Page 79 of Sunrise

She’s not back here.

He storms over to her sliding glass door and tugs it. It doesn’t open. “Jesus, there’s no way to get inside.”

Impressive and frustrating.

“Sophie, let us in!” All her lights are on. The curtains and blinds are closed, but I can still see a glow. We bang on the glass door harder. “Sophie!”

She rips open the blinds, confusion and terrorcontorting her face and there’s a knife in her hands. The instant she sees it’s us, her shoulders droop and she rests the knife on the floor. Lifting the bar and the extra stopper at the bottom, she unlocks the sliding door. “What are you doing? You just scared the shit out of me!”

She’s a hot mess, swaying as she yells at us.

“We didn’t mean to scare you. We were worried,” Knox argues. “You didn’t answer your phone or your door, and we knew you were in here.”

After letting us in, she clumsily relocks the sliding door, then walks away, completely off kilter. “I didn’t hear you. I was listening to an audiobook.”

That’s not all she was doing. There’s an empty bottle of wine lying on the floor in the kitchen, along with a bag of baby carrots, a hunk of cheese, and half a box worth of crumpled tissues.

I have never in my life seen her this way.

“How about we get you some water?”

“I don’t want water,” she growls at me, swaying on her feet. “I want revenge. Sweet, cold, stab his tires revenge.” She wipes her nose. “You know what? Fuck that. I want it to not work. I hope I was wrong, and they look stupid about it.”

Knox and I glance at each other, clueless.

“Okay, but first, let’s get you hydrated.” He grabs her hips and tries to maneuver her. She spins around and puts her arms around him. “How was your day, pup?”

Knox’s jaw sets. “It was interesting.”

“Tell me about it.”

He looks at me and gives a one shoulder shrug. “Drink water for me first and I’ll tell you everything.”

We get her into the kitchen and Knox pours aglass of water while she sits on the floor and bites into the block of cheese.

Sitting next to her, Knox hands the glass over. “Drink, then I’ll talk.”

Her sip is miniscule.

“Do better, Mistress.”

She scoffs and takes a bigger sip. Some of it drips down her chin, and she rubs her forehead with the back of the hand that’s still clutching cheese. I squat in front of her and wipe the water off her chin. She’s a cute, sloppy drunk, I’ll give her that.

“Go on,” she initiates. “Tell meeverything.”

“Why don’t you tell us about your day first,” I say.

She throws the cheese at me. “Knox and I have a deal. I drank the water. Now I want to hear what interesting things happened to him today.” She pokes him in the arm. “Donotdisappoint your Mistress.”

“Well…” He gets all comfy on the floor beside her, and she seems to follow his body language, relaxing against him. “I had a food critic come into the restaurant.”

Her nose is bright red, and her beautiful eyes are bloodshot and puffy, too. It breaks my heart seeing her this way. How long did she sit here, alone, sobbing?

“Did you cook foods good for him?” she asks, looking exhausted. Her eyes are already half closed.

“As if you even have to ask.” He playfully boops the tip of her nose and she’s in slow motion when she bats it away. There’s almost a smile on her face.

“Good boy.”

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