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I stand up without saying another word and head straight toward the kitchen to get Mo.
When I peek my head in the swinging door, I crane it inward slightly like a turtle tucking into its protective shell. I’m not sure how crazy I think my sister might get, but I know for a fact there are a lot of sharp objects back here.
“Mo?” I call out when she doesn’t instantly pop out of a corner and take a machete to my neck.
Vinny is the first to see me, and the expression on his face—well, let’s just call it disbelieving. “You didn’t get enough the first time, bro? Are you crazy?”
“Yes. I definitely am. Because I just talked with Brooke, and she wants to meet her.”
Mo’s head pops out from the walk-in freezer like a cartoon jack-in-the-box. I swear her head doesn’t even look attached to the rest of her body. “What?” she asks, her voice horribly high-pitched and frightening.
“Brooke said she wants to meet you. Come on.”
Mo’s legs move like a sprinter out of the gate, and I have to grab her by the elbow before she goes running out the door and crawls right in my star author’s lap. “Listen, this is really nice of her to do. I need you to be cool.”
“Oh yeah. No problem,” Mo says, bobbing and weaving to get around me at the same time.
I grab her other elbow and pull her to a stop in front of me, engaging my most serious of brotherly voices. “No, Mo. Really. I need you to be cool, please.”
“I’m ice, baby brother, swear.”
I look deep into her midnight-blue eyes, studying them for a long moment for any signs of lasers or, I don’t know, psychosis.
But they look normal enough, and I can’t really justify any more time spent in this kitchen while Brooke Baker sits at a table waiting for me.
“All right, then. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
“Get this over with,” she mocks in the voice of a petulant child. “Why so humdrum about it, Chase?”
“Because this woman is extremely important to me.”
She raises her eyebrows, and I roll my eyes. “Extremely important to my career. Remember? I put my ass on the line with my boss over this new book.”
“Well, you can relax. I’m just as in love with Brooke Baker’s writing career as you are. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize your precious book deal.”
On that final note, Mo shoves me all the way out of her path and marches toward Brooke Baker’s table with false confidence. I recognize the fake it till you make it gesture a mile away, likely because I just had a similar performance at my editors’ meeting today.
Like it or not, I can tell we’re siblings without sampling for DNA.
I rush to catch up as she comes to a stop next to a smiling Brooke and sticks out an aggressively friendly hand for a shake. Brooke’s hair swooshes against her shoulders as she postures her head back and forth, climbs from her seat, and pulls my sister in for a hug.
Mo’s body tenses at the same time mine does, but within the span of one deep breath, I can practically see the joy radiating directly off her.
“Oh my God,” I hear her croon sweetly and shyly as I approach the two of them. “I can’t believe Brooke Baker just hugged me.”
“You know, I’ve heard that before, this one time in high school, but the inflection had a little more disgust,” Brooke replies easily, her ability to make any moment humorous uncanny.
“I just…just…” Mo stutters. “I can’t believe I’m really meeting you.” Brooke smiles, and a hint of rosiness warms her cheeks. “I’ve read The Shadow Brothers at least twenty times. Anytime I’m in a rut, I go right back to them.”
“Well, thank you. That means a lot. It really helps to keep you from getting admitted to a padded room when other people enjoy hearing about the voices in your head too.”
My sister laughs, but she also keeps blathering on and on. “I told my brother he had to read your stuff, and I swear, now he’s even more obsessed with you than I am.”
I roll my eyes heavenward.
“Well, sisters are often the wiser ones,” Brooke says teasingly. “Which makes sense. Women in general tend to catch on faster.”
Mo laughs again, and I smile. Brooke’s personality really is magnetic. It’s no wonder her charm translates directly into her writing.
“Well, I’d say he’s convinced now. He pretty much threatened death and dismemberment to his own sister if I came out here and made a fool of him.”
My God, I could strangle her. “I never said that.” I turn directly to Brooke, who’s smirking in a way that makes me squirm. “I never said that, Brooke.” I glare at my sister. “I just didn’t want someone’s excitement to get the better of her and end up launching Brooke’s chair to the moon or something.”
