Things We Never Got Over

Stef offers to take both Naomi and Waylay to the Whiskey Clipper for makeovers. Stef is intrigued by Jeremiah, one of the stylists. While Waylay is getting her hair styled, she tells Stef and Naomi that her hair is so short and roughly cut because her mother cut it that way as a punishment. Naomi understands that her sister took Waylay’s pride from her. Knox, who is at the shop, assures Waylay that her aunt Naomi is not like that, and she should come get him if anyone ever picks on her again. Naomi is impressed and aroused: “The man’s hotness just escalated into underwear-melting hotness” (192). Determined to free herself of her baggage, Naomi has her hair cut “stylish and short” (195), losing the long hair that Warner insisted on her having. On impulse, she emails her parents and tells them about their granddaughter.

Naomi goes to work feeling 10 years younger with her new hairstyle. She finds out there is a high-stakes poker game in the bar’s backroom. The men are wealthy, and the tips are good. Naomi, dressed in a short skirt, works the room with enthusiasm. Among the players is Lucien, a childhood friend of Knox’s with whom he has a volatile relationship. Knox bursts into the room and demands Naomi follow him outside. He tells her he wants her out of that room and pins her between himself and the door. She feels intense desire. They are about to kiss when Knox’s phone rings.

His brother arrives at the bar. Nash goes back to the poker game to make sure there is no trouble between Knox and Lucien, and Lucien assures him all is quiet. He even jokes he is there to help the Morgan brothers “bury the hatchet” (208). To make his point, Lucien invites Knox to dinner the following night. Before he leaves, Nash confides in Knox that Tina is running with a boyfriend who is trying to set up a massive stolen goods enterprise in the Washington area.

Later, after Knox has a drink, he returns to the poker game. He was worried about Naomi but he finds Naomi now at the table. She is playing with a stack of chips she has already won. She plays a high straight and wins $22,000. All the players at the table, enchanted by Naomi, pitch in their winnings as well. Naomi departs with an unhappy Knox.

Twenty-two thousand dollars richer, Naomi returns to complete her shift at Honky Tonk. She asks Lucien why Knox and his brother always seem at odds. Lucien assures Naomi the brothers are opposite types and that they are both stubborn. He tells her their fallout started back when Knox won the lottery and offered his brother a chunk of his winnings to do with as he pleased. Objecting to being considered a charity case, Nash took the money and donated it to the police department, which used the money to build a new police station.

Naomi receives a phone call from Stef: Nash was shot on duty and was rushed to the hospital. Naomi heads to the hospital. There, Knox tells her to go home and that he wants to find “the motherfucking bastard who did this to [his] brother” (223). Overwhelmed, Naomi hugs Knox and tells him that the feud with his brother over the lottery winnings is absurd and that they are both “idiots.” When Knox goes to see his brother after he comes out of surgery, he kisses Naomi as he departs.

In the hospital, Knox tells his brother, still dopey after surgery, that Naomi thinks their feud over money is asinine. He leaves when his brother drifts off to sleep. Knox meets Lucien, and the two try to figure out who shot Nash. They find out it was a routine traffic stop and that Nash was left for dead by the side of the road. The two friends vow to find out who did it. Knox departs the hospital.

Naomi is awakened by Knox pounding at her door. Knox is in no mood for small talk: The two kiss, his “mouth hard and demanding” (240). Naomi does not resist. He begins to probe between her legs, their clothes drop off, and Naomi is stunned by Knox’s erection, which is “arousing and intimidating” (243). He performs oral sex on Naomi and it’s “pure magic.” Her body explodes in the first of a string of orgasms. She guides him inside her, the two make love furiously, and they both orgasm.

The next morning, Naomi cannot believe a very naked Knox is sound asleep next to her. She remarks that “he looked so peaceful and so sexy” all at once (250). As she makes coffee, there is a knock at the door. Her parents, Amanda and Lou, stand there; they could not wait to meet their granddaughter. As Naomi lets them in, Knox, still naked, comes to the stairs to see what the noise is. Amanda stares approvingly at Knox.

Naomi introduces Knox and assures her mother and father that they are not in love. “You raised a smart, beautiful, stubborn woman” (255), Knox says when he returns from dressing. Naomi pulls Knox out to the porch to tell him they need to at least pretend to be in a relationship. Before they can talk about what to do, the CPS caseworker arrives.

Knox enjoys the idea of pretending to be in a relationship to help Naomi out of a jam. He heads over to the police department to get an update on his brother. There are no leads on the car Nash pulled over, save that it was stolen, and the driver/shooter got away. He returns to Naomi’s where Stef is conducting an impromptu lunch with free-flowing liquor. Naomi takes Waylay to the nearby creek for a swim.

Amanda pulls Knox out to the porch for a chat. Her daughter, she tells him, has never been impetuous; she has never been anything but predictable. She always takes care of others and never thinks about herself. Her ex-fiancé always took advantage of her willingness to let others control her.

Amanda and Lou fall in love with their granddaughter, and they admire her spunk given that her mother had abandoned her. When Knox sees Naomi emerge from the creek where she was swimming with Waylay, he is mesmerized. She kisses him, and slips her hand around his growing erection. She promises him much more later.