Page 95 of The I Do Over

Knox was getting used to Maddie being just a tad overly emotional, but normally there was a reason. He wasn’t sure how the sale of furniture could possibly bring her to tears, but he didn’t want to ask. Instead, he held her until she stopped crying.

Wiping her tears, he smiled. “Better?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now how about we go and pick up something for dinner and go home?”

“I can’t wait until we’re going home to a place that’s truly ours. Yours and mine.”

“There is that fabulous house on the screen…” he suggested. “I can call Cooper and get us an appointment to go and check it out this weekend.”

“Ugh…Knox, the thought of another weekend in the car is just…it’s too much.”

Don’t be disappointed…don’t be disappointed…

“Besides, we’re supposed to stop by my mom’s tomorrow to try to talk to her about moving.”

Yeah, going to see her mother had been a bit of a shock for him. Knox’s issues with her parents were mostly toward her father, but considering that her mother didn’t particularly help with that situation did cause a lot of hard feelings toward her, too. But how could he possibly be angry with her knowing that she was ill? Truth be known, he had never known anyone with Alzheimer’s and wasn’t sure what to expect. Maddie had explained that sometimes her mother knew exactly who she was and what was going on, and then in the blink of an eye, she didn’t.

The last two times they went, her mother wasn’t lucid enough to understand what they were talking about with the move, but she seemed completely delighted to see him. It freaked him out a little because it was like she knew him, but didn’t. It seemed to make Maddie get flustered too so he tried not to harp on it or ask too many questions, but they still needed to try to have a conversation with her about moving.

So they were going to try again. He knew it was frustrating for Maddie, but he also knew if they couldn’t move her mom with them right away, they weren’t so far that they couldn’t go and see her every weekend.

All he could do was nod.

“But…” she began.

“But…?”

“How about we go and see her after the doctor’s appointment and then maybe see if Cooper can get us an appointment for the following morning? We can drive to your place after we leave my mom’s.”

“You just said you didn’t want to spend the weekend in the car,” he reminded her.

“And believe me, I don’t, but I also really want to see the house in person. If the pictures are anything to go by, I’m going to love it.”

He didn’t dare admit that he’d seen it in person already too, or that he already knew she was going to love it. She already had so much on her plate that there were just some things he was trying to do on his own.

And weeding out houses for them to look at was one of them.

“Only if you’re sure…”

“I am,” she said with a small huff. “But just know that I am going to need at least two weeks of doing absolutely nothing once this move is done.”

“You got it,” he cooed before helping her get her things together and saying goodbye to Babette on their way out the door.

So they shopped for some groceries on their way back to Maddie’s, cooked dinner together, and then spent a lazy evening watching a movie on Netflix before going to bed and making love.

It was a damn-near perfect day and he couldn’t wait until it was like this every day.

The next morning, they were up early and at the doctor’s office by 8:45, and Maddie was practically bouncing in her seat. “Do you think we’ll be able to tell the sex already?”

“The books all said that usually doesn’t happen until you’re further along—like in the second trimester.” Because yeah, he’d been reading pregnancy books, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it.

Besides, Daniel had given them to him.

“Well that’s a little disappointing. I was really hoping we’d know something today.”

“Mads, you’re only like eight weeks along. Right now, it’s all about making sure our little bean is growing like he should.”

---