to feel bad about it.

It wasn’t often that Knox allowed himself a lot of down time, but he had to admit that he now saw the benefits of it. He and Maddie had been downright lazy for the entire weekend and by the time he went into work on Monday, he felt energized in a way he hadn’t in a long time.

Now that they were approaching the weekend again, he was actually looking forward to going to Chesapeake so they could relax and hopefully do nothing!

And there was no way he was admitting that to anyone.

Daniel walked into the office with lunch for the three of them. “Xander back yet?”

Knox shook his head. “Last I checked he was still out back with the rep from Blackmore.” He shrugged. “I thought they’d be an easy sell, but the guy’s pretty much making Xander walk through every damn piece of equipment and training scenario.” Then he grinned. “I’m glad I didn’t draw the short straw.”

Daniel chuckled. “You and me both. I’m normally good with an hour-long presentation. After that, I tend to lose my patience and want to push for a decision.”

“How the hell did Xander end up being the patient one out of the three of us?”

“Well, that used to be you, but you’re kind of distracted lately.”

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