Page 57 of The I Do Over

“Okay,” she said sadly. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

He wasn’t exactly sure what to say, so he just said, “I’ll talk to you later, Mads.” And when he hung up and faced his buddies, he saw mild amusement on Xander’s face while Daniel was frowning.

Dammit.

Letting out a long breath, he put his phone down and got a little more comfortable in his seat. “Okay, out with it.”

“Did she just cancel on you?” Xander asked and Knox merely nodded.

“Because of her mother?” Daniel asked and again, Knox merely nodded.

“And how does that make you feel?” Xander asked with just a hint of sarcasm.

“Look, I’m not gonna lie. I’m not happy about it. I understand it and I know why Maddie feels like she needs to be there,” he said casually. “I don’t like it and I’m not feeling particularly sympathetic, but…it’s the first time it’s happened, so…”

“Didn’t you come home early from her place the last time because she needed to go to her mom’s?” Daniel asked.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“And didn’t you bail on all of us last weekend because she was feeling overwhelmed because of her mom?” Xander asked.

They were baiting him, but he refused to overreact the way they were expecting him to.

“Like I said, I don’t like it, but while Maddie was in the car driving to the emergency room wasn’t the time to hit her up with me being annoyed. I’m not that big of a dick.”

“But you admit that you’re kind of a dick,” Xander commented.

“Ha, ha.” Shrugging, Knox figured he’d explain it one more time just so they were all on the same page. “She chose her parents over me the last time, and look how that worked out. She’s been beating herself up over it for seventeen years. She won’t do that again. I know she won’t.”

“She kind of already is,” Daniel pointed out. “Granted, the situations are wildly different, but…when she’s had to choose between time with you or time with them—or at least her mom—she’s chosen her mom.” He paused. “You need to be aware of this so you’re not blindsided a second time.”

“No one’s blindsiding me,” he argued.

“Let me ask you this,” Xander challenged. “Let’s say the two of you have plans to go away for a weekend—not her house or yours, but an actual trip. Then she gets a call that something’s happened to her mom. Or worse, her dad, and she backs out of the trip. What do you do?”

He stared back at his friend hard. “It won’t happen. Maddie wouldn’t do that.”

Now it was Daniel’s turn to speak up. “You cannot be the guy who makes her choose, Knox. You either want Maddie or you don’t. Her family is always going to be her family and you’re either going to have to come to grips with it or you have to move on. Ask Xander. His situation was kind of similar.”

“No, it wasn’t!” Knox snapped. “He didn’t have any issues with Daisy’s family.”

“No, but…my issue was that I wanted everything on my own twisted and extremely limiting terms and you were the one to point out how unfair that was to Daisy. Now you’re doing the same thing, only poor Maddie doesn’t know the rules.”

“Oh, now she’s poor Maddie? Neither of you even know her and yet you’re both sitting here pointing out all the reasons why I shouldn’t be with her! Which is it? Is she the victim or the villain here?” he demanded.

Daniel and Xander exchanged looks. “I really wanted to paint her as the villain,” Daniel admitted. “But if you’re going to be this closed-minded…”

“I have to agree,” Xander said grimly. “I mean, we all know she was the villain way back when, but now? You’re kind of turning the tables. Are you sure this isn’t part of your initial plan to get even with her?”

“You know I threw that plan out the window almost as soon as I thought of it.” Raking a hand through his hair in frustration, Knox struggled to find the words to make them understand. “Would either of you be willing to befriend the guy who threatened to have you thrown in jail? Or would you want to sit down for Sunday dinner with him?”

“We get what you’re saying,” Daniel began calmly. “No one’s saying you’re wrong for feeling the way that you do. What we are saying is that if you’re entertaining a future with Maddie, you have to come to grips with the fact that her parents are part of the deal. If you make her choose and she chooses you, somewhere down the line, she’s going to come to resent you for alienating her from her family.”

“It won’t be like that. Once she gets things settled with her mom, she’ll see that we can have an amazing future together. Everything her parents cost us, we can have.”

Once again, Daniel and Xander exchanged looks. “So delusional,” Xander murmured, shaking his head.

“Agreed.”

“You guys don’t know what you’re talking about,” Knox confidently replied before he got to his feet. “Now how about we stop talking about my personal life and have some lunch while Xander tells us whether or not we got the Blackmore contract?”

Fortunately, no one argued with the change of subject, and Knox felt optimistic that he’d prove his friends wrong.

He’d bet good money on it.

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