Chapter Eight
Arlo
Early Sunday morning, I awaken before Zoey and Nolan and happily lie there in bed with them, basking in the knowledge that Nolan is finallyours. It’s still difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that one of my biggest and oldest dreams hasfinallycome true.
That he’s nowlivingwith us for good.
That we’re going to buildourhouse together, and be afamilytogether.
No more good-byes at the end of the night.
Honestly? I was expecting him to turn scared and back out and try to renew his lease on his apartment for another year. I was prepared to get sneaky and play dirty, if necessary, to move him in with us. Even if it meant enlisting Katie and Zoey to work on him.
Wouldn’t be the first time I threw Zoey at him in an attempt to hook him for good. Like I did seven years ago. We came sooo damned close to nearly landing him back then.
I make no apologies for that, either.
Look, I never said I was perfect, okay? But when you’ve loved someone for as long as I’ve loved Nolan, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.
It’s not like Jerilyn and Nolan were married at the time. In their on-again/off-again dynamic that had spanned approximately three years, at that point, it was during anoff-again period between them. One she’d instigated.
One I hoped to makepermanentlyoff.
I never hid from Zoey how much I loved Nolan. I’m blessed with a wife who’s not only open-minded, but she also happens to think my best friend and the first love of my life is hot.
Which…well, heis.
If Nolan hadn’t been so scared of what his family would do, I suspect he would have jumped at a chance to openly be with me back in college.
And, hopefully, now.
Hence seven years ago, since Nolan was once again off with Jerilyn, I planned a weekend in Orlando for the three of us. I used the excuse that I wanted to get Nolan away from home and help him stay out of his head for a couple of days. Jerilyn wasn’t the right person for him, and I think he knew it, but I wasn’t going to push that point.
Pushing before, when we were in college, had nearly pushed Nolan away because of his fear. I’d already received an all-clear from Zoey to try this, too. She was on board with us trying to bring Nolan in as a permanent third with us.
Lucas was with Bill that weekend. So I booked the three of us a room at a hotel across the street from Universal Studios with the excuse that we were going to show him a good time that weekend. Except we didn’t mention anything about sex.
Then we drove Nolan to Orlando that Friday after we all left work early, took him out to dinner, got him drunk…
Andyeah. I kissed him right there in front of Zoey, while she stood behind him, hugging him. I reminded him of everything that was good and perfect between us from the start. That we were now adults, and he was no longer beholden to his family for any damn thing.
Zoey persuaded him, too. Reassuring him she knew all about us and loved and wanted him, too.
That weekend, hefinallygave in to me.
It’s a weekend I will always cherish. I know Zoey does, too, because shefinallygot to see that side of Nolan up close and personal instead of through me recounting the events.
Unfortunately, fucking Jerilyn blew up his phone all day Monday, wanting to talk to him after a weekend of radio silence from him because I’d shut off and confiscated his phone. It was like she could sense he’d had a fun weekend without her and it terrified her that she’d pushed him away too far for her to recapture.
By Wednesday, they were back together—again—and Zoey and I sadly watched the cycle start once more between them.
No, Nolan didn’t admit to Jerilyn what we’d done that weekend. He’d told her we went to Orlando, but left out the fact that we’d spent the entire time from Friday evening until check-out Sunday in bed together and getting room service.
Unfortunately, that time, Jerilyn ended up pregnant a couple of months later. I’m still not sure she didn’t do it on purpose despite her claims it was an accident and that she was on the pill. Before then, she’d claimed she wasn’t ready to have kids and didn’t want any for at least several years.
Nolan is a good guy, too. Too good for his own good. Before even talking to me or Zoey about it, he proposed to Jerilyn at her suggestion, they went to the courthouse, got a license, got married three days later during their lunch hour, and then…
All Zoey and I could do was sadly stand back and hope our guy’s heart didn’t get shattered.
