“Not yet,” Wade says.
Mason stills. “What now?”
Wade steps closer. “You walk in there wrong, and you’ll make this harder for her.”
Mason exhales, tension riding high in his shoulders.
“I’ll tell her we know,” I say. “I’ll tell her I’m sorry she didn’t get to tell us herself. I’ll tell her we’re here for her.”
Wade waits.
“We’ll tell her she has options,” Mason continues. “That we’ll support whatever she decides.”
“And?”
Mason’s voice drops. “She doesn’t have to decide right away.”
Wade nods, then looks at me.
I hold his gaze. “I’ll tell her she can come here. Whenever. No pressure.”
“And?”
“We’re not asking for answers,” I say. “Not yet.”
Wade watches me a second longer. “And?”
I take a breath. “That she’s safe with us.”
Mason looks down.
Wade’s expression eases slightly. “Then make sure she is.”
We’ve gone over it twice now. We’re schooled on how to handle it, even though every instinct in me wants to grab her and drag her back here. Fill her over and over. Breed her even though she’s already filled with our child. Make a life with her and a home for our kid. Demand she take her place as our woman and damn the consequences.
“Have you been in touch with her since you…” Wade trails off.
“Since we deflowered her in your barn,” Mason grins.
“Not the time,” I bark, but Wade’s shaking his head, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“That barn's seen a whole lot of action before you.”
I shake my head. “We’ve messaged,” I say. “She’s replied, but…”
“She’s been wary,” Mason says. “If she wanted to date us, we would have seen her again. Taken her out and showed her a good time. We would have made it more.”
“It isn’t too late to try,” Wade says. “You’ve gotta handle it right. The baby’s a factor now, and she’s always going to wonder if you’d have chosen her if the baby didn’t exist.”
“She has to know we would have… that night…” I stop myself from saying more. Wade doesn’t need to know how right it felt when we were all together. He has his own complicated relationship. He’s aware of how intense it can be.
Wade nods, understanding my point, and heads back to his truck, pausing with one hand on the door. “Don’t make me regret coming out here.”
Mason shakes his head. “We won’t, Wade. And thanks. I hope there’s no fallout from you breaking Joelle’s confidence.”
“She’ll understand,” he says. “So long as you don’t make a mess of everything. So long as you do right by her best friend.” Wade looks at me anyway, like he’s checking, and I hold his gaze. “She’s a good woman. She stood by Joelle when she had no one. Put a roof over her head. Supported her through her pregnancy and all the newborn stress. She deserves the same kind of support and security.” He nods once, then climbs in and drives off, dust rising behind him as he disappears down the road.
Mason and I stay where we are, the house quiet at ourbacks, and our land stretching to the horizon.
