“Can I clone you?”Mag asked.
“No,” I answered through a smile.
“Bummer,” he muttered through his own smile.
I headed to the stove to grab the greasy skillet, ordering,“Eat.Go take on the mountain.But leave some of it for other nature lovers.”
They did the first part.
But before they took off to do the last, I got warm hugs anda few kisses on the top of my head (this relaying precisely how much it meantto them I gave a shit about Mo, which in turn relayed to me precisely how muchthey loved Mo), and Auggie, the last one out the door, called to me,“Everything’sgonnago good tonight, Lots.But we’llsee you later for the pep talk.”
Later for the pep talk?
“Be cool,” he bid and then the door closed on him.
Again,pep talk?
They were gone, so I couldn’t ask, and they thought I wasawesome, and they might not think that if I ran to the door, opened it andshrieked, “What do you mean, pep talk?Do I need a pep talk?”
So I didn’t do that.
I cleaned the kitchen.
And I tidied the fridge.
All while I waited for Mo.
“Be better if you were in here with me,” Mo groused.
He might be right.
But from where I was sitting on the bathroom counterwatching him in the shower, he wasso very wrong.
“I already took a shower,” I reminded him.
“Another reason we’regonnahavewords,” he muttered irritably.
“Dude, you totally cheated me by falling for me and thencatching the bad guy before I had the chance to sit in the bathroom while youshowered.Throw a girl a bone,” I replied.
His silver eyes turned to me while water sluiced his bigbody, making it all wet and slippery.
“I would, if you got your ass in the fuckin’ shower withme.”
I grinned at him.
He scowled at me and turned back to face the water.
I settled in to enjoy the show.
He’d squirted bodywash in his hands and was rubbing it onhimself when I said, “You know, I have no clue if I would have fallen for youbefore you went into the Army.”
Slowly, his arms crossed on his wide chest, his handssoaping his pits, he stopped moving except he turned his head to look at me.
I kept talking.
“Though my guess, no.Because back then, you wouldn’t be Mo.NotmyMo.The Mo I need you to be.I’m sure you were still awesome.But not as awesome as you are now.And it’s not I’ll take the bad with the goodwhen it comes to dealing with shit, like your dreams.It’s that it’s all good.It’s allyou.It’s who you are and what you did and how you come tome.And I’ll take it all, Mo.Because I want it all.Who you are and what youdid and how you come to me is precisely what I need you to be.”
Mo said nothing and remained unmoving.
