Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 116231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“I’m not hungry,” I tell her and she stands up and takes me with her. She walks slowly into the bedroom with me and, with all the patience in the world, she undresses me and gets me in the shower. While I wash my hair, she goes to the kitchen and makes me something to eat with a tea.
I sit at the island on the stool, eating for the first time in almost ten days. “Knox,” she says his name and I snort out with the way she says it.
“Yeah.” I nod my head.
“I mean, I suspected the two of you went to that retreat, but I didn’t even think.”
“He’s…” I look up at her and the tears pool in my eyes. “He’s—” I can’t even say it, so I just sigh. “There aren’t adequate words to say how much.”
“I get it,” she says and for the whole day she stays with me. I see her texting and I know she should be at the game with Kirby.
“You have to get out of here,” I tell her from my side of the couch, where I’m lying down. “I’ll be fine.”
“What did you decide to do?” she asks me, getting up and grabbing her jacket.
“I am thinking it over. I know I need to see him. I just don’t need to see him when I look like I’m dying.” I point to myself, getting up, and she follows me.
I give her a hug as she walks out. “You could come to the game with me,” she offers to me as she presses the elevator button. “Tomorrow. I expect you to come over.” I nod at her. “Don’t make me tell your brother.”
“You know he doesn’t scare me, right?” I counter and she shrugs. “Have fun.”
She disappears into the elevator as I walk back into the house and head for the couch. I turn the channel to the game when it’s time, at the exact same time there is a knock at the door. I walk over and open it to see it’s a delivery guy with sushi and pizza. “This is for Kylie,” he says my name after looking down at the paper on the box, “From Lexi.”
“That’s me,” I confirm, grabbing it from him and then closing the door behind me and heading straight to the living room. I put the box on the coffee table and open up the sushi before sitting back down. I see the pregame skate and look in the crowd to see if the kids are there. I see him skating onto the ice. His eyes look haunted, and I wonder if he misses me or if he’s already over me. He looks perfect to me, but his eyes look haunted and I have to wonder if he misses me as much as I miss him. I can’t help the little smile that comes to my face watching him for thirty seconds. I grab the remote and rewind it back a few times before letting it play.
Every single time they say his name, I sit up straighter. Every single time he’s on the ice, my eyes find him. I’m lying down watching the game when there is something happening behind the net. Kirby clears the puck and then passes it to Knox, who hustles it out of the zone. He’s in the middle of the ice when it happens, the defenseman from the other team guns straight for him and hits him full-on. Throwing him off his skates and making him fly back. He lands on his back, his head comes up and then crashes down on the ice. I sit up, watching him lying there on the ice, not moving. Kirby is throwing his stick onto the ice and he’s going after the guy who hit Knox. My eyes are not on Kirby but on Knox, who is lying in the middle of the ice with his hand on his chest.
My hand trembles as I get up and then sit back down again. My heart goes to my throat as I get up again as I watch people rush onto the ice to get to him. My legs buckle and give out as I fall to my knees and I think, I’m going to be sick. “Get up!” I scream at the television and the screen goes to a commercial. I turn, fumbling to get up and get my phone, pulling up Lexi’s number.
“Kylie,” she answers and I swear you can hear the silence in the whole arena from my side of the phone.
“Lexi,” I say, my voice cracking. “Lexi. My—” I point to the television. “Knox.” I am trying to catch my breath and talk at the same time.
“He’s still on the ice,” she reports. “They are trying to get him up. He’s gotten to the sitting position but then just fell backward. He’s awake though.” I hear the roar of the crowd then and I close my eyes. “He’s up!” she almost screams. “He’s up, Jaxon and Kirby are helping him get off the ice.”