I feel like flipping off my heart. Or is it my mind? Which one is making this so much harder than it has to be?
The porch door smacks closed and Laine stomps across the pine straw and rocks, coming to a stop at the far end of the dock. Her hair is matted on one side. In her hand is a half-eaten blueberry muffin.
“Y’all, I’m not even kidding. Hands down, the best thing that’s ever touched my lips.” She takes another bite and licks a crumb from the corner of her mouth.
“I hope you left some for the rest of us,” I call out, one hand cupped around my mouth.
She shrugs noncommittally and saunters back up to the house.
“If we want breakfast, we’d better get in there.” I stand and look back down at Brady and Finn. “I’m not kidding.”
Brady glances at Finn and back to me. “We’ll be there in a minute. Save us some?”
“O-kay,” I draw out the word. I walk down the dock, trying to make my footfalls light so I can hear what they’re saying. It’s useless. If words are being exchanged while I’m still here, they’re being whispered. I make it to the porch and pause, looking back. Brady’s looking at Finn, and his mouth is moving. Finn gazes out across the water, then shakes his head slightly and turns back to Brady. Finn’s the one talking now, and his hands move while he speaks.
I walk in the door and find Laine rolling up our sleeping bag. She glances up at me, then back down to the bag she wrestles between her knees. Sinking down, I hold it in place so she can tie the attached strings that keep it rolled up.
“They’re out there talking,” I tell her, a nervous tremor in my voice.
“Oh, to be a fly on the wall... or, pine tree, I guess.”
I bite my lip and glance outside. I can’t see anything from here except the tops of the trees.
Laine stands and reaches down, pulling me up. “Let’s be good houseguests and tidy up. We need to get going soon. I have a plane to catch.”
* * *
Brady and Finnare only outside for a few minutes. I’ve been peeking at them while I’ve been tidying, and the only notable thing I saw was a handshake just before they reached the house. Now they’re acting perfectly normal, so I’m playing detective and attempting to suss out any micro-expressions.
Too bad I’m screwed. These two aren’t giving away anything.
Laine puts both our bags in the back of her car and returns to say goodbye. She hugs Brady first, then Finn. “Thanks for having me. It was very... interesting.” She glances from Finn to Brady and back again, a smile on her face. “You guys have a unique situation happening here, but I’m sure one way or the other everything will go the way it’s meant to.”
Laine climbs in her car and grabs her phone. She’s probably searching for a podcast to listen to on the drive.
I look at the guys. “I’ll see you guys back home. Maybe we can get dinner tonight?”
Brady shakes his head, and Finn says, “No, Lennon.”
Confusion knits my eyebrows together.
“That’s what we were talking about out there,” Brady points backward with his thumb. “We don’t mind the competition. We’ve been fighting one another for exclusive rights to your heart since we were twelve. But now, instead of fighting for you loudly and openly, we’re both stepping back and giving you space. Plus, it fucking sucks to be with you while the other one is there too. When I’m with you, I want all of you. Finn said the same.”
I look to Finn. His eyes are on me, and he nods solemnly.
“Okay,” I whisper. They’re right, as much as it hurts to admit it. I hug them each quickly, then open the car door. “See you... soon.” I muster a brave smile, then climb in. Laine puts the car in drive, waving one more time as she turns the wheel and we drive back down the dirt driveway.
“How’d that go?” she asks. Her eyes inspect my face as she makes the turn onto the next road.
“They don’t want to be together as the three of us.” Tears prick my eyes. Not being the three of us seems inconceivable. I can barely remember a time when it wasn’t the three of us against the world. Are we still beyond the pale? I sniff and rub my eyes. “This is what happens when best friends fall in love with each other.”
“This is what happens when two guy best friends fall in love with their third best friend, who happens to be a female.”
I groan. “What a mess.”
She nods in agreement. “It’s a messy mess.”
The podcast Laine has chosen is about the songs of humpback whales. We listen to all of it, then switch to music the rest of the way to the airport. Laine stands on the curb, her hand on her suitcase, and I hug her tightly. “See you soon.”
