Page 90 of Love is an Open Book
“It’s open,” I call, and Morris comes in, a six-pack from the local brewery in hand.
“Dear lord in heaven, what am I seeing right now?” he asks, setting the bottles down. “Blink twice if you’re in danger.”
“Shut up.” I lay a calming hand on Ash’s gray head as Mama Cat slinks into the room. She’s still nervous, but starting to follow the little ones’ lead and explore. “You’re just jealous.”
“I am, actually.” He sits down on the coffee table and reaches out a tentative hand toward Ash, who sniffs it, then sneezes. Morris pulls back his hand with a grimace. “Did they get all their shots?”
“They’re fully vaccinated, no thanks to you.”
“I told you,” he says. “I’m not cut out for pet ownership.”
“We’ll see.” The kittens have to go somewhere. They’re cute now, but my one-bedroom house is not about to become a four-pet household.
“Are you gonna keep guilting me about getting you to take these cats? Because I can take this beer and go drink in my garage while I watch the Giants.”
“That’s your team?”
“Why would they not be?”
“You’re from Reno.”
He blinks at me.
“Yeah, okay, that tracks.” I let my head fall back. “Why are you here?”
“Because you missed trivia night.”
“Shoot. I forgot all about it.”
“No shit. Wouldn’t have mattered except Riley stood me up since that guy she’s been texting finally asked her out.”
“What about Carlos?” He’s actually good at trivia, and I think he gets tired of playing with scrubs.
“Once he saw it was just me, he jumped ship. Apparently, he didn’t trust me to answer anything since I, quote, ‘just show up to heckle people.’”
“Do you not?”
“I sure as hell do,” he says. “But I can’t very well heckle teammates who aren’t there.”
“So you decided to bother me at home instead?”
He fetches pint glasses from the kitchen. “I came to check in on you and find out what’s really going on with Mia.” Elbowing the cabinet shut, he says, “First she sleeps over, now you’re skipping trivia night. I was expecting to find you here with her, but instead I found—” he makes a vague gesture at me and the kittens “—whatever the hell this is.”
Wallowing, but I’m not about to admit it. Instead, I frown at him, which is hard, given the purring kitten on my shoulder.
“Don’t get me wrong, she put on a good show.” He passes me a beer. “But if I suck at trivia, your weakness is lying.”
“Not being able to lie isn’t a weakness.”
“It is if you’re a spy.” Can’t argue with that. “Or y’know, a dude who wants to keep a secret.”
I don’t, though. I would shout it from the rooftops if Mia wanted to be with me. Would it suck to hear Scott’sI told you so? Not at all, if it meant having her. “She’s the one who wanted to keep it a secret. She wasn’t ready. Won’t ever be ready, I don’t think.”
Morris takes a swig of his beer. “Did she tell you that or did you tell her that?” He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “And don’t give me that actions-are-louder-than-words bullshit.”
“She told me we should go back to being friends.” Even though I laid it out there as matter-of-factly as possible, he flinches.
“Well, damn.”
