Page 20 of The Delivery

“No and yes,” he says, pulling out a folded piece of paper. “He signed off on a week. I told him it was for community service. So that makes you a community, and I came to Michigan to service you.” His smile is ridiculous, both gorgeous and flirty. He adjusts his pack again and groans. That thing looks really heavy.

“I’ll just stay in a shelter or something. I’m used to finding a place to sleep on the lam. It’s only fair that I help you, Lana. You’ve already helped me so much.”

I feel woozy at his words, and my heart swells like a Pillsbury oven time lapse sequence with something that feels like pride.

“Mozey, I get paid to help you. That’s what I do at my job.”

He looks down at the floor and shifts his feet. He nods his head and pulls the beanie off, and his hair cascades over his face. I look up in time to see Lexi’s reaction. He’s impressed with the hair; I knew he would be. Lex and I used to listen to some hair bands way back in the day. We pretended to shake it even though we never had quite the right hair or attitude to shake.

“You can stay with us. For as long as we have the house, which might not be much longer. We’re fighting the bank at this point, and they just want us out,” Lex says out of the blue all on his own. My brother who never has a voice, who I’ve spent my whole life trying to wrangle words from. Who feeds me his empty shrugs and vacant stares in response, has a whole goddamned sentence for Mozey. Not to mention, an impressive one.

Fuck! Thank you, asshole brother. But at the same time, THANK YOU. I would have never had the nerve to invite him myself.

I’m wearing my grandmother’s jacket, which is decidedly dowdy, and I’m gross from flying and a late night of packing. But somehow with Mozey, I don’t feel self-conscious about my looks, about my weirdo brother, his junker car or my crazy parents and arriving at their run-down house. I’m sure he’s seen worse, and he’s probably seen better, but for the first time in my fucked up life, I feel like I can let my guard down around a man. Maybe it’s something about his ease with Lex or maybe it’s the fact he practically crossed the whole country in defiance to stand by my side. Or maybe it’s because he’s so hot that if I tried to keep my guard up, the stress from his hotness might make me pop a damn hormone.

CHAPTER 10

The three of us make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our family kitchen and drink glasses of milk. We’re whispering and licking our fingers and watching the sunrise over our backyard with a rusted May pole and a sagging, old clothesline. It feels like in the few hours we’ve been together Lexi and Mozey have become fast friends. And that’s even stranger than unusual because my brother has never had any friends.

I drum my fingers and pick my cuticles, nervous about my parents waking up and what the hell we’ll say to them. These two are laughing and talking video games like they’ve known each other for years.

“What do you say we tell Mom and Dad that Mozey is your friend?” I try to sound casual and then down some milk to compensate.

This gets both of their attention, and they stop talking and stare at me, trying to guess where I’m going with this.

“My mom and dad might get the wrong idea if they think you’re here with me. Maybe you could be Lexi’s friend from school? It would make it easier on me.”

“Sure,” Mozey says with the lightest hint of a smile.

“I’ve never really brought anyone home before,” I say finally to qualify what I mean. It’s humiliating to say it, not just because it’s the truth but it also forces us to admit that Mozey coming all this way sort of implies something. “I mean, it’s not like I brought you, but we’ve got to say something.”

Lexi nods at me solemnly, and Mozey just smiles.

“Lex, are we lovers at college or just study partners?” he asks, hitting him playfully on the back.

Mozey adapts to the lie without question, instantaneously. Really adapts, like at a frightening pace. He can obviously do bullshit, and from the looks of it, he likes doing it too. Lexi is caught so off guard he might choke on his sandwich.

“What do we study? Hell, where do we go? Or we could just be buddies from the gym—that way I won’t have to know anything about school.”

Lexi is processing, and it’s painful to watch. This must be hard from him because friendship is one thing he just doesn’t do. And, my brother, couldn’t fool anyone for even an instant that he’d ever stepped foot in a gym. He’s a skinny schlub, he’s a pale pansy, he’s what they call a man of the spirit and not, just not, of the flesh.

But Mozey is all body, and at the mention of the gym, my eyes scan his broad shoulders and his biceps that are hugged tightly by any shirt he wears. As usual my mind scans right over undressing him to imagining him naked, erect, reaching those strong arms out for me. Please, stop it, Lana. You’re sick.

“Gym friends—you’re his trainer.” I speed out as fast as I can. “You two hit it off, and you were already coming this way. You’re a wrestling coach and your name is Cruz and you really like the ladies.”

“And I smoke Newports and drink wine coolers. I’m not Mexican, just a white guy with a killer tan,” Mozey adds, smiling.

“And you have a motorcycle and you like heavy metal.” I’m giddy off no sleep and our dumb joke. Lexi is looking at us like we’re insane or might be loaded on drugs.

“I collect wrenches and lug nuts, and I always smell like grease.”

“Yeah and you love dark beer and rare steak and sleeping naked. And you snack on apricots for iron.” I’m tired and punchy, and I could probably riff with Mozey all night.

Mozey doesn’t answer, and both him and Lexi stare at me.

“Apricots? I don’t even know who you are, Doc. I like you better already in Michigan,” Mozey says, looking at me with eyes so brightly lit it makes me feel like we’re both plugged into the same electrical wire.

“Apricots,” Mozey repeats and chokes on his milk. He laughs so hard it comes out of his nose. I’m laughing too and holding my stomach, feeling both happy and scared enough to puke. I’m giddy when I’m around him, and I feel ridiculously light. Lexi is laughing too and that warms my heart. My brother rarely laughs, so it’s a very special moment.

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