I’d play her game, be her friend, wait her out. She wasn’t giving me much choice.
“Deal. Can I tell you you’re sexy?”
“Yes. But only because I’m vulnerable and feel weird about my body.” Her hands covered her stomach beneath the water. “I did like when you pet me like a Buddha.”
“Anytime, Mic. I just hope I’m the only one doing the petting.”
“I can’t keep my niece, Vanessa, away from my belly. But she’s more guarding it with her life than admiring the roundness.”
I laughed. “She the one who was dancing with you last time I was out here?”
“That’s her. She’s nine, and intense in the same way Rosa is.”
Michaela and I stayed in the pool for a while, and she told me about each of her nieces and nephews. She probably thought it was a safe, friendly topic, but she couldn’t see herself when she talked about them. Her eyes got warm. Her cheeks turned rosy. I really couldn’t think of anything more beautiful.
Eventually, we got out of the pool and sat in lounge chairs under an umbrella. Michaela had brought snacks out with her—gingersnaps and Goldfish. She laid on her side, facing me while she ate cookies.
“What’s the deal with the gingersnaps?” I asked.
“I told you, they’re a craving.”
“And the Goldfish?”
She grinned. “Prepping for the kid life. I hear they’re all the rage in preschools.”
“So, you stole them from your brother’s house?”
“Busted!” She laughed. “My entire first apartment would fit inside their pantry. They won’t go starving from the food I occasionally pilfer, I promise.”
“Do they ever wonder why they’re so flush with Goldfish when you’re on tour?”
“Maybe. I think they know the truth, though, and buy extra when I come back to town.”
Reaching out, I grazed my knuckles over her stomach again. I wanted to touch her in other places, even her damn hand, but I didn’t know how she’d react.
“I like knowing you’re a snack thief. Makes me feel less inadequate,” I said.
“Mo” —she wrapped her index finger around mine— “you definitely shouldn’t feel inadequate around me. Working is the only thing I’m really good at. Life…I’m still figuring it out. If it weren’t for my brother’s pantry, I’d probably live on tap water and random pieces of candy that end up in the bottom of my purse.”
I linked another finger around hers. “I kinda like knowing you’re half hot-mess. You still intimidate the hell out of me.”
She blinked a few times. “That’s because most of our acquaintance has taken place while I was in work mode. Just wait, a few months of knowing me this way, you won’t be nearly as impressed. You’ll probably be begging me to sign those divorce papers.”
“Thought we weren’t talking about that,” I gritted out. I fucking hated the D-word coming out of her mouth. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
She lifted a shoulder. “I wasn’t being serious. If we can’t laugh at the absurdity of the situation we’ve gotten ourselves into, then we’re pretty damn lame.”
“Why is this absurd?” Maybe Iwaslame, but I wasn’t at the point of treating this like it was one big joke.
Michaela sighed. “We’re laying by my brother’s pool, eating Goldfish. Me and you. Michaela Ashwood and Moses Aronson.”
“I don’t get it.”
She shrugged again. “It’s just the idea of the two of us is so crazy, if you would have told me months ago we’d be here, I would’ve known you were trippin’ on something real good and asked you to share.”
“Michaela! Are you out here?” a feminine voice called from somewhere in the yard.
Her eyes went wide. “It’s my mom. If you don’t want to meet her, hide.”