She figured out pretty quickly that the guys would respect her, would treat her like a queen, and would wait on her hand and foot if she stayed at the cabin. Dylan had told her, with a quiet serenity and troubled demeanor that was so unlike him, about his and Mike’s...fight? Breakup? What word do you use when there isn’t one to describe the relationship in the first place?#p#分页标题#e#
So many strands of the relationship between the three of them had been snapped by someone deciding not to tell a simple secret, the kind of information that really wasn’t a deal breaker, but that can become one if withheld for too long. Dylan and Mike really cared about her—she knew that, and knew that by screaming at them that day at Josie’s months ago, she’d created a rift that needed mending.
And yet she absolutely was not the only one with some guilt to work through. The guys hadn’t told her they knew each other, and she was still uneasy, in a tiny place deep inside, about how they had come to her, orchestrated that wonderful first night. Getting over that had been hard, but not impossible. Could she find a place for their other secret?
Staring around the room, she suspected she could. The vaulted ceilings, the knotty pine, the startling view of the snow-covered ski trails, and the cozy fire burning in the fireplace all made her feel like she could—
“—eat shit?”
“Huh?”
Josie stared at her. “I still don’t get why you didn’t tell Mike and Dylan they could just go and eat shit, but I respect your decision.” Her tone of voice made it clear she did not. “How’s little Josie today?”
“You mean little Laura?”
“Whatever.” Bzzzz. Laura found a text from Mike: “Need anything at the store? Ice cream and pickles?”
She read it aloud. Josie softened. “That is really sweet.”
Laura typed back: “Nope. Thanks! <3”
“You’re going to regret that at midnight when you want salted caramel ice cream.” Josie stood and reached for her purse.
“You’re leaving?” Panic fluttered in her chest. Or was that the baby kicking again? Touching her belly, she shook her head slightly, to herself. Nope. Panic.
“Four—er, five,” she pointed to Laura’s midsection, “is a crowd.”
Reckoning. This would be it. Mike and Dylan would come back and they’d wash her things and she would need to find a rhythm here as she recovered, the three of them settling in to— what? What, exactly, were they to each other? And then there was the issue of—
“—who the father is.” An expectant look covered Josie’s face.
“Huh?”
“The baby is sucking your brain right out of your head, Laura.” Josie laughed. “It’s like you’re not listening to anything I say.”
“And that’s new because...” she joked.
“Ha ha.” Josie shrugged into her leather coat. She looked like Captain America when he was little. “You’ll talk to the guys about the birth certificate issue?” They’d cooked up a scheme they thought the guys would accept. Even Laura realized that as sweet as it was to share the baby, and for whichever man wasn’t the bio dad to act as if he were, the practical legalities needed to be respected. Someone’s name needed to be on the birth certificate.
“I will. I promise.” The two hugged, Laura clinging a bit longer than she normally would. As if crossing over into a new life, a new world, she felt unmoored, time starved, and unsure. The baby grounded her in that moment by kicking her, hard, in the cervix.
“See you tomorrow.” Click. The front door closed and Josie walked out on the porch, the same porch where, nearly five months ago, Laura had slunk out, Mike bringing her her purse, her fear so overwhelming it had almost crushed her heart.
Almost. And then...why hadn’t they told her? Why? They were billionaires. Her baby’s father was a billionaire. Josie had joked about child support (“You could get more than you make in a year. Hell, in a decade, per month. Can I get the other one to impregnate me?”) and Laura reeled from the implications of all.that.money.
Some dish Dylan had in the oven simmered and filled the cabin with a luscious aroma that made her belly start to eat itself. She was hungry.
The guys were on their way. Her stomach dropped. Because this time she’d be alone with them and it was time for some long overdue conversations.
Why was it always, indeed, so complicated?
A palpable tension sat between him and Mike on the car ride up the mountain, a third partner who wasn’t nearly as appealing as Laura. Unresolved emotions, unspoken words, and a sense of uncertainty made the air thick, kept Dylan’s nerves on edge, and finally forced him to blurt out, “I was a total douche. I should never have made us wait to tell her about the money, and I almost blew it, and now here we are with maybe—kinda—sorta—a chance with her, and I don’t want to fuck it up again.”