Four Good

15

A fourth person

“I thought you said Jay was a good friend.” I glance at Brendan and then do a quick scan of my surroundings. Becca’s across the room, wiping down tables, and Valerie’s somewhere in the back. A few customers have come in, but they’re out of earshot. “Do you mean to tell me that your good friend won’t mind if you sleep with his ex-wife?”

“If we had known ahead of time who you were, we wouldn’t have gotten involved with you,” Brendan says, “but since that ship has sailed, we see no reason to change course. It’s not as if we can undo what’s been done.”

I had been looking forward to spending another night with them, and I’m irritated at the coincidence of Jay showing up, but what he’s saying doesn’t make any sense.

“We can’t undo things, but I’m not going to make the situation worse.” Even though no one’s around, I lean in and lower my voice. “I’m not coming over to have sex with you while my ex is sleeping in the same house!”

The option of inviting them to my house occurs to me, but it wouldn’t be much better. Jay would be on my mind, no matter where I was with them. I only ever planned to spend one night with these three men, anyway, and it was a wonderful night. Anything more would be much too awkward now.

Corbin draws in a deep breath and looks to both of his brothers before saying, “What if we take sex off the table? What if we get together as friends?”

“Friends? What exactly do you mean?” A few seats down, a regular customer has come in, so I excuse myself to serve him, leaving my question hanging.

When I return to the Hayes brothers, Corbin says, “We’re taking a boat out tomorrow. We’d love it if you would spend the day with us out on the water.”

I’m starting to think that Corbin’s grin could convince me to do just about anything. Add to that the fact that I love being out on a boat. I’m not much of an outdoorsy person, but there’s something both soothing and exciting about the ocean air and being surrounded by a great expanse of water.

“We’re planning to go over to Seacoast Island,” Jonathan says. “We can have a picnic lunch there and explore the place. Have you been?”

“I have not,” I say. I’ve heard it’s beautiful, and it’s a place I’ve wanted to go. Though the men don’t know tomorrow’s my birthday, what they’re proposing sounds like a lovely way to spend the day.

I don’t have to work tomorrow, either, but I’ll still be coming to Rusty’s at night because my friend Caz and the men who own the bar are throwing a party for me.

“So come. What do you say?” Brendan’s eyes are fixed on me, a corner of his mouth turned up in a similarly irresistible way to his brother’s.

“Will Jay be coming?” I ask, stepping back a pace to try to break the pull these men have on me.

“This is a working vacation for him too, so I don’t think so,” Corbin says.

“Is he still a photographer?”

“Yeah, he managed to get an assignment in the area so that he could join us on this trip. We travel together a few times of year like that, when we can get things to line up.”

“So you only see him a few times a year?”

Jonathan raises his hand to interrupt. “Whether or not you decide to go with us tomorrow, I could still use a beer tonight.”

The rest of us laugh as Jonathan grins back at us.

“I guess I’m not doing my job.” I reach for a glass as I look toward Brendan and Corbin. “How about you two?”

“I’ll have my usual,” Corbin says.

“Me too,” Brendan says. “I’ve been craving that porter all day.” As I pour, he says, “To answer your question, we see Jay for a few weeks total every year, give or take. With our travel schedules, it can be difficult to get together with friends.”

“A few weeks? That’s more time than I usually spend with my family in a year.”

Brendan gives a shrug. “Like I said, we’re close.”

A few things occur to me at once. Maybe Jay doesn’t care that I’ve slept with his friends; otherwise, if they’re as close as Brendan says they are, why would they be in here, still trying to make plans to be with me?

My other thought is more disturbing. Since the four of them take vacations together, maybe they’ve shared women before. That idea bothers me a lot, though I’m not even sure why.

It’d be ridiculous to think that Jay hasn’t slept with other women in all of the years we’ve been apart, so why should I care if he’s shared women with Brendan, Corbin, and Jonathan?