It feels strange to know the path of his thoughts when it has been so long since we’ve seen each other—to still feel like some part of me is plugged into his emotions. To feel I might be able to know his mind as well as I know my own.

“Just guessing.” I shrug, unprepared to go there with him, not the way my body lights up every time I catch him staring.

I turn my head and he’s looking at me. I lose myself in his eyes, not in that dreamy, romance-y way, but in the mystery of them—of what lies behind the midnight-blue shade he pulls over his thoughts.

“Hey!” Mona snaps her fingers in the space that separates our faces. “You two are not doing that thing you used to do. I forbid it.”

I blink several times, breaking the spell of ancient memories and new mysteries. “What are you talking about?”

“The two of you used to block everyone else out, get lost in some corner and only talk to each other,” Mona says. “This is a social event.”

“My favorite thing to escape from,” Ezra says.

“Daddy’s an introvert.” Noah bites into a Hebrew National hot dog.

“Thanks, son,” Ezra says, his mouth a wry curve. “I think they know that about me.”

“He used to be a Kimba-vert,” Mona says. “He was only social with her. Then I came along and he was at least sometime-y with me.”

“Why?” Noah asks around a mouthful of hot dog.

“What have I told you about talking with food in your mouth?” Ezra asks softly. “And why what?”

“Why were you a Kimba-vert?”

Our gazes collide, and I look away first. I don’t want to hear how he would answer that question, so I reply for him. “Your dad and I knew each other literally since we were babies,” I tell him and take a sip of the freshly-squeezed lemonade Mona set out. “Longer than anyone else, so we were always really comfortable together.”

“That’s nice,” Noah says. “I want a friend like that.”

“You have Peter,” Ezra says, taking a pull of his beer.

“But I’m not a Peter-vert,” he says.

We all laugh, but once the humor fades, I find myself drawn to look at Ezra again. And dammit, he’s looking back.

More people join us at the table, and soon everyone’s laughing and telling stories. Most of them work with Mona and Ezra at YLA. It’s obvious they respect Ezra a lot. And it’s obvious to me that more than one of them, guys and girls, are crushing on him. If he weren’t with Aiko, he could have his choice of office romances.

As the meal winds down, the bright colors of sunset fading into evening, I take my cue from Mona and start carrying empty dishes back into the house.