He skips ahead of me. The break room is semi-full, and I tell everyone hi in under a second. Then I direct Moffy into the storage room, no employees in sight.
He hops on a cardboard box, sitting next to an old Magneto cutout that used to be in the window. My puny arm starts to give out, so I put Luna in a box of Iron Man plushies. She hugs one and starts giggling.
I call Lo and press the speaker button while it dials.
“Why are you so red?” Moffy asks. “Are you sick?” He tries to reach up and touch my forehead.
“I’m not sick.” I sit in front of him, phone ringing, Luna in a box of plushies beside me. “I flush for a lot of different reasons, but none are bad.” Don’t be worried about me. It’s my job to worry about him. I brush his dark brown hair off his forehead. He needs a haircut soon. “Moffy…?”
“Yeah, Mommy.”
“I’m okay. I’m your mommy, and I worry about you so much. But you never have to worry about me. Your job is to play, be the big brother to Luna, read comic books and run around the yard. The last thing you need to do is worry about me.”
His face falls. “But I love you.”
I wipe the corners of my eyes.
“Don’t cry, Mommy!” He rubs my face with all of his fingers.
I just realize that the phone stopped ringing. “Lily?”
My heart sinks. “Lo?”
I hear papers rustle, drawers slamming, and maybe the jingling of keys. “Where are you?”
He heard a lot. “Nonono, you don’t have to leave work.”
“Daddy, Mommy’s crying.”
“It’s okay, bud. Where are you at?”
“Superheroes—”
“I’m not crying anymore. I shed one tear!” I tell Lo. I also put my hand in the Luna box. She grabs hold of my fingers with a giggle.
“You could tell me you were flying with Peter Pan, and I’d still leave to come find you.”
I frown at that scenario. “That doesn’t make any sense, Lo. You’re my Peter Pan.
“Maybe not in an alternate universe.”
“I don’t like this.” I hold the phone closer to Moffy’s lips. “Our son told the paparazzi a joke today. Moffy, want to tell Daddy?” Please let him share in my mortification. I don’t want to be alone here. Though, I know I will be the only burnt tomato.
Moffy leans towards the speaker. “What do you call a woman with four legs?”
I hear a soft, Bye, Mr. Hale in the background. “What?”
“Doggy style!” Moffy shouts just like last time.
I hear a bang. “Christ.”
“What happened?”
“This wall came out of nowhere.” He walked into the wall.
I smile.
“Mommy’s smiling!” Moffy narrates.
Lo asks, “Where’d you hear that joke from?”
“Jordan.” A boy down the street. “Isn’t it funny? It’s like Coconut. She’s a girl and she’s a dog.”
My shoulders lower, and I exhale. He has no idea it’s about sex. If there’s a magical wizard watching out for me, thank you for this one. I really needed that. I’m not ready for a huge sex conversation. Moffy didn’t realize that all girls have vaginas until Luna was born, and I wasn’t there when he told Lo, “Mommy’s not the only one with a vagina.”
I kind of wish I was present because it would’ve been a good prep course for the big leagues: the sex talk.
I tell Moffy, “How about we keep that joke just between all of us?”
“Like a secret?”
“Yep.”
Moffy nods in understanding just as the storage door opens. Garrison Abbey slips inside, black shirt and black jeans. Since he no longer works at Superheroes & Scones, his sudden appearance seems less like a coincidence.
“Lo,” I say into the phone, “you didn’t tell Garrison, did you?”
“Tell me what?” Garrison stands by an old, dusty comic stand.
Moffy leaps off the box and runs towards Garrison. “Uncle Garrison!” He gives Garrison a cool secret handshake.
“Never mind,” I say to Garrison about the same time Lo says, “What?”
I realize Lo wouldn’t send Garrison, out of everyone, to check up on me. We check up on Garrison—it’s how it’s always been. And we told Moffy to start calling him uncle about the minute Garrison moved in with us. There was a chance he’d never be with Willow long-term, but we knew Garrison would always be a part of our family, no matter what.
“I have to go,” I tell Lo.
“I’ll see you soon, love.” After quick I love yous we hang up on one another.
Garrison walks closer to me, Moffy trying to mimic him step-for-step like Garrison is his best friend. “I need your help on something.” It’s why he’s here.
I tickle the Luna box, and she tugs my finger with another giggle. “What can I do?”
Garrison sips his Lightning Bolt! energy drink and gestures to the cardboard boxes labeled The Fourth Degree. Freshly plastic-wrapped comics in each, all extras to replenish shelves or too obscure to take up shelf space.
“I need every comic that has Sorin-X. There are too many issues and spin-offs now. Honestly, I just don’t have time to go through all of them.”
I don’t ask why he needs them yet. I pick myself off the floor. “Moffy, there’s a little Luna in a box—”
“I got her, Mommy.” He goes to the Luna box and plays with his sister. I was in full-on make this sound fun and not like a babysitting chore mode, but he squashed that instantly. To him, I think babysitting is fun.
I pat the dust off my leggings. My baggy Star Wars T-shirt hangs to my thighs. “They’re all in here.” I guide Garrison to The Fourth Degree labeled boxes. “Lo will be here soon, and he might be more help. He’s read every issue about a million times.”
We rip open two boxes and start flipping through the comics, setting aside the ones with Sorin-X. The ones without the comic book character, I try to gingerly slip them back into their plastic covers.
“Are you going to read these?” I wonder.
Garrison places another comic on the pile. “What else would I be doing with them?”
“I don’t know.” I try to narrow my eyes at him and piece apart his motives. “You don’t really read comics, not like Willow.” I point out another fact, “You had no clue who Cypher was when you started working here.”
“Yeah, and none of the employees ever let me forget it.” His lips begin to rise like he misses those days where he worked at Superheroes & Scones. Willow was here back then, and I think she’s the soul of his nostalgia. “I’ve read New Mutants, by the way.”
My giddy smile spreads across my face. “Because of Willow?” Young love. I witnessed their beginning—and much, much more. I don’t think I’ll ever have to witness their end.
It’s not so much a prediction as it is a fact now.
“Yeah, because of Willow.” He tries to shake a comic back into the plastic.
“Which brings everything to Twitter,” I tell him. “Gillow Engagement has been trending all day, did you see?” I remember reading the headlines of articles: Willow Hale Gets Engaged! Check out Loren Hale’s New Brother-In-Law Inside!!
He proposed to her in London, and even though they’d mentioned marriage to one another before, he looked so nervous at dinner. She had no idea we were in the restaurant, and after he dropped to one knee and she said yes, we surprised her by appearing.
There was an abundance of tears and smiles.
Now that he’s back in Philly, Willow stayed at college in London, so they’re still split apart while she’s studying and he’s working. None of us questioned their engagement. Daisy said that when Garrison talks about Willow and when Willow talks about Garrison, they look like they’re smiling up at the moon.
Rose called them love-struck in London.
I think they’ve been love-struck since the first moment they met. Long-distance did nothing but strengthen them.
They’re planning to marry around the time she graduates, but they’re keeping this fact secret from the media. It was too hard to conceal the engagement news with all of us together in London.
I also tell Garrison, “Connor said you both made GBA Entertainment News last night too.” I thought Connor only watched CNN and Bloomberg TV, so it’s possible he just cruised through the channel and caught the Willow and Garrison segment in passing.
“He watches entertainment news?” Garrison says with cinched brows.