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“I’m not sure that I’m the right man for the job, Doug. Although, I do appreciate the vote of confidence,” Jon said.
“What?” Doug asked. “Jon, you’re the perfect man to run for the empty seat. At least think about it before you flat out say no,” he said.
Thinking about it wouldn’t change his mind. Jon knew that he’d never get past the sharks that would dig into his past and try to bring him down at every turn. It was the way things ran in the political arena. “I’ll think about it, Doug, but don’t get your hopes up.”
“Perfect,” Doug said. “Now, after you say yes, you’ll just need to get yourself a wife and a few kids—you know, give the voters the whole package. They love that shit.” Jon knew that Doug was right. Voters loved a family man who seemed to be in love with his wife and a doting father to his two point five kids. He wondered how they’d all feel about a man who was in love with the guy he’d grown up with and his best friend’s wife, to boot. He was pretty sure that his new lifestyle wouldn’t go over well at all with his potential voters.
Jon chuckled as if he thought the whole thing was as funny as Doug did, but he wasn’t finding any of their discussion humorous. He’d pretend to give his proposal some consideration, but there was no way that he wanted anyone poking around in Archer, Grace, and his relationship. He couldn’t let that happen.
* * *
He finally got home just after dark and found Gracie in the kitchen cooking them dinner. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her from behind. “You didn’t have to cook dinner for just the two of us, Gracie,” he said. “I could have picked up some takeout for us.”
“No need,” she said. “I love to cook. In fact, I’ve gotten pretty good at it in the past year of marriage.”
He smiled at her, and she smacked at his arm as if she could read his mind. “I just can’t imagine you cooking, Gracie,” Jon said.
“Well, I’m pretty good, even if I do say so myself,” she sassed. “Plus, I thought that we’d have a nice romantic dinner for two.”
“That sounds really nice,” he agreed. “But you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he said. “I mean, I don’t want to push you into spending one-on-one time with me.”
“Hey,” she breathed, turning in his arms to face him. “Where is all this coming from?”
“It’s just sudden, you know? You’ve been with just Archer for so long now and then, the three of us just found each other. This has to feel like it’s all happening so fast for you too, Gracie,” he said.
She shrugged, “Yes and no,” she said. “I mean, I’ve been in love with you both for so long now, I’ve wanted you both for as long as I’ve known the two of you, Jon. I guess this doesn’t feel fast to me, even if it’s only been two weeks of us living together. I feel as if we’ve been together for a lifetime. Does that make sense?” she asked.
It did, but he still didn’t want them rushing into anything that she didn’t want or was ready for. “It does,” he admitted. “I feel the exact same way about you and Archer. Would you get jealous if Arch and I spent time alone together?” he asked.
She instantly shook her head. “No,” she admitted. “I think it’s actually a great idea. The three of us have to find our way and develop our own personal relationships with each other. Arch and I already have that and hopefully, with going to therapy, we’ll only get stronger. Maybe this feels weird for you because Archer and I are already married.” He had to admit, that was part of it. He worried that he’d become the third wheel at some point, and he couldn’t handle that if it happened. He wanted the three of them to work out and Jon would do just about anything to make that happen.
“I think that might be some small part in all of this,” he admitted. “I mean, what if I become a third wheel? You two have the legal documents that say that you’re joined together for life. Where do I fit in all of that?” he asked.
“You fit right here, Jon,” Grace said, pulling his hand up to her beating heart. “You’re a part of me—a part of us. You’ll never become the third wheel.”
“I want to believe you, Gracie,” he admitted.
“How about we take our own advice and the three of us go to counseling?” she asked. “I mean, Arch and I have only been going for just over a week and it seems to be helping some. What if the three of us sat down with a therapist and talked things out? You know, our hopes, fears, and all the rest of it.”
“That might actually work,” he said. “You think Archer will care if we do this?”
“Not at all,” she said. “Archer has made some great progress during our sessions and your name comes up a lot. I think it might actually help both of us to have you in the sessions with us.”
“If Archer agrees to this, then I’m in,” he said. “Thank you, honey.”
“Anytime,” she agreed. “How about we have dinner and then, we can see where tonight leads us, Jon. Neither of us should feel any pressure about spending time together. I know that Archer is fine with it.” He had told Jon the same thing, but he still worried that Archer would get lonely over in France and jealousy would consume him when he thought about Grace and Jon back in the states together.
“He told me as much when I dropped him off today,” Jon admitted.
“We’ll be over there soon enough anyway,” she assured.
They sat at the dining room table that Gracie had set and although he felt that it was way too much effort and much too fancy for a Thursday night dinner, he loved that she had done all of this for him. “This was fantastic, Grace,” he said. “You really can cook now,” he praised.
“I told you,” she said. “I took some cooking classes just before Archer and I got married. I wanted to be able to cook for my new husband.”
“Well, dinner was delicious,” he said. “Thank you for going to all of this effort, honey.”
“I found my passport. It was in the hutch,” she said, nodding over to the corner cabinet that held her china.
