Unwrapping Holly

Brody dropped something onto the table that looked like a lasagna. Only thinner. And more watery. And more—

“It’s gonna taste better than it looks,” he announced, without a hint of shame. “Trust me.”

We sat down, all four of us, at the exact same time. It was so synchronous we had to pause to acknowledge it by looking up at each other.

“Here’s to another year of being awesome,” said Brody, holding up his bottle.

“Me, right?” Donovan toasted. “You’re talking about me?”

“He’s talking about me,” I joked, holding out my wine glass. Brody clinked it from across the table, hard enough that everyone winced.

We toasted. We drank. I grabbed my napkin, laying it across my lap.

“In the spirit of the new year,” said Lincoln, “I have a gift for everyone.”

We’d already set down our drinks. Now Brody stopped sawing the lasagna mid-cut.

“We did gifts last week,” said Donovan. “And as usual you upstaged us. There’s no reason to—”

CLACK!

Lincoln slapped something down in the center of the table. It left the remaining three of us staring down in confusion… at another key.

“What the—”

“This key doesn’t open anything,” said Lincoln. “Yet.”

He was right. The key had no teeth. It wasn’t even cut.

“It’s a blank key,” he explained, “because it’s the key to a new place. OUR place,” he emphasized. “The one that the four of us al

l get together and pick out.”

We were all staring at him now, as we usually were. Brody held a finger up.

“You mean…”

“I mean when you guys are ready,” he said, “we rent this place out. We get a loft of our own. Or a brownstone. Or a building…”

Everyone sat uncharacteristically still. Smiling, Lincoln took the knife from Brody’s hand and began cutting again.

“If we’re going to be together,” he said, “we might as well be together.” He shrugged as he served me first. “Unless you all think we need three apartments.”

I laughed. “Hell, I haven’t been to my apartment in five days.”

“I know,” Lincoln nodded. “And although this place is great… the three of us are in love with the same woman. And she with us.” After looking at each of the others, he shifted his gaze in my direction. “And that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Is it?”

“Not a chance,” I breathed.

“Good,” he smiled, serving each of us in turn. “Then it’s settled.”

Settled. It was just like Lincoln to put things that way. And yet…

And yet the others hadn’t argued. They hadn’t spoken up. Donovan and Brody were staring at each other, with volumes passing wordlessly between them.

All of us. Together.

It was a goal we’d talked about, off and on. But it was always in the future. Always ahead of us.