Page 75 of The I Do Over

He had refused to even look at them while he was there and he’d put the box on the floor of the backseat of his truck for the ride home.

Out of sight, out of mind.

And it stayed there for most of the week and would probably still be out there now except…his buddies—and Josie, Daisy, Lea, and Skye—had an intervention for him today because of his shitty mood.

Which was how he ended up with the box on his desk, staring at it like it was a ticking time bomb.

“It’s like ripping off a bandage,” Daniel said. “You just have to do it. You’re never going to have peace until you do.”

Knox wasn’t quite sure he agreed with that logic.

In his mind, just knowing that the letters were there was enough. Reading them wasn’t going to change anything. So she hadn’t lied about writing to him. Okay. Great. It wasn’t going to erase the fact that they were done. Once again, her father won, and he lost.

Awesome.

“Knox, you know you need to do this,” Xander commented. “You can’t keep going on like this. It’s like you’re in limbo and you’ve shut down. It’s not healthy.”

“Everyone handles breakups in their own way,” Daisy said as she squeezed Knox’s shoulder before smiling weakly at him. “Just know that we’re all here for you because we care about you and we’re concerned.”

He hadn’t asked for this.

Hell, he’d hardly even spoken about what happened.

But after being utterly useless at the office, the guys sat him down last night—along with a bottle of tequila—and got it all out of him.

He swore he was never going to drink again.

Apparently every time he did, he turned into Chatty Cathy and ended up confessing something about Maddie to them.

Not anymore…

“Would it help if one of us read a letter first?” Josie asked.

He wanted to laugh because he had a feeling her offer was more about her own curiosity than helping him, but he didn’t want to embarrass her.

“How about something to eat?” Lea suggested. “I brought cupcakes—the mint chocolate ones that I know you love.”

A cupcake would be nice, but…his appetite had been almost non-existent for days. Why didn’t everyone understand that he’d deal with this in his own way? In his own time? He’d gotten through it once, and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he’d get through it again.

Except…

Last time, he had essentially run away from his problems by joining the Navy. There wasn’t anywhere he could run to now. So that meant…

Shit.

Looking up, he faced his friends. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted gruffly. “I honestly don’t know if reading any of these is going to do anything more than make me miss her more than I already do.” Raking a hand through his hair, he felt like he had nothing else to lose by simply asking for help. “What am I supposed to do?”

He expected suggestions.

He figured he’d get at least one of them to share how they got over something like this.

What he didn’t count on was his two best friends suddenly launching into a battle of rock, paper, scissors.

“Best of three,” Daniel said as she shook out his hand and went with paper.

“Dammit!” Xander murmured. “Fine. Best of three. Ready? Rock, paper, scissors…”

“What the hell is happening right now?” he demanded as he came to his feet. “I’m pouring out my heart here—like you all clearly wanted—and you two idiots are playing rock, paper, scissors? Why?”

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