Page 86 of Duty and Desire

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I stutter stepped to a halt.

“What?”

He stopped and looked over his shoulder and down his bulk at me.

“What, what?”

“The next best thing?” I asked.

“Can we get the shopping done?” he asked back.

I started moving again, and when Mo moved with me, I kept at him. “What do you mean the next best thing?”

“You saw her new man.”

“Yeah.”

He said no more.

“And?” I pushed.

“Let’s not do this,” he said on a sigh.

“Do what?”

“Go there.”

“Go where?”

He stopped again and looked up at me.

“I’m a guy, Lottie, and even I can see he’s better lookin’ than me,” he stated firmly.

I stared at him.

“He also makes more money than me,” Mo continued. “He’s an attorney.”

That explained a lot, but only about the boyfriend and his apparel choices for a shopping expedition at King Soopers on a Sunday.

The rest was still unexplainable.

“She moved on fromyouto anattorney?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

I busted out laughing.

And I did this so hard, I slapped him on the shoulder blade to work some of it out.

“That’shilarious!” I cried.

“It’s really not,” he said.

I ignored him. “Ohmigod. What an idiot. You dump her and?—”

“She dumped me.”

I stopped laughing and started staring at him again.

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