I ever been on a date, but that wasn’t entirely true, even before this year.” I pointed accusing fingers at them. “You guys kept trying to take me on dates, especially Archie, I just didn’t see it.”
“Very true,” Archie said. “Apparently, we just sucked at dating.”
“Fuck,” Jake said. “That’s true, isn’t it?”
Coop laughed, the vibration of his rumbling chest making me smile. “Yup. So it’s all our fault, Frankie. We should have gotten better at it.”
I sighed. “Guys, how do we make this work?”
I didn’t mean to get maudlin but…
“I love this. I love all of us, and you said I didn’t have to choose, but…how do we really make this work? Archie and I don’t have to worry about what bad meatloaf thinks because—you know—fuck them.”
“Atta girl,” Archie said with a wink.
“But Ian, your parents…”
“I don’t care what they think.” Despite the shine in his eyes and the whiskey he’d drunk, Ian sounded stone cold sober. “They’re my parents. I love them. I respect them. They can love and respect me. But they don’t make my decisions. I’m where I want to be.”
“Ditto,” Coop and Jake echoed.
“But still…how do we make it work?”
“By doing what we are,” Archie said. “We’re making it work right now. We’re all on the same page.” He flicked his gaze to Ian briefly, then back to me. “Finally. We all love you enough to work, and we get along. We know how to share.”
“And when we don’t,” Jake said with a shrug, “we know how to settle that, too.”
“What are you worried about?” Coop asked me, and I focused on him because sometimes, it was just easier to talk to him about this stuff. Not that I didn’t or couldn’t talk to the others, but Coop just seemed to roll with stuff. He never judged me. “I don’t judge you. Fuck, if I did that, you’d have to judge me, and let’s be honest, I’m way more judgeable.”
“That’s not even a word. Also did I say that out loud?”
“Yes,” came three other answers in varyingly amused voices.
“Oh.” I winced. “You guys aren’t hard to talk to…”
“We get it, Baby Girl. Answer Coop. He’s the voice of sanity in the room anyway.”
“True,” Ian agreed, and Coop scowled.
“Wow. I’m not sure I want to be stuck with that job.”
“Too bad,” Archie chided. “Now hush and let her talk. What are you worried about, babe?” He repeated Coop’s earlier question.
I ran my tongue over my lower lip and Coop groaned, but at my questioning look, he just shook his head and offered me another chip to eat. Hmm. Food was good. “I tried to talk about this the other night,” I admitted. “About what happens if I don’t choose. And…you said it was fine, you all still wanted one on one time with me—not complaining about that at all.”
Archie chuckled. “Good to know.” Despite his smile, he studied me with such intensity, it was like he stared right through me.
“I’m thinking about what comes next. We’re—we’re going steady or—I’m going steady with all of you?” Was going steady even the way to put it?
Jake pushed up off the sofa and stalked off through the house. My heart sank.
“Yes,” Ian said quietly. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re my girlfriend. But you’re also Coop’s, Archie’s, and Jake’s girl, too. We’re your boyfriends. Weird?” He gave a shrug. “Maybe, but the idea has grown on me. Especially over the last few weeks.”
“Because I broke up with you?”
“Partially,” he conceded. “But you need all of us, and we work really well together where you’re concerned.”
“Besides,” Jake said as he reappeared. “There’s something that seems to keep escaping your grasp, and I want to make it as clear as possible.” He nudged stuff aside on the coffee table and sat in front of me before tugging my hand over and sliding a ring right onto my middle finger.
I stared at it for a beat, and it took my whiskey-soaked brain a hot several seconds to catch up. It wasn’t just a ring. It was a class ring.
It was the class ring for our year.
I glanced from it to him. “What…?”
“I knew you wouldn’t order one. You always weigh the practical versus the frivolous. The ring would be frivolous to you. The fact that you’ve been weighing your decisions like that for years will never fail to piss me off, because you shouldn’t have had to do that. So I ordered this for you…”
“You’re doing this now, asshole?” Archie asked, an edge