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Layla's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. "What did he say?"

"He explained everything. The notebook was a draft. The house details are setting research. The birthday jokes were—" Hakeem rubbed his face with both hands. "He said they were a deflection. Because he didn't know what to do with what he was feeling… about me. Us."

Layla went very still. "What he was feeling about you."

"He said his attention reorganizes itself around me. I’m disruptive. To his work and concentration and everything, Layla." He waved a hand vaguely at the concept of Antonio's interior life.

"Hakeem."

"I know."

"That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard, and I once dated a poet."

"It gets worse."

"How does it get worse?"

Hakeem looked at her. He could feel the sentence building in his mouth, the one that would likely change the shape of Layla's entire week.

"He got a package the first few weeks I moved in. He took it without explaining."

Layla waited for him to continue.

"It had to be addressed to his pen name, right? Why else would he be cagey about it? Toni Sanchez." He watched her face. "Antonio Sanchez."

Layla's hands went to her mouth.

For three full seconds, she did not move. Her blue eyes were enormous above her fingers. The candle on the kitchen counter flickered once, a silent witness.

She dropped her hands.

"Hakeem."

"I know."

"Hakeem."

"I know!"

"You have been living with Toni Sanchez."

"Yes, Layla."

"Toni Sanchez, whose book made me cry at the bar. Toni Sanchez, who I said would about. Toni Sanchez, who has zero online presence because he's been standing in your kitchen, making you tinga."

"I am aware of the situation, Layla."

"You accused Toni Sanchez of trying to murder you!"

Hakeem put his face in his hands. "Can you please stop saying the name?"

"I will never stop saying the name. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to someone I know." She grabbed his wrist and pulled one hand away from his face. "Wait. You said he admitted to having feelings for you!"

"He said his attention reorganized itself around me."

Layla stared at him. "That is the most Toni Sanchez sentence anyone has ever spoken out loud."

"Yeah, well, it destroyed me. I am destroyed." Hakeem said with complete sincerity.