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“Do you have any idea what Toni’s issue might be with going out with you two?” Jay asked. “Izzy believes she’s interested, really interested. She just needs a little motivation.”
“We’ve tried everything we know.” Maddox shrugged. “Zane and I are at a loss. But we’re wondering what it was like with Izzy when you first started seeing her. Did she have any issues being with two men?”
“A little,” Jay answered. “But that didn’t last long. Her big issue was the age difference.”
Izzy and Cami walked over.
“What’s the big manly powwow about?” Izzy asked, hugging her two husbands. “You all look so serious.”
“Same issue as always,” Maddox answered. “Trying to figure out how to get your friend to say yes to me and Zane.”
“We’re wondering if Toni might be more receptive to going out with us one at a time,” Zane said. “What do you think about that idea?”
“It’s worth a shot,” Izzy answered. “But that’s not her big issue.”
“Then what is her big issue?” he asked in a tone that came out too harsh. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you, but Maddox and I are at our wits’ end. We just don’t know what to do anymore.”
“I wish we could say, but it’s not our place to,” Cami chimed in, placing her hand on Izzy’s shoulder.
“She’s right. Sorry.” Izzy shrugged.
“Give us a hint at least. If not the age difference, then what? Is it something about us?” He was grasping at straws as his frustration grew inside him. “I know you both didn’t let the age thing stop you with Clay and Jay or Roberto and Miguel.”
“The age thing might concern Toni a little,” Izzy said. “But not as much as it did me.” She looked at Cami. “They have a right to know.”
“A right to know what?” he asked.
Maddox’s eyes narrowed, a clear sign he wanted an answer to that question, too.
“But we promised never to say, Izzy.” Cami sighed.
“I know.” Izzy looked defeated. Then her eyes brightened. “But if we don’t give the specific details about what happened, just why she’s holding herself back from them…that wouldn’t be a betrayal of her confidence, would it?”
Zane’s curiosity shot up. What happened to Toni? What could be so bad that she’d sworn Izzy and Cami to secrecy?
Izzy’s words didn’t seem to convince Cami.
But Izzy wasn’t deterred. “Listen, Toni has been alone so long I don’t know if she realizes how much she needs to open up to just have some fun. Her boys are gone. Her place is empty. We both know how lonely she feels.”
“You’re right,” Cami conceded, looking over her shoulder at Toni.
Toni was talking to the other three women at the table with her and seemed unaware that he and Zane were talking to Izzy and Cami.
Cami turned back to Izzy. “But no details. We did promise.”
“No details. I agree.” Izzy looked at Zane and him. “Toni had a very tough breakup years ago with her boys’ father. A very tough breakup.”
“Izzy, be careful,” Cami warned. “Not too much.”
“I know.”
What the hell happened? How bad could it be? Whoever the asshole was Zane wanted to shove his boot in his face for hurting Toni so deeply.
Izzy continued. “Suffice it to say, fellas, she’s afraid to trust.”
Cami nodded. “It’s been years since she’s been on a date. You just have to be patient with her. She will come around. I hope you won’t give up on her.”
“Give up on her?” Zane shook his head. “That’s not ever happening.”
