7. Knox

I used to work nights,but when the dayshift officer retired, I took his place. Waking up early was still an adjustment, and it was hard for me to remember that I woke up the same time as most people nowadays. So when I heard the doorbell and saw it was seven in the morning, I let out a groan and wondered who it could be.

I smoothed my ruffled dark blonde hair, threw on a T-shirt to go with my sweats, and walked to the front door. When I opened it wide, I had to smile. Larkin was dressed in green scrubs, standing with Emily beside her and Jackson on her hip. She also had two plastic bottles of water in her other hand.

“Didn’t scare you away with the party?” I teased.

She chuckled and said, “Actually the opposite. Do you mind if Emily uses your bathroom?”

I gave her a confused look, but she winked at me in explanation.

That adorable wink. I would have done anything. “Okay. You remember where it is? In the laundry room?”

Emily giggled evilly and nodded, then zipped past me.

As I let them all inside, I asked Larkin, “What’s that about?”

She chuckled, shaking her head. “We lay in bed for half an hour yesterday coming up with ways to prank you again. She had so much fun with Maya on Saturday, and it’s the happiest I’ve seen her since... the divorce.” Larkin looked down at the ground, clearing her sad expression, and then handed me a bottle of water. “I would have brought you coffee, but my machine busted in the move and it’s going to take two days for my new one to get here.”

“We can’t have that,” I replied, gesturing toward the empty chairs at my table. “Let me make you some.”

“Are you sure?” she asked over a peal of laughter from Emily. She cringed, and I had to laugh.

“Of course,” I said. “Any hints on what’s going on back there?”

Larkin laughed, sitting at the table with Jackson. “Nothing destructive.” She let him stand on his feet and held his hands to keep him up.

“That’s a relief.” I went to the coffee pot in the corner of the kitchen and took out a few bags of ground coffee. “Do you have a preference? Dark roast, blond? I have some vanilla or hazelnut flavored blends as well.”

When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Larkin sitting at the table, haloed by the light coming through the window. Jackson stood on shaky, pudgy legs dressed in denim shorts while hanging on to her hands. The scene belonged in a painting.

Larkin looked over at me, her smile just as bright as the morning light. “Are you a coffee connoisseur?”

“That’s two things cops are experts on, right? Coffee and donuts?”

A laugh fell past her lips, and I fell for the sound. A full, throaty, all-consuming sound that brought a smile to my face. “I guess that’s so,” she said. “Honestly, I’m not picky. Anything hot with caffeine will do.”

“Low standards. Just what I like in a woman.”

She laughed again, and I smiled to myself as I turned, deciding to go with my favorite vanilla blend, roasted at a small coffeeshop in Dallas called Barry’s. While the pot gurgled, Emily came running out of the bathroom, breathless with wisps of brown hair askew.

“Did you fall in?” I teased her.

“No!” she said too fast.

I held back a laugh, half eager, half nervous to see what she’d done in there. Then I noticed the square box stuck into her leggings. Oh boy.

Larkin said to her daughter, “What do you tell Officer Madigan for letting you use his bathroom?”

“Nothing,” I answered, leaning back on my counter. “But you can tell Knox anything you want. I’m off duty.”

Larkin’s cheeks tinged with color while Emily said, “Thank you, Knox.”

The coffee pot sputtered like it had brewed all the water, and I turned to find it full. “How do you take your coffee?” I asked her.

“Sweet,” she replied. “I like a little coffee with my sugar and cream, if you know what I mean.”

Chuckling, I said, “Can do.” I got the milk from my fridge and frothed it, then dropped a spoonful of sugar into a travel mug. After adding the coffee, I poured in the milk, making a heart shape. I handed it without the lid to Larkin so she could see.

Her eyes softened with a smile. “I love this.” She showed her daughter. “Look, Emily, a heart.”

Emily smiled. “Can I have one?”

Larkin said, “I’m sorry hon, I don’t think we have time for him to make a whole new drink.”

“I can do it with hot cocoa next time you’re over,” I supplied.

Larkin adjusted her hands so she could have a free one and still keep Jackson upright.

“I can hold him,” I offered.

“You sure?” she asked.

“Of course.” I walked over to them and scooped him up, making an airplane sound. He giggled happily, sounding so much like his mom. It made me like his laugh even more.

“Higher!” Emily told me.

And I lifted Jackson, flying him through the kitchen while Larkin got situated and took the first sip of her drink. I didn’t miss the way her eyelids fluttered closed or how her throat moved with her swallow.

I brought Jackson down to my chest, his bottom resting on my forearm. “You’re going to be a pilot one day, aren’t you, little flier?”

He just blinked his big eyes up at me and made a sweet babbling sound.

“No words yet,” Larkin said sadly. “Emily could already say nine or ten words at this age.”

I looked down at Jackson, seeing more than a cute little baby. I saw someone who’d lost his dad and his voice along the way. My youngest brother had done the same after our mom passed. He was two at the time and stopped talking completely for months. “You’ll figure it out in your own time, won’t you, buddy?”

Larkin took him from my arms, resting him on her hip. “I hope so.”

Then I said, “Will you all wait while I use the bathroom? I want to say goodbye before you leave.”

Emily said, “Do you poop forever like my daddy does?”

Both Larkin and I burst out laughing, and Larkin coughed a little on her drink.

“It will be a quick one,” I said with a chuckle.

Larkin gave me an amused look while Emily bounced up and down. “Can we wait for him, Mom? Please?”

“Okay,” she said.

I turned and went toward the bathroom, then walked inside looking for Emily’s prank. That was until I lifted the toilet lid and found it wrapped in Saran Wrap.

“Classic,” I chuckled. Then I let out a louder, “OH NO!”

Even from here I could hear Emily’s hysterical laughter.

I carried on while I turned on the sink and splashed water on my shirt and sweats.

Then I went out to the kitchen, where Emily was doubled over from laughing so hard.

“I made a mess of myself, Emily!” I said, gesturing at my wet clothes.

She laughed harder, her face turning red. Even Larkin and Jackson were laughing along now.

I bent over, putting my hands on my knees. “I’m going to get you back, Emily! Better watch out!”

She went to her mom, clinging to her leg, and stuck her tongue out at me before laughing again. When I looked up at Larkin, there was something I couldn’t quite place in her eyes as she mouthed, Thank you.