Page 36 of After the Knockout
“I don’t even know if I wanna go?—”
“Please, Mommy!” Dae-Dae begged. “Please! Me and Ali wanna get pancakes!”
I stared at my child, then at the man standing behind him, looking entirely too fine and entirely too comfortable for somebody who’d forced their way into my home. Then my eyes traveled back to my child. He was practically vibrating with excitement. I couldn’t be the one to kill that. He was finally getting to have his parents in the same space.
“I guess we getting pancakes.” I let out a long breath, and Dae-Dae threw both hands in the air, smiling.
“Best day ever!”
The little breakfast spot KO drove us to was just a few minutes away from my apartment. I’d passed it a ton of times, but I never had time to stop and check it out, because it was always a long wait. Apparently, the trick was getting here before everybody else woke up. We’d arrived at the restaurant and were immediately seated in a booth by the window. Of course, Dakoda chose to sit beside KO while I sat quietly across from them, watching the two of them together and trying not to spiral. I couldn’t stop thinking about how this was all going to work out. I’d spent the last five years of my life learning to live without KO. And now he was sitting casually in front of me, coloring on the kids’ menu with our son and helping him do a breakfast word search while we waited for our food.
“Where the W at?” KO asked, and Dakoda leaned forward, his eyes searching the paper until he was confident he’d found it.
“Right there!” he yelled, pointing to the letter M.
“That’s an M.” KO took his hand and touched the W. “The W is just a M turned upside down.”
Dakoda nodded and immediately started scanning the page, pointing to all the Ws.
“Did I get them all?” he asked happily, and KO nodded.
“Yeah, little man,” KO replied, and I just looked on, admiring how good he already was with Dae-Dae. It had me thinking about the happily ever after KO and I used to talk about before everything fell apart.
“Can I draw a picture of Ali now? So he can be at breakfast with us?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Dakoda flipped the menu over and started sketching a picture of the turtle.
“More coffee?” the server asked as she approached our table, and I nodded as she topped off my coffee before walking away again. I stared at KO. This was my chance to have that talk that we both knew we needed to have.
“You still ain’t explained how long you plan on staying in my apartment,” I spoke in a muffled voice so Dakoda hopefully couldn’t hear. KO looked up at me and then back down at Dakoda.
“I did explain it.”
“No, you bulldozed your way into my house.”
“That’s what you say.”
“That’s what I know.” I narrowed my eyes.
“Maybe I can get you a deal on a room down at my job.” I offered a more common sense solution. “It’s only fifteen minutes away from my house. You’ll still be close enough to see him in the mornings.”
“Lyrius, I don’t need a hotel discount. I can afford a room,” he said. “I’m not looking for somewhere to stay. I already decided where I’m staying.”
I stared at him in disbelief while he grabbed a crayon and helped our child color in the damn turtle like he was done with the conversation.
“KO—”
“Lyrius.” He finally looked up at me just as the waitress came and set down our food. “Eat your breakfast.” I blew out a deep breath of frustration. The calmness in his voice irritated me more than if he had argued back.
“Y’all fighting?” Dakoda looked between us.
“No,” KO said immediately.
“No,” I said at the same time.
“Yeah, we’re a real family now.” Dakoda grinned, and KO did too. If my phone hadn’t started ringing on the table, I would have laughed too. Instead, I grabbed my phone, glanced at the screen, and instantly sighed. It was work, and if they were calling, it meant they needed me. I hesitated for a minute, contemplating whether I should answer it.
