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“Yeah, can you not tell?” I say, waving my hand between our identical faces.
She blushes, the red disappearing into the towel, and I wonder how much further down it goes. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I just haven’t ever seen triplets before. And you guys are so different from each other.”
“We get that more than you think,” I say. “We’ve always been this way.”
“I never caught your name, by the way,” Artie says.
“I’m Susan. Susan Summers,” she says. Her name sounds like a songbird. She looks like one of those romantic girls who seem to live on dreams and whimsy. I wouldn’t be surprised if her hobbies include painting abstracts and bird-watching.
“Nice to meet you, Susan,” I say. The name suits her.
More crashing.
“He’s really upset,” Susan mutters. “I feel terrible. If only I knew something was off, I would’ve never booked the place.”
“It’s not specific to you. Ed is a little complicated,” I say. “I better go deal with him before he sets this place on fire.”
Susan’s jaw drops open.
“I’m just kidding,” I say. But to be honest, with Ed, you never know.
I walk down the staircase when my phone buzzes with a text from Denise.
You motherfucker, you ditched me and you don’t even have the fucking decency to text me back.
To be honest, I had totally forgotten about her ever since the arrival of our guest. At any other time, I would have tried to calm her down and even convinced her to meet me in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven. It doesn’t take me long to get her where I want her. But now I no longer care. No, right now, I can only think of Susan.
Ed is leaning against the fireplace. There’s a crack in the wall inches from where his fist rests. The low wooden table Artie and I painstakingly painted a month ago is in shambles.
“Jeez, you couldn’t have dealt with the ugly dining chairs?” I drawl. “At least something good would come out of that, getting rid of those hideous chairs.”
Ed looks up and glares at me. “Where is she?”
“Calm down, Wolverine,” I say. “She’s upstairs, and about to leave. But how the hell can she do that when her tires are slashed?”
Ed scowls. “That’s your problem. You’re the one who did it.”
“Well, since we all thought it was an intruder, and you kind of rushed into it like the bull you are, this one is on you as well.”
“I want her gone,” Ed says. “She can’t stay here.”
“I know you want her gone,” I say. “But she’s like a rabbit, completely harmless. Heck, she was practically apologizing to us when we broke into the bathroom and violated her privacy.”
“Our bathroom, our cabin,” Ed says slowly. “She has no business here. She needs to be gone.”
“But her car—”
“I don’t care,” Ed says. “You know what the rules are. We can’t just change them now.”
“You have to care. She’s a woman. We can’t just throw her out in the cold,” I say.
I hear the sound of a throat clearing. I look up to see Artie at the top of the stairs, standing next to Susan. She’s changed into an overcoat that hides most of her body. Her jeans peek through, clinging to her shapely calves. She looks so fucking familiar for some reason. And that’s when I finally get it.
She’s the chick from the gas station, the one Artie and I were ogling. Fuck.
She starts to come down the stairs, with Artie right behind her. I keep staring at her. I can’t believe I missed it the first time.
I look at Artie, who can’t seem to take his eyes off Susan. He’s smitten, I can tell. Jealousy rakes through me. As she walks past me, I want to put a possessive hand on her back, letting my brothers know that I saw her first. That doesn’t mean she’s mine, but I want her.
