Page 25 of Yours to Lose
“Hallie’s sister?” Elliot drops the half of a bagel he picked up and screws up his face like he’s thinking.
“Are you friends with her or something?” Cooper takes a bite of his bagel and chews thoughtfully.
“Or something,” I mumble through a mouthful of bagel.
Noah sets his plate on the coffee table and swings his legs up, crossing them and resting his elbows on his knees, ready for story time. “Yeah, I’m going to need more information than that.”
I shrug and take a sip of my coffee. “It’s really nothing. I ran into her when I was at Ben and Hallie’s a few weeks ago to meet the twins.” I give Elliot a pointed look. “You know, the trip Jeremy kidnapped me for because you gave him a fucking key to my apartment.”
Elliot shrugs, unbothered. “Got you there, didn’t it?”
“And apparently it got you talking to Jo Evans,” Cooper says. “Elaborate please.”
“The house was fucking loud, and I needed a break, so I ended up going to their backyard for a while and Jo was out there. We talked.”
“Talked ortalked?” Noah makes air quotes around the secondtalkedand waggles his eyebrows.
I shove his shoulder and he has to stop himself from toppling off the couch. Serves him right. “Just talked. Like normal people. Then I ran into her the next day. I went to the museum, and she works there.” I leave out the fact that I was sitting on the bench staring up at the museum like a weirdo and that when she offered me her hand to stand up, the jolt that went up my arm shocked the fuck out of me. Again. That’s nobody’s business but my own.
“She showed me some cool stuff and we talked a little more. Apparently, she’s coming to New York for the summer for work, so she asked me for my number. She’s been texting.”
“You’re not ignoring her texts or doing that thing you do where you only give one-word responses, are you? Jordan, baby, that’s really not polite.” I almost fall off the couch myself when my mom’s voice fills the room. My gaze flies around the room like I’m somehow expecting to see her standing somewhere in my apartment. My brothers all collapse into hysterical laughter, and Noah holds up his phone, my mom’s face filling the screen.
“You called mom?” I growl. Fucking great.
“For heaven’s sake don’t growl. Noah, give Jordan the phone.”
“No.” I cross my arms and glare at the screen.
Noah holds out the phone, tears of laughter streaming down his face. “Sorry, I just thought she would want to know that her oldest son finally smiled. It’s a big milestone.”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, taking the phone.
“What?” I ask, looking into my mom’s smiling face. Her bright red glasses sit on her nose, and her signature red hair curls wildly around her face. I can’t deny that seeing her settles something inside of me, even while I’m irritated as shit that she now knows what’s going on. It’s important to disseminate information to my mom judiciously.
“Nothing, baby, I’m just proud of you that you’re finally smiling, and I love when you boys are all together. I won’t be around forever, and it makes me happy to know that you’ll always have each other.”
I roll my eyes, well used to her antics. “You know discussing your impending death isn’t all that effective when you’re a fifty-five-year-old tennis playing Zumba instructor right?”
“Be that as it may, you look lighter than you’ve looked in a while honey, and I’m happy to see it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m hanging up now. I have some brothers to kill. You really should have stopped after me. Why mess with perfection?”
“Holy fucking shit,” Noah breathes. “He made a joke. Quick, someone, write down the date and time.”
“I marked it on the calendar,” my mom says. Elliot snorts out a laugh and Cooper kicks him in the back, presumably to get him to stop, but then he collapses back into hysterical laughter too.
“There are literally none of you who I don’t hate right now,” I say, glowering at all of them. “I’m hanging up now. Go find someone else to bother.”
I hit the end button and glare at all three of my brothers. “Was that really necessary?”
“Maybe not, but it sure was funny as fuck.” Elliot wipes under his eyes, still chuckling.
“She’s been worried about you,” Cooper says patiently. “This was good for her to see.”
I sigh, feeling the weight of her worry settle on my shoulders. I know it’s her job to worry, but it’s been so fucking hard over the last two years not to feel smothered by it. It’s why I’m here and not in Boston.
“So what have you and Jo been texting about?” Noah reaches for my phone like he’s about to hop right into my texts and see for himself. I slap his hand away and shove the phone between the couch cushions.
