“It’s cash,” I said.
She recoiled like I’d told her it was an envelope of spiders.
“Take it. It’ll help you and Way out.”
She slapped the envelope against my chest. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want anything from you now. But especially not your money.”
With that, she tried to yank free. It was a reflex that had me tightening my grip.
“Take. Your. Hands. Off. Me, Knox,” Naomi said softly.
It wasn’t fire in her eyes now. It was ice.
“Naomi, it doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Good-bye, Knox.”
She slipped out of my grip, leaving me staring after her like an idiot.
THIRTY-NINE
BREAKING UP, DOWN, AND THROUGH
Naomi
Too complicated. Too much. Too needy. Not worth it.
The thoughts swirled in my head on a vicious merry-go-round as I marched down the sidewalk, Knockemout blurring around me through unshed tears.
I’d made a life here. I’d built up a fantasy in my mind. Taken afternoon coffees and whispered dirty talk to mean something else entirely. He didn’t want me. He never had.
Worse, he hadn’t wanted Waylay either. I’d taken my young, impressionable charge and dragged her into my relationship with a man who was never going to be there for her in the long-term.
I’d seen it in his eyes. The pity. He felt sorry for me. Poor, stupid Naomi falling for the bad boy who’d made no promises.
And the money. The gall of the man thinking he could break my heart and then fork over cash like I was a prostitute and like it would somehow make everything all right. It added a new layer to the humiliation.
I was going to go to Liza’s, fake a migraine, and spend the rest of the day in bed. Then I was going to have an overdue chat with myself about picking the wrong fucking guy. Again.
And when I was done lecturing myself, I was going to make sure that Waylay never let herself get stuck into positions like this.
Oh, God. I lived in the small town of freaking small towns. I’d see him around. Everywhere. At the coffee shop. At work. This was his town. Not mine.
Did I even belong here?
“Hey, Naomi!” Bud Nickelbee called as he ducked out of the hardware store. “Just wanted to let you know I popped out this morning and fixed your front door.”
I stopped in my tracks. “You did?”
He bobbed his head. “Heard about the trouble and didn’t want you to have to worry about getting the repairs done.”
I hugged him hard. “You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you, Bud.”
He shrugged against me, then awkwardly patted my back. “Just figured you had enough crap to deal with and thought you could use a break.”
“You’re a good man, Bud.”
“Okaaaaaay,” he said. “You all right? You need me to call someone? I can have Knox come get you.”
I shook my head rapidly from side to side until the hardware store and its owner blurred before me. “No!” I barked. “I mean, thanks but no.”
The door to Dino’s opened, and my stomach dropped into my toes when Knox stepped outside onto the sidewalk.
I turned away, praying for invisibility.
“Naomi,” he called.
I started walking in the opposite direction.
“Naomi, come on. Stop,” Knox said.
But with just a few words, he’d permanently lost the privilege of me listening to him when he told me what to do.
“Now, Knox. I don’t think the lady wants to talk to you right now,” I heard Bud advise.
“Step aside, Bud,” I heard Knox growl.
I was an idiot. But at least I was a fast-moving idiot.
I walked briskly down the block, determined to leave Knox in my rearview mirror just like my ex-fiancé.
A man doesn’t go all in with a woman, it’s for a reason.
Maybe he’s looking for something better.
My chest physically ached as Knox’s words about Warner echoed in my head.
Was there someone out there who would find me to be enough? Not too much or too little, but the person they’d been waiting for their whole life.
Tears burned my eyes as I turned the corner at a jog.
I blamed them for not seeing the woman who stepped out of the storefront.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, a split second after barreling into her.
“Ms. Witt.”
Oh dear God, no.
Yolanda Suarez, stern caseworker who had never once seen me at my best, looked nonplussed at the full-body contact.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
“Are you all right?” she asked.