Page 154 of Demo
“Sure, sure. I mean, it’s fine. You go. I’ve got, you know, stuff going on anyway.”
“Oh,” Knox straightened up slightly. “Yeah, right. It’s Friday. You probably have plans.”
I looked around the apartment, crossing my arms over my chest, and although I wanted him to think I had more of a life than I actually did, I couldn’t pretend. I replied with a simple “Nah,” leaving my reply vague.
We stared at each other, and the horn beeped again, causing Kennedy to yip and Knox to roll his eyes.
“You better get out there before he has a heart attack,” I said.
Knox massaged the back of his neck with his hand. “Yeah, that would be a crying shame.”
That got a laugh out of me, which made Knox smile. “Well, I guess I’ll just …” Knox trailed off, as he grabbed the leash off the counter and led Kennedy to the door.
I followed them. “If I’m not here Sunday when you drop him off just, you know, use the key.”
“Yeah. Will do.”
“OK.” Knox and Kennedy had exited the apartment and were standing in the hallway, I stood perched at the threshold, one hand on the door, one on the frame.
“OK,” he parroted me. We both swallowed again, and I slowly shut the door.
I made sure I wasn’t around that Sunday. And during subsequent Kennedy exchanges I made sure I was either gone or preoccupied when he came by. Sometimes I dropped the dog off at his dad’s house, and when I did, I made sure to do it while Knox was still at work so I could visit with Clyde. Sometimes Emily would even stop over with the kids.
However, by the summer, I realized I needed more space. It was too much simply knowing he existed in the same city. I prayed I would see him around and then had all the air knocked out of me when I did.
We were ghosts, haunting each other. It wasn’t healthy. And it wasn’t fair to either of us.
So, I talked to Cherice about working remotely for a few months. I told her my mom needed me in Florida, but I’m sure she knew the real reason for my temporarily relocating. She was very accommodating. Of course, beats had to be rearranged, and Zack was more than happy to take over all the court appearances, perp walks and other in-person crime coverage. In return, I covered a lot of municipal meetings by watching the live streams online. I did bigger feature stories that required a lot of research that could be done remotely.
I return to the office this week, and I’m hoping the staff welcomes me back with open arms.
I left Kennedy with Knox for four months while I was away, so Knox and I still had contact. We texted a bit. He sent me pictures of him and Kennedy, and I sent back emojis.
Then one day I got a request to follow him on social media.Well, well, well, I thought.Hell hath frozen over!
When I went to his account, I realized his page wasn’t a personal page, but one for his new company, Knox Mitchell Homebuilding.
Looking through the photos, I saw beautiful images of various rooms in homes and at different stages in the building process. Turns out Knox was in motion to branch away from his dad’s company before he had the divorce papers drawn up. It was a slow transition, because he didn’t want to leave his dad in a bind, but he eventually did it.
And I knew exactly why he settled on the name he did. He wanted to build homes. Not retail or commercial spaces, but homes. Where families are built. I could see it in the details of the homes he showed off in his photos.
Scrolling through, my heart stopped when I saw a familiar setting. A property I had seen many times. One that once had a framed two-story Ranch-style house being erected, until someone took a sledgehammer to it. Scrolling back up toward the top, I realized some of the other photos were of the house, but I just didn’t recognize it.
He rebuilt it.
Ache. The kind that throbs in your ears and carries through your limbs with each pulse washed through me. Did he sell it? Or worse, did he live there?
I didn’t ask him. I didn’t even bring it up. I couldn’t. I didn’t know if I had the right to anymore.
That was when I decided to let go of the apartment. I needed a fresh start. My mom and Leanne begged me to join them in the Sunshine State, but being away from this city felt unnatural. Even if it was the people—or person—holding me here, I couldn’t fight it. If all I ever got to settle the ache for Knox was knowing he was near, I would take it. That’s what we do to ourselves when we’re addicted.
And Knox was a habit I would never kick.
“I might have been wrong. All your crap might not fit in our garage.” The sound of Monty’s voice as he enters the apartment pulls me out of my memories. He’s out of breath as I launch myself at him, and he almost topples backward as I practically hang from his neck. “Missed you too, kid,” he says with a chuckle as he hugs me back, then pats my hair.
“This a new do?” he asks.
“Yeah. What do you think? I was going for something sleek and, oh, I don’t know … adult?” I touch the dark hair I now have in a shoulder-length bob. The stylist did something fancy that gave my hair some shine without actually dying it.
