The words wash over me, making my throat go tight. I really don’t want to get weepy right now.
At last, Hale makes his way across the space, nodding and smiling at people as they clap him on the shoulder, but his focus is on me. On the three of us, gathered here on the outskirts of the celebration.
Something in my pit of my stomach tugs, pulling me toward him. At the same time, however, there are equally insistent tugs keeping close to Noah and Evan.
Hale halts before us. He shares long looks with them, then turns his gaze to me.
“We need to talk,” I tell him. “All three of us.”
There’s no point in wasting time, after all. With the station no longer immediately at risk, and therefore no longer in need of my services, I’ll be moving out right away.
Just like that, I won’t see them every day anymore.
Not unless I do something about it.
Hale nods. “Yes, I think we do.”
He gestures down the hall toward his office. If anyone notices us slipping away from the celebration, they’ll probably think that we’re discussing the finer details of the campaign.
Or maybe we’re not as slick as we think. Maybe Station 47 already knows what has blossomed in my heart. Maybe they’ve simply been kind enough not to tip off Kate Branson.
We slip inside his office and the door clicks shut behind me. The noise of celebration fades into a muted hum.
I face them, my heart thudding with three pairs of eyes on me.
There’s no fear inside me, though. No urge to back down. No instinct to quell my true desire, to smother what is burning inside me.
I know what I want, and I’m not afraid to ask for it. Whether they’ll be willing to actually give it to me is another question entirely.
“So, the campaign was a success,” I begin, taking in Noah’s joy, Evan’s content calm, and Hale’s steady strength. “And that means I’ll be leaving the mezzanine. Which means I won’t beliving in the station anymore… and whatever rules apply toemployees under this roofwon’t be hanging over us.”
Hale leans against the front of his desk, crossing his arms. “That’s true. Does this mean that you intend to pursue your fondness for one of us further?”
Noah smirks at his formal wording. “Lila, you know how we feel about you.”
“I do,” I answer. “And the truth is… I feel the same way. About all of you.”
All of them are quiet. I can tell that it’s not because they don’t know what to say, but rather because they are giving me time to collect my thoughts. Giving me the chance to direct this conversation.
“I care for all three of you,” I repeat. “Deeply. Which is a little overwhelming, considering that I haven’t known you for long, but sometimes that’s just how life is.”
After all, Lou knew Gina was the one for her after their second date. I even tried to curb her expectations back then, tried to remind her that infatuation is not the same thing as true love. She’d agreed, of course, but all of my warnings were pointless in the end.
Gina really was the one for her, and they’ve been living happily ever after since then.
Still, nobody really prepares you for what to say when you’re pretty sure you have more than onethe one.
I take a deep breath. “I’m not interested in pretending that I only want one of you. I don’t want to choose. I don’t want to limit my heart, and then leave two of you behind. In fact, I refuse to.”
They exchange a glance, loaded with something I can’t discern, then turn their attention back to me.
“You all saw what they were saying online,” I continue. “The hashtag. All three. People joked about it, but they obviously weren’t wrong. I want all three of you in my life. I know it’s a strange thing to ask for, and that it’s both a weirdly ancient and also very contemporary concept for someone to have more than one romantic partner. But you three already have so much love and respect for each other that I’m hoping maybe we could work something out.”
I fall quiet. Hale is nodding thoughtfully. Noah is leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, looking completely unbothered.
Evan, standing closest to me, speaks first. “I never wanted to compete with either of them. It’s not in my nature to be competitive and jealous, but like you said, I also respect Hargrove and Trent too much to have a toxic response to something like this.”
“Same,” Noah chimes in. “We’re a team. Always have been.”
