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Like I said, I loved Mo like a brother, but my hackles were starting to rise over the way he was talking about Yael, like anything she was involved in meant mayhem and destruction. Maybe I joked about it sometimes, but that was all it ever was. Mo was serious, and I couldn’t say I liked it too much.
Yael shoved him away again, this time not pulling him back. “Go to hell, Moses. You trust me enough to watch your child, but not spend the weekend with your bestie? Seriously? I’m not a walking atomic bomb.” She kicked her feet and waved her arms, then pinched her cheeks. “I’m a real live girl, see?”
The facts she threw down instantly took the wind out of Mo’s sails. “Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right. Sorry, Ya-Ya.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “If you were really sorry, you would never call me that again.”
He smirked. “Well, I’m notthatsorry.”
She shoved him again. “Can I go back to bed now?”
His fingers wrapped around her wrist. “You can, after you promise not to break Murray. He’s not one of the preppy-ass clichés you like to flip inside out then discard, you know?”
Her eyes met mine, a smile without any mirth curving her lips. “Sure, I promise not to ruin Alex. I know he’s your little delicate flower you’ve got to protect with all your might, and I’m the big, bad giant, stomping through the garden. I get it, Moses.” She swiveled on the balls of her feet, hurrying for the door. “Good day, sirs.”
Then she was gone, and like always, I was slightly disoriented, but it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation—not when she was the reason.
Mo propped a hip on my dining table, unfazed by Yael’s overly dramatic exit. “Well, now that I’m here, do you want to grab breakfast?”
Mo ordered an omelet, and I couldn’t turn down the stuffed French toast. I’d always miss living in Baltimore, but nothing compared to New York diner breakfast. I was lucky enough to live near one with clientele mostly old enough not to know Unrequited, so anonymity was another perk.
“How’s the kid?” I asked.
Mo swallowed and wiped his mouth. “Good. She’s sleeping this week, so all is right with the world.”
I laughed. “This week?”
“Yep. She keeps us guessing. Some nights, she’ll party in her crib until the sun rises; others, it’s like we drug her.” He lifted a shoulder. “My sister-in-law keeps trying to sell us on that adage ‘the days are long, but the years are short,’ like that helps when I haven’t slept for thirty hours.”
I had to wince. “Shit. Babies are no joke.”
“Nope. Not for the faint of heart.”
“But you wouldn’t change it.”
That made him laugh. “Hell yes, I’d change it. I mean, I’d keep the baby because she rules me and she’s the single most perfect creature in existence, but if I got to put in requests, I’d add a few extra hours of sleep.”
I dipped my spoon into my coffee, swirling milk into the steaming, black liquid.
“One wonders why you appeared at my apartment at eight in the morning when you’re lacking so much sleeping.”
Mo raised a brow. “One?”
I poked my chest with my thumb. “Me. I’m ‘one.’”
He took a second to answer, releasing a long exhale. “I’m not blind. I’ve never been blind. You have some kind of feelings for Yael, and maybe something happened between you in the past, maybe not.” When I opened my mouth to speak, he stopped me by miming zipped lips. “I don’t want to know. I really don’t. But I have to draw this firm line and tell you I don’t want the two of you to get any more mixed up than you already are.”
“It’s just a weekend away.” I wasn’t going to touch any of the rest of it. It wasn’t like I could put into words whatever feelings I had for Yael anyway.
Mo nodded once. “Good. If that’s all it is, all it’s gonna be, then good.”
“It is.”
We took a minute to eat without talking much. Mo knew all my shit, just as I knew his, but Yael had always been the one topic neither of us broached. Clearly, he wasn’t as blind to thisthingfor her I couldn’t seem to shake.
“How’s your dad?” he asked.
“Good. It got a little rough for a while, but he’s doing better. We were out at the skate park yesterday and all was pretty much right with the world.”
