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He looked back at me and folded his arms. His half-smile said everything.
“But I don’t even have a truck yet!” I cried.
He shrugged. “Yeah, so? What are you waiting for?”
“I— I can’t just…”
“Pull the trigger on the one you’ve already picked out?” said Joshua. “That’s easy. We already wrote the check.”
My hands were moving to my head — sifting through my hair was just one of my nervous ticks. They stopped halfway through, my face registering my shock.
“But… But I haven’t—”
“Had our baby yet?” he smiled.
I looked down at my still-smooth belly. I guess we all did. “Yes.”
“So what?” said Evan. “You will soon enough. And wouldn’t you rather get this business started now, rather than later?”
Now my hands did bury themselves in my hair. “I guess, but—”
“We talked to the supplier you had picked out,” he continued, “and he’s got a blank check too. You have to make the final decision on appliances and layout, but he’ll set the truck up in any configuration you want. We leaned on him to put you ahead of his other work, too. He’s just waiting on your call.”
I was stunned. Lost. Completely without words.
“In case you haven’t figured this out yet,” said Joshua, “we don’t believe in procrastination.”
I looked around again. Everything about the place was all so perfect, so well-thought out. String lights crisscrossed the entire lot, with plenty of room for people to gather, order, and eat. I could picture the throngs of diners that would gather here. Lunchtime crowds from the surrounding businesses. Spillover patrons in the evening, hungry from walking the streets of the seaport.
“They’re cutting the ribbon to this place in two weeks,” said Evan. “See that spot over there? Picnic tables. Three or four for each truck, so you’d better get moving. They’ve done a ton of advertising and social media promotion for this spot, and people are already chomping at the bit.”
Cole elbowed me gruffly, yet playfully. “After all, everyone loves a food truck.”
I stepped numbly from berth to berth, checking them out. Trying to process all the emotions weighing heavily on my heart, while my mind raced to determine which one would be best.
There were a hundred reasons I couldn’t accept a gift like this. Or advance. Or whatever the hell it was.
Still, it was all so generous. So incredibly thoughtful.
“Of course we can always look somewhere else if this doesn’t work for you,” Joshua added hesitantly. “Do you evenlikethis place?”
They’ve planned this for weeks, I realized, with a warm fuzziness that choked me up.The whole time… they’ve been listening to every word you ever said.
I turned and found the three of them standing together, watching me with a certain amount of shared excitement and pride. My heart swelled. My eyes glassed over…
And then I was hugging them. Kissing them. Laying my head against their chests and squeezing them tight, while fighting back tears.
“I guess that’s a yes, then?” Evan eventually chuckled.
Twenty-Three
QUINN
We spent the whole day in the city, walking aimlessly through Boston’s streets and parks. We had lunch instead of breakfast. Stopped off at a Portuguese bakery for the softest, most delicious napkin-cakes, and then at some tucked-away grindhouse for the best coffee I’m pretty sure I’d ever tasted.
It was definitely incredible, being escorted through Boston by three impossibly hot men. Men who were much more than friends, more than lovers even, because all three of them were the future fathers of my child.
Notyourchild.
