Page 27 of Hello Tease

“Clean record. I approve,” Knox teased. “Let me know if the grandparents fall through. No dates for me—next weekend at least.”

My pride took yet another hit. He wasn’t bothered in the slightest that I was going out with another man. I’d been tying myself in knots over someone who only saw me as a neighbor. A mom.

Time to go lick my wounds. “Well, goodnight. And thanks again for watching the kids. It was really nice of you.”

“If you need anything, I’m right next door.” Did he smile at everyone like that? Because the way his eyes held mine made me want to melt, even though I knew there was nothing between us. Knox Madigan was a tease. Did he know he was doing it?

He gave me a wave and turned to walk outside. I watched through the screen door as he walked down the sidewalk, treating my weedy lawn just as well as anyone would treat the finest grass.

Before he could see me staring, I shut the door and hoped the heaviness in my chest would eventually fade.

13

KNOX

I waitedin my cruiser outside of Woody’s Diner, where Garth ate breakfast every morning. He was a farmer on his family’s operation, but I was pretty sure he did more bullshitting around town than he ever got work done.

A glance at my dashboard had me letting out a string of swears. I had ten minutes until my shift started, and I wanted to handle this off the clock.

Looking back at the diner, I saw the front door swing open, and I got out of my car, walking up to Garth and catching him on the sidewalk.

“Knox, they don’t serve donuts he—”

“Shut up,” I said. “And walk with me.”

He seemed confused, so I grabbed his arm, guiding him around to the back side of the diner.

He shook his arm out of my hand. Maybe I had been squeezing a little too tight. “What the fuck?” he said, anger flaring his nostrils.

“What you said about Larkin was uncalled for.” I kept my voice firm but even.

“Larkin?”

“The single mom you didn’t want to ‘waste your time on,’” I snapped, anger flooding at the memory of those texts.

Garth raised his eyebrows, lines forming on his ruddy red forehead. “We say stupid shit in the chat all the time. It’s what we do.”

I shook my head, wondering why I still put up with guys from high school. We clearly had grown in different directions. But could he really not see what was wrong with what he said? “It’s one thing to have some locker-room talk and another to make fun of a single mom just trying to get by.”

He smirked. “Looked like she was getting by just fine on that dance floor.”

My hands clenched, and if I were seventeen, I would have decked him. Instead, I was a grown man representing Cottonwood Falls. I leaned in, getting right in his face, and made my voice deadly. “Single moms have the whole fucking world sitting on their shoulders, and they don’t need to take any shit or deal with any judgment from the likes of you.”

He held up his hands. “Sorry, I was just fucking around in the group chat. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

I shook my head. “Having integrity is a big fucking deal. Do better.”

Once he nodded, I stepped away and walked off. But then he called after me, “You’re with her, aren’t you?”

My jaw ticked as I turned to face him. He had a dumb smirk on his face like he’d gotten me good with that remark. But I curled my lip in disdain. Not just because Larkin had thoroughly friend zoned me last night and was going out with another man, but because I hated it when people made comments like that. “You’re not one of those guys, are you?”

He jutted out his chin. “What do you mean?”

“One ofthose guyswho only gives a shit about a woman if she means something to you. Not because it’s the right thing to do.”

He drew his eyebrows together. “What’s it to you? It was a dumb text in a group.”

And maybe he did have me there. Because if I made a habit of getting onto every person who said something stupid, I’d never have time for anything else. But I settled for the truth. “I don’t want to be a part of a group that’s okay with talking about women like that. We’re too old for that shit, Garth.”

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