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And then, without warning, Furio surprised us with a visit.
53
Amber
On a Monday morning, after spending the night at Jude’s place, the two of us stopped by a coffee shop before work. It was a block away from the office, the same one I had visited when I showed up early for my interview at ACS and had to kill some time. A rush of memories from that day came back to me as we walked through the door. I couldn’t believe it had been four months ago.
Time flies when you’re having fun.
“What’s so funny?” Jude asked while holding the door open for me.
“Just thinking about how lucky I am.” I flashed him a smile, then blinked in surprise. “Look who’s here.”
Standing in line, clad in jeans and a faded gray T-shirt, was Owen. He glanced over at us, turned back, and then did a double-take.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as we got in line behind him. “Don’t like the coffee at work?”
“Hey,” Owen replied. “Sometimes a guy wants a girly frappuccino with caramel syrup. Don’t judge. Why areyoutwo here?”
“Felt like an espresso,” Jude replied. “And lately, there’s been a line at the espresso machine in the kitchen at work.”
“Crowded is a good thing,” Owen replied, and we nodded. He narrowed his eyes and asked, “You two havefunlast night?”
I felt myself blush, but it was Jude who responded. “Oh yeah. Lots of fun. Far more fun than Amber would’ve had with you.”
Owen scoffed. “Doubt it.”
He gave Jude a playful shove, and the two of them grinned. I stared at them, shocked. There was no malice or jealousy in their words. Up until now, the two of them had been pretending like the otherwasn’tseeing me at the same time. At least, that’s how they acted in front of me. Maybe they were teasing and joking about it when I wasn’t around.
“Venti caramel frap,” Owen told the barista. “And whatever these two are getting.”
We placed our orders, and then Owen paid with his credit card. The two of them bickered about him paying for our drinks, but it was afriendlybickering.
I marveled at them while we waited for our orders. They were really content with the situation, sharing me like this. Deep down I had assumed theyhatedthe situation, and resented each other for it, but clearly that wasn’t the case.
I never thought this was possible, I thought when our drinks came.Being shared. By two men. And it’s not weird. Why isn’t it weird?
We walked a block to the ACS office together, laughing about Owen’s sugary drink and making jokes about how he must be excited for Pumpkin Spice Latte season. When we came through the door, Melinda was sitting behind her desk, an alarmed look on her face.
“What’s up?” Owen asked her.
She glanced at me, and for a moment I wondered if she was concerned about the three of us arriving to work together. If our relationships were supposed to be secret, then we weren’t doing a good job of hiding it.
But then Furio came walking around the corner. He was as dashing as ever even though he was biting into a chocolate-glazed donut, and he grinned with his mouth full when he saw me.
Oh no, I thought.
He swallowed the donut and spread his arms wide. “My three favorite Americans!” Then he walked forward and hugged all of us at the same time. If he was weirded out about me arriving at the office with Owen and Jude, he didn’t show it.
“It’s great to see you!” Owen said, clapping the man on the shoulder. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Furio leaned against the desk and gestured with the remaining half of his donut. “I am in town this week for a charity event. So I decided to come early and treat everyone to snacks. There are six dozen donuts in the kitchen.” He stepped forward and lowered his voice. “I fear I did not bring enough. The number of ACS employees here is quite large!”
“We’ve been growing rapidly since the Series A financing went public,” Owen said.
“And continue to grow,” Melinda chimed in from her desk. “I have three new hires starting today.”
“Wonderful news!” Furio said happily. Then he turned his dark eyes on me. “Amber, may I have a word with you?”
