Page 99 of Moonlighter
She swallows. “Maybe I could take a short break. Thank you.”
“Right this way,” I say, turning around so that the victory won’t show on my face. “There’s also a cherry pie.”
I’m only about three paces down the hall when Alex passes me, galloping toward her kitchen.
Ten minutes later,every surface of that marble kitchen is covered with open food containers. I’ve filled my own plate twice already. But Alex is like the Tasmanian devil of gourmet food, doing laps around the kitchen island, sampling everything again with each pass.
“I need to get a grip,” she says, shoving a meatball in her mouth. “But my life is a dumpster fire. Did Max tell you? Someone stole the data off my phone.”
“Yeah,” I say slowly. “I heard that.”
She shoves an olive in her mouth and sighs. “Someone broke into my apartment, Eric. Herepelled off the roofinto my kitchen window. Then he swapped my phone charger for a spy device. And did I even notice?Nope!I just plugged in my phone last night. And when it asked me if I wanted to install a new peripheral, I justclicked right on through. Then I went to sleep.”
“Okay, wow,” I say softly. “Must have been creepy to realize that someone invaded your space.”
Her cheeks are bright pink. “I screamed like a horror movie cheerleader. The guard wasn’t in his chair where I could see him, and the phone was unplugged. I was positive that the zombie apocalypse had begun without me.”
“That sounds like a fun morning.”
She nods, chewing. “And how was your day?”
The samosa I’m holding pauses on the way to my mouth. It’s weird, but I haven’t thought about my own dumpster fire since I picked up Duff’s call. “My day was okay, I guess.” I clear my throat. Alex waits for me to answer, one hand on her rounded belly. And I just want to take her straight to bed. Is it weird that her pregnant body is making me crazy? “I have some big decisions to make pretty soon,” I admit.
“Oh.” Her face falls. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not even a little bit.”
She regards me for a moment. Then she sets her plate down with a contented sigh. “I ate a lot. Even for me. Thank you for being a good friend.”
Ouch. Back in the friend zone again. “I did it for Duff, honestly. He’s polishing up his résumé out in the hall right now.”
She rubs that belly. “I’ll apologize to him. I apologize a lot lately.” She carries her plate to the sink and rinses it off.
I start closing up all the packages we opened. “I hope this all fits in your fridge. Where is your fridge, by the way?” Every gleaming red panel looks the same.
“Here.” She touches a panel and it slides open to reveal a giant refrigerator.
“Huh. No problem, then. Want to watch a movie or something?”
Alex dries her hands on a dish towel. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I had to hang those shelves. It’s harder than it looks, though. The nails didn’t want to stay in the walls. So I had to use screws, and a thing called…a micky?”
“A molly?”
“Right! That. But you need a drill, which I borrowed from the super. And then I drilled two holes that weren’t level.” She throws the dish towel onto the counter. “But now I think I’m on the right track. It might take me another half hour. And then maybe I could watch a movie?”
“Okay,” I say easily. She still looks strung out to me. But maybe the food will help.
“There might be beer in my fridge. I usually have some in there for when my dad stops by. Help yourself?” She pads out of the kitchen and heads back toward the baby’s room.
I go to the foyer and open the front door.
Duff looks up. He’s holding an empty take-out container. “Hey! How’s it going in there?”
“Good,” I say, taking the container from his hands. “Why don’t you take the night off? Go to the gym. Go out for a beer. I’ll hold down the fort.”
“Really?” His eyes widen. “I’ve worked a lot of hours this weekend because Max is a little freaked, too.”
“Is he now?” I don’t know why I like hearing that my brother is capable of panic. It makes him more human, I guess.
