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With a heavy sigh, I picked up my phone, and under Dad’s watchful glare, answered it.
“Hey.”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me.” He cleared his throat. “Are you at your dad’s place?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m coming over.”
“No.” I wasn’t ready for this conversation. Not even close. “No, Dad doesn’t need visitors.”
Mo released a low, wry laugh. “As much as I love Brian, I’m not coming to see him.”
“He’s private, Mo. I can’t have you coming to his place.”
Dad smacked my arm with his good hand. “Stop being a shit. Mo can come here.” He twisted his face in consternation. “What’s up with you?”
“I heard that. I’m actually downstairs. Tell the doorman to let me through,” Mo said.
Defeated by my best friend and my own father, I said I would, then sent a message to the lobby, letting them know Mo was a guest.
My dad eyed me warily. “Why weren’t you letting him come up? What the hell’s going on with you?”
My head fell forward, tangled knots hanging over my face. “A lot.”
“Did you have a falling out with the band?” he pressed.
“Something like that.”
I walked to the door, turning the knob at Mo’s first knock. He strode in without looking at me, but I saw him, tired and slightly disheveled. Tired was his normal look these days with the baby, but he was normally pretty slick with his style. Seeing him in sweats and messy hair was pretty unheard of.
He went straight to Dad, and my dad didn’t hesitate to pull him into a hug.
“Good seeing you, boy.”
Mo pulled back, his hands on Dad’s shoulders. “You too. Murray said you weren’t too keen on visitors or I would have been by.”
“I haven’t been myself the past couple months, but I’m getting back there.” Dad’s eyes flicked to mine. “But my son should know you count as family. I’d never mind you coming by.”
“In that case, I’ll be back with Simone when you’re up for it.”
Dad grinned. “I’m up for it. I miss seeing that girl.” He squeezed Mo’s forearm. “I’m going to head to my office for a while now that you’re here to entertain Murray. Hope you two can put things to rights.”
He shuffled off, steadier than he had been in a while. Mo and I watched him go, and I could tell from his pinched expression he was surprised at Dad’s condition.
“Why didn’t you tell me Brian was struggling so much?” he asked as soon as Dad had closed his office door.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really like to put those words out in the universe. It’s most likely temporary anyway. He’ll get back to his normal soon.”
Mo rocked back on his heels, his chest heaving in and out, head tipping back to stare at the living room ceiling. “You can’t do this, Murray,” he gritted.
“Do what?”
“Disappear from life. It’s unacceptable.”
“Really?” I gestured wildly around me. “I kind of thought being with my dadwasmy life.”
He looked at me then, and under his concern was a simmering fury. Yeah, a week hadn’t lessened his anger over me getting with his sister. Not in the least.
