“I’d like to say so, but I think your brother would disagree, as it stands right now.”
“Hm. If he called you for help, he must trust you at least a little bit. Moon is usually a pretty happy guy, and almost always a big pain in the ass, but he doesn’t ask for help a lot. At all, really. If I showed up at his apartment unannounced, I think our relationship would take a huge hit. He hates that shit. You, though? If he called you for help, he’ll probably yell up a storm, but he’d do it after inviting you in. I think, anyway. It’s hard to know if I really know my brother anymore, or if I’m just remembering the old him.”
I thought about what he was saying for a moment. “The old him?”
“The him before he saved Elio that night. I think it fucked him up more than he lets on.”
That, I could absolutely believe. I’d seen it firsthand, even without knowing him before. The emptiness in his eyes looked unnatural, as if it wasn’t meant to be there. Like it was foreign, or at least it hadn’t been that deep before. From what Crescent was saying, I was right.
Looking down at my coffee and muffin, I let the gears turn over in my mind. “What’s his favorite pastry from here?”
Crescent tilted his head to the side. “He likes the lemon poppy seed muffins a lot. Are you going to bring him one?”
“Yeah, maybe the muffin will smooth over my unannounced visit.”
“If you ask Stacy, she’ll give you a little to-go box and a bag so it won’t get wet. I think I have an extra umbrella if you’d like that, too.”
“I’ll be okay, but thanks. And thanks for talking with me during your lunch. How have you and Elio been holding up?”
His face lit up the moment I mentioned Elio, his smile bright and full of so much love, it almost made me jealous. To love and be loved like Crescent obviously loved Elio… “Buying the house and moving here was the best decision we’ve ever made. Elio has been selling a lot of paintings, and he’s just so much happier. We both are. What we went through—well, what he went through, rather—was really fucking hard. And not getting all the answers has also been really hard. But therapy has been going really good. I don’t know what would’ve happened if Moon hadn’t shown up early, and I don’t want to think about it. I just know we’re happy now.”
Crescent had so much light in his eyes, I almost wished he could lend some to Moon. I knew he would in a heartbeat, buthe couldn’t. I’d decided then and there that I’d lend the little bit I still had to Moon instead until he could make his own. “I’m really glad. You two deserve it after everything.”
“Yeah, we do. I won’t ever say I wish Moon hadn’t been there, but I do wish it didn’t hurt him so much. I know it does, and I know he won’t talk to me about it. He deserves happiness, too, you know?”
Nodding, I started to stand from the booth. “I do know. I’m going to go check on him, okay? I’m also going to try to show him some of that happiness if he lets me.”
“Please. He needs a friend who isn’t related to him for once. Or someone who’s more than a friend. Either way works.”
I held my phone out to him with the keypad open so he could type his phone number into it. “Are you trying to set me up with your brother, Crescent?”
He shrugged and handed my phone back. “You can take it however you’d like, Emerson. I think you’d be good for him—if you’re into guys, that is. And single. But friends is good, too. Moon just needs love, whether it's platonic or not.”
To my knowledge, I wasn’t into guys, but I’d never been one to say never. “How about I’ll just be there for him in any way he needs me to be? Does that work?”
“Yeah, that works. As long as you don’t break his heart. You’ve seen what the Millers can do when their loved ones are threatened. It isn’t just Moon.”
“I don’t doubt that for one second.”
Right as I’dleft Muffin Haven, the rain had switched from a light trickle to a full downpour. I’d regretted not takingCrescent’s offer of an umbrella, but Moon didn’t live too far away. His apartment complex was barely a walk, almost right by the bakery.
My phone started buzzing in my back pocket just as I’d made it outside the complex. Running to the covered parking, I juggled the to-go bag and my coffee into one hand, pulling it out of my pocket. I’d be pissed if it was Moon calling and I’d missed it.
But no, it was just Olivia. Nosy, wonderful, instigating Olivia. “Ol, this isn’t a good time, babe.”
She groaned immediately, sighing loudly. “It’s never a good time with you! Where are you? Shouldn’t you be home asleep?”
“If you thought I was home asleep, why are you calling me?”
“Wow. What if I had an emergency, huh?”
“It isn’t.”
“No, it isn’t, but I was really hoping you’d be nicer about it.”
I leaned against the pole that held the metal covering up. “Listen, I’m seriously too busy right now. Can I call you back later?”
She hummed, giving the illusion that she was actually thinking about it. “Even better, how about I call you in, say, two hours? You have a habit of not calling back when you say you will.”
