“So, so much hotter,” Alka agrees.
I roll my eyes.
“These are the kinds of things we need to talk about, so please don’t keep them to yourself. All right?” Oscar says.
Sighing, I nod. “Sorry. I feel stupid feeling… insecure around them.”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Alka says, pressing his lips to the spot right below my ear and making me shiver, “I can’t keep my hands off you, Ruby, and Oz. Trust me, I barely see anyone else.”
I smile. “Thanks for the reassurance.”
“Always,” he promises. “Now, let's go enjoy speculating over other ancient dicks.”
CHAPTER 18
OSCAR
Six weeks with Ruby flew by way too fast. What I find most peculiar is how much I’ve grown to like him too. It’s not often that I find myself becoming as attached to one of Alka’s boyfriends as he is. In fact, I don’t know if it’s ever happened.
I’m not sure if this is a reflection on Ruby himself or maybe the environment. In life, we’re busy, as is everyone. As is the case when all people date, it means breaking your life into different parts while trying to balance all those parts in some semblance of equality. This means that, especially in the beginning, I rarely saw Alka’s boyfriends.
If they made it past the first few months, I’d meet them. We’d all spend time together here and there. If it made it past the initial first hangouts, they would become a little more frequent. We’d do things together like go to games or the movies or dinner. Not quite dates but in a manner of speaking, dates.
It rarely got beyond this point. It never made it to the level where Alka felt comfortable enough with the situation to truly begin integrating them into our life.
Sadly, the relationships never reached throuple status.
The situation with Ruby is entirely unique because we’re in an environment where we aren’t moving around the naturalobstacles of our daily lives. That meant Alka had more uninterrupted time with Ruby right off the bat. It meant an accelerated time frame because they were able to spend so much time together.
That meant meeting me first. It meant me spending more time with them together. It was the perfect paradise to make everything align. I’ve always loved watching my husband fall for someone, but this time, I got to take a front-row seat and see his love for Ruby develop a little more every single day.
There’s a chance that Alka’s feelings for Ruby might have sparked mine, which might be unfortunate right this very second because it means we’re both struggling with packing and getting ready to leave in a couple hours. The dread of breaking what we’re building because we’re putting distance between us is frightening.
Our suitcases and backpacks are sitting on the bed as Alka and I go through the clothes in the basket we received from the island launder yesterday. We don’t worry about splitting them between what belongs to whom. We have individual clothing, but we also share most of our clothes. We’re similar in size, and sometimes, it’s just nice to wear my husband’s shirt or hoodie.
Primarily, we split the suitcases so that one gets the dirty laundry and the other is filled with the clean. Since we timed it right so that we’ve only worn a few days’ worth of clothing and the rest is clean, all the dirty laundry fits in one side behind the zippered divider.
There aren’t many souvenirs this time. We don’t always come home with a lot but usually a few things. There’s not much from this trip.
Yesterday evening, we stopped at the office with the photo collection and sat in front of the computer to build our books. Those were delivered today. We ordered two; one for us and one for Ruby.
Ruby’s sitting in the chair holding his book to his chest as he watches us.
“Bathroom’s cleared out,” Alka says as he drops our toiletry bags into the suitcase with the dirty laundry. His eyes rise to mine then move to Ruby’s.
“I’m going to check the living area and deck,” I tell him. I stop to kiss Ruby’s head on the way by.
He smiles. It’s a combination of bashful and happy. Of course, neither of those outshine the sadness in his eyes.
There’s nothing to pick up in the rest of the house. No socks. No extra shoes since we’ve already packed them. The added benefit of not having electronics with us is that there’s no chance of forgetting cords.
Our wallets and identification were locked in the safe within the bedroom closet, but we took those out first. They’re already safely stowed in our backpacks.
The sweep through the area is quick since there’s nothing to find. I’m already wearing my sneakers, as is Alka. I have a hoodie in my backpack for the chilly plane ride, as does Alka.
When I get back into the room, I find that the suitcase filled with our clean clothes is zipped up and on the floor. The other is still open on the bed in case I found anything. Alka is standing with Ruby, holding him in a tight embrace in front of the window overlooking the beach.
I join them, pressing my lips to the side of Ruby’s head.
