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In his mind, he thinks that if he just leaves, then everything will go back to normal. We’ll have nothing to expose, nothing to be judged for, and nothing to worry about, but he’d be wrong.
I know it. Briar knows it. And deep down, he knows it.
We don’t sacrifice who we love just to make our lives a little easier.
“Well,” I say, lifting my arms in a shrug. “Telling your sister is out of the way.”
Briar lifts her eyes and glares at me. “This is not a joke, Caleb.”
“I know it’s not a joke,” I reply. “I’m taking this very seriously. But I also know that we cannot control their reactions, and their reactions are going to be fucking absurd. We control what we can control.”
Dean turns his eyes up toward me as I continue.
“What happens here at our home is our business. And people may not like it once they find out. But I’m not willing to give up either of you because oftheirreactions.”
Briar continues to chew on her bottom lip as she watches me, arms crossed in front of her. “We have to all be on board if this is what we’re doing,” she says softly.
I keep my eyes on Dean. “I know,” I reply, waiting for him to answer.
He knows what I want. I made it very clear last night at the club with how many times I told him I loved him.
When Dean finally does speak, he does so with a lighthearted tone in his voice. “I was just supposed to help you guys, remember?” he says. “I was supposed to fix your marriage, not ruin it.”
“You didn’t ruin it,” I reply.
“Well, either way, this isn’t really how I expected things to turn out.”
“None of us did,” Briar replies.
My phone starts buzzing in my pocket, and I look down to see it’s my secretary, Jules. It’s bad enough I had to reschedule my morning meetings because of my late-night rendezvous with Dean, but I can’t put off work forever.
“Listen, we don’t need to figure this out right now. We have time. But I have to get to work, or I’ll lose my cases.”
“Of course,” Briar replies with a soft nod and a smile. She steps toward me, kissing me on the lips.
I cross the kitchen toward Dean and stand in front of him, waiting for him to relax. As my lips curl into a smile, so does his. “Relax,” I say. “Everything will be fine.”
Then I lean forward and press my lips to his. Feeling him soften and kiss me back gives me hope.
By the time I’m in my car, I feel lighter. Fuck, this might be the first time in my life I’ve actually felt optimistic about everything. My mind isn’t swirling with worry and indecision. Which is crazy because none of this will be easy, but honestly, how can I complain?
I have a beautiful wife, a hot fucking boyfriend, a perfect daughter. My family couldn’t be better.
We’ll weather these storms together, and I know we’ll make it. If we have to, we’ll move. I’ll take them far from here, maybe somewhere where our family will be more accepted. There has to be a better place to be a poly family than Texas.
My phone rings again, and I glance down to see Jules’s name again. If she’s calling twice in ten minutes, it must mean something important has come up.
“Hey, Jules,” I say as I answer the call through my SUV’s Bluetooth.
“Caleb,” she replies. Immediately, I hear the tension in her voice.
“What’s going on?” I ask, gripping the steering wheel tighter.
“Your father is here.” Her voice is low, a mere whisper into the phone line.
The blood drains from my face. “What? Why?”
“He said you’re his counsel and that he got explicit permission from his probation officer to visit his lawyer. And he won’t leave until he sees you.”
