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“I think we covered that part already,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“Have you guys thought about what’s going to happen when Susan leaves?” I ask my brothers.
Ed shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Ollie nods in agreement. “Yeah, we’ll figure it out. Maybe we can all visit her together.”
The idea of visiting Susan together fills me with a strange mix of emotions. On one hand, I love the thought of us all being together with her. But on the other hand, I worry that it might be too much for whatever we have going.
“Are we sure we want to visit?” Ed asks.
“You don’t?” Ollie says.
“I’m just saying,” Ed says, “it might be the snowstorm and the isolation.”
“No way,” Ollie says, standing up and shaking his head. “This isn’t that.”
“How are you so damn sure?” Ed asks. It doesn’t sound like he’s trying to start an argument. He’s genuine, which means he really does care about Susan. “She’s with us because she wants to get rid of her writer’s block.”
“Whatever,” Ollie says.
I frown. “I don’t get why this is bothering you so much.”
“Because—” he begins, pausing to scratch his head. “I don’t know.”
“She has a weird hold on us,” Ed says, baring the truth in front of us. “Are we sure we want that?”
“I do,” I say slowly. “I want that. I want her around for as long as possible.” Forever, if possible. But I don’t want to freak her out. I’m still working through my feelings. I’ve known her for less than a week, and yet our connection is deeper than anything I’ve ever felt for anybody I dated for months, years maybe.
I don’t know if it’s just the isolation making me feel this way, or if it’s all her. I need a little more time and perspective to figure out what’s right.
“I don’t know what I want, but her being around does help,” Ed admits.
“Then let’s not fret about what happens after the storm,” Ollie says. “Like Ed pointed out, we’ll get there when it really comes down to it. We can always just keep her here, and build a secret basement she won’t be able to get out of. Let’s keep that as a backup.”
I punch him playfully on his arm. Even though he’s joking, I can tell Ollie is going through the same conflicting feelings I am. He’s the type of guy who fucks and moves on, and initially I’d hoped that was the case for him and Susan.
But now I don’t want that to be true. It’s weird, but I like sharing Susan with my brothers. We have a weird connection, almost like we brought her in on the whole triplet telepathic thing. I want her with them, or nothing.
“Susan is so great,” Ollie says. “She’s honest and open. I feel like I can trust her.”
“I hope she wasn’t lying about the whole contraceptive thing,” Ed says.
“Why would she?” I say. “She’s a career-focused woman. She would never jeopardize her work.”
Ed grumbles under his breath.
“What? You doubt her?” I say.
Ollie laughs. “Maybe it’s all an elaborate plan to seduce us and have our babies.”
Ed sort of freezes, his fists bunching at his sides. “I made my stance on this clear a long time ago.”
“All right, calm down. Nobody is forcing you to have children with Susan,” I say. “Although objectively speaking, we would make beautiful babies. But Susan isn’t out to get us to impregnate her. You need to stop treating everything like an effing conspiracy theory.”
“Okay fine, it does sound ridiculous,” he admits reluctantly. “And she’s been working really hard on her book too. I think we should all make an effort to give her some space and let her focus on that.”
“Or,” Ollie suggests, “we can go upstairs and help her out with it for a bit.”
