Page 99 of Don't Cross Mo Ellery

It’s a familiar voice.

Reallyfamiliar.

“But on the plus side, there’s no better appetite suppressant than two a.m. in the ER.”

You have got to be kidding me.

Chris.

Perfect, of course he’s here, right now. When I am also here.

This will be fine. I’ll just stay the course. I am going to walk right by and pretend I never heard him. But then... there’s asecondfamiliar voice. Laughing at his dumb joke. Andthat’sthe one that stops me cold.

The wine glass sloshes in my hand, and suddenly I’m turning toward the booth. I really don’t want to be doing this—stop doing this, Mo!—but Ican’tstop. And then, oh god, I’m roughly pushing aside the plant canopy to peek underneath.

I was right, obviously.

It’s Kendra.

And she is not acting like the head of a marketing agency right now.

She has her fingers intertwined with Chris’s.

She is wearing his faux vintage Bert & Ernie T-shirt from when they were remaking those like ten years ago, the one he sleeps in.

She isfeedinghim a piece of oatmeal raisin cookie, which, gross onso many levels.

I haven’t seen her since I got fired. Actually, technically, I haven’t seen her since I was butt naked on a Zoom call, exposing Chris’s man meat to a bunch of tool execs.

Oh.

I get it.

That was their meet-cute.MEAT-cute.

What the actual fuck!!

This all registers in the span of about a millisecond.

“Um,hi?” I say.

Chris squeaks in surprise.

“Mo, looks like this booth’s taken,” Tasha says with a frown.

“Ha ha, you’re right,” I say with an absolutely psychotic smile. “Pardon me,strangers.”

I hustle Tasha to the farthest possible booth and try to hide us as comprehensively as possible beneath the greenery.

Focus focus focus.

This is not about Chris or Kendra. This is about corruption and murder and—

“I’m going to get some napkins,” I say. “BRB!”

I duck out from under the canopy of vines before Tasha can say anything and slink back to Chris’s table, looking over my shoulder to make sure she’s not watching me.

I fling myself under their vine canopy again so I’m hovering over them with my ass sticking out the other side of the greenery.