AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hugged him. I wrapped my arms around him tight and squeezed. “You can stay here if you ever need to. You’re both always welcome.”
“Maybe if I ever get out of my particular friendship group.” He winked. “For now, it’ll just be Dice. Promise me you’ll stay here, Ma. No matter what. Avery deserves a nice place like this.”
I pulled back and smiled up at him. “You do, too. I’ll stay. So Dice can have a nice rich neighborhood experience a few days a month.”
“If you need help with any other bad decisions, call me.” He whistled for Dice and walked back to his car. “I’ll let you know when he’s coming.”
Avery ran out after Dice and waved wildly at Greg. “Bye, Dog Guy!”
I put my hand on the top of Avery’s head and rolled my eyes. “Bye, Greg.”
49
***Ryder***
“Does anyone else feel like their kids hate them?” I sat in between Jake and Sebastian on Seb’s balcony because that was the spot that gave us a touch of a view of Fiona’s property. Not that we could see much, thanks to the trees I’d had planted.
“Yeah, every other day.” Seb sighed. “Sam is currently not speaking to me. SJ is speaking even less than he normally does, so he might as well not be speaking to me, either.”
“Lucy called me an idiot so many times that I felt like I was in sophomore gym class with Coach Jerry “The Bully” Brown again.” Jake picked up his phone and checked it before putting it down again with a sigh. “I keep thinking she’ll call. Or text.”
“My kids think I’m a life ruiner. Roman hates me. He blames me for what happened with Sara and now he’s blaming me for what happened with Fiona.” I sighed. “He’s right this time, at least.”
“You didn’t do it alone. We all walked into this one. Practically held hands as we went.” Jake checked his phone again and then chucked it over the balcony with a grunt. “I’m going fucking crazy.”
“What’s the game plan here? Our kids hate us, Fiona hates us, we hate us.” I thought I saw movement in Fiona’s yard and sat up, just to realize I was reacting to absolutely nothing.
“Well, our gifts didn’t exactly work.” Seb shook his head. “We managed to get her fired with our gifts.”
“We got her fired because we showed up at her workplace more than once and created a scene.” Jake rolled an unlit cigarette back and forth over his knuckles. “What were we thinking?”
“That she’d see our flowers and pick us. That last day at the school was the closest we’ve come to fighting over her in a serious way.” I sat up. “And look at what’s happened since then. Shit fell apart.”
“I don’t know what came over me that day. I just woke up and decided that sharing wasn’t what I wanted.” Jake shook his head. “I think all the shit with Megan being an ass to her scared me enough to send me into a panic.”
“Same. I didn’t want to lose her. So I figured I’d edge you two out.” I laughed but there was nothing funny. “Worked pretty well, huh? So well, in fact, that I edged myself out, too.”
“So what now? I didn’t plan on saying this, but I may as well.” Jake snapped the cigarette in half and pushed his sunglasses up onto his head. “I love her.”
“I love her, too.” Seb looked at me. “And you?”
“You know I love her.” A new surge of pain coursed through my body. “Would we have ever been able to let go? When we found out who the father is, I mean. Would the other two have been able to step back? I know that I couldn’t.”
Seb shook his head. “I already told her that I wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what. I hadn’t considered she’d be the one leaving.”
“Why were we pretending like that’s what was going to happen?” Jake stood up and leaned against the railing. “If we hadn’t been convinced that someone was going to win and someone was going to lose, maybe we would’ve been able to be there for her even more. Maybe we would’ve been able to not fall for bullshit that our exes brought up.”
“We can’t change the past.” I raised my eyebrows as a thought occurred to me. “We can change the present, though.”
“Spell it out for us. I’ve got a hangover the size of Alaska and I can’t connect the dots you’re throwing out.” Seb rubbed his forehead. “Was that a fortune cookie?”
I laughed. “No. I just mean… That night in the cabin happened so naturally. It was easy. We all love her. Before this shit, I would’ve sworn she loved us. Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong. Instead of one of us, maybe she needs all of us.”
Jake’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. “You mean… A relationship where we share her?”
“Come on. We’ve already been doing that. We just made it stressful.” I stood up and looked out towards her property. “I’m not willing to bow out. Neither are you two. So we can keep competing for her love and keep stressing her out, or we can walk into this together to get her back and keep her.”
“Fine.” Seb stood up and joined us at the railing. “I’d do just about anything to get her back. Plus, you’re right. That night at the cabin was easy. We have something with her that just works.”
