Page 66 of The I Do Over

“I could’ve sworn she said that, but she just said it was a sinus thing. I guess it must have been something I ate today.”

“What did you have?”

“I had oatmeal for breakfast and some leftover Chinese food for lunch. Out of the two, I’m guessing the leftovers are the culprit.” She groaned just thinking about it.

Nodding, Knox reached over and felt her forehead again and then caressed her cheek. “Why don’t you get some rest?”

“What about you? What are you going to do?” she asked, hating the fact that they weren’t going to get to go out tonight.

He stood and then leaned over and kissed her on the head. “First, I’m going to go and make you some tea and bring it in here in case you want it. Then I am going to go put my feet up and watch some TV. I’ll check on you in an hour and see how you’re doing.”

“Don’t worry about the tea. Just the thought of it is making my stomach hurt,” she groaned, rolling onto her side.

He took a minute to help her get under the blankets before leaving the room. Maddie was tempted to ask him to stay with her, but she had a feeling she was going to fall right to sleep.

She was right.

It felt weird to be in Maddie’s home without her—well, sort of without her—and Knox wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He was definitely going to watch TV, but…that was going to get old fast.

Especially watching it alone.

It was one thing to sort of veg out all weekend watching Netflix when it was with Maddie, but doing it alone—even just for one night—wasn’t appealing at all. But what choice did he have?

First, he went to the kitchen and grabbed a can of soda. He knew Maddie kept a lot of snacks in the house for them and he rummaged through the pantry and found a bag of his favorite jalapeno potato chips. Feeling like it was a good start, he walked to the living room and sat down. With the TV remote in his hand, he was about to turn it on when the doorbell rang.

It felt weird to answer her door, but he also didn’t want anyone to wake her up. Obviously she had food poisoning and needed to rest, so his only option was to go and see who was here. Raking a hand through his hair, Knox let out a sigh and hoped it was a UPS delivery or something equally as quick. He pulled the door open and was about to speak when his worst nightmare came true.

Maddie’s father was on the other side of the door.

Shit.

It was hard to say who was more surprised, but Knox could tell her father didn’t recognize him right away. His shock was more about a man answering his daughter’s door.

Then the recognition hit and his expression hardened. “What the hell are you doing here?” Jeff Christopher shoved his way into the house. “Where’s Maddie?”

It was on the tip of Knox’s tongue to say something both wildly inappropriate and insulting, but quickly decided against it.

“She’s inside sleeping. We think she got food poisoning from lunch today,” he said instead, keeping his hand on the doorknob to stop him from doing something stupid.

Her father turned and sneered at him. “Did you buy lunch?”

Was this guy for real?

Letting out a long breath, Knox pinched the bridge of his nose and mentally counted to ten. “What are you doing here, Mr. Christopher? Maddie didn’t mention you’d be stopping by.”

“I thought I’d surprise her,” he replied firmly. “She’s had her hands full with her mother and I thought I’d fly down and see how she was doing.”

Knox knew for a fact that this man had been less than sympathetic about anything concerning his ex-wife—and his daughter. Maddie had mentioned it more than once. But rather than call him out on it, he held his tongue again.

“You should leave,” Jeff said. “I’m here now and I can take care of my daughter.”

That was debatable.

“Actually, I believe I’m going to stay,” Knox challenged. “Maddie and I have plans for this weekend.”

“You just said she was sick! Whatever plans you think you had are canceled. Now leave or…”

And that was it.

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