Four Good

“You don’t know that,” Corbin says.

Brendan pulls me just a little closer and makes me look at him. “Everyone takes a chance when they start a new relationship, but as for our lifestyle, we’d already been talking about making changes before we met you.

“Our business plans include hiring guides so that we can take on more of a sales and planning role, rather than traveling constantly. We’ll still travel, but probably not all three of us together, and not as frequently,” he says.

“We love Four Points, too,” Jonathan says, “though honestly, we’d want to live wherever you are.”

“What do you say, Christine?” Jay asks, taking my other hand. “Will you give me another chance, and will you give us all a chance to be together?”

I look back at my ex-husband, so familiar and so new, and then at each of his three best friends, so beautiful and caring, and for the first time, I think that fate might really be real, because it truly feels like we were all meant to be together.

If I’m being honest with myself, I’d have to admit that I’m falling in love with the Hayes brothers, and that the place Jay has always had in my heart is expanding once again.

“I will. I say yes,” I tell them, nodding, smiling, letting the tears fall.

As Brendan and Jay lean in to kiss me, Jonathan and Corbin come around the bar. Jonathan scoops me up in his arms, spins me once, and kisses me before Corbin takes me from him, kissing me passionately as he carries me to the corner of the counter where Brendan and Jay meet us.

The four of them gather around me, hugging me and kissing me, and they don’t stop until the sound of people cheering becomes so loud that we can’t ignore it.

Everyone in the bar is watching us. Some people are whistling, a few are clapping, and everyone seems to be sharing in our joy.

Surrounded by these four wonderful men, with the promise of exploring a life with them, the happiness I feel starts to multiply, until it feels absolutely limitless.

Epilogue

FOUR MONTHS LATER

“Christine, this pasta salad is delicious,” Sheila says, scooping another helping onto her plate. “Can I get the recipe?”

“Sure, I’ll ask Jay.”

“Jay made it?” Becca sounds skeptical.

“I haven’t told you what a good cook he is?” I ask, cutting a piece of grilled chicken. “Jay made all of this last night and this morning before he and Corbin left to go fishing.”

“Wow,” Becca says, looking at our summer lunch with new eyes.

“And to think you tried to send the man away.” Sheila shakes her head, teasing me.

“I know. What was I thinking?” I say, laughing.

“Can I give Rosie a piece of chicken?” Caz asks. Roscoe’s new best friend — aside from Trixie, who’s also here visiting — is pawing at Caz’s leg.

“No, please don’t feed her at the table. I don’t want to encourage her begging.”

We adopted Rosie, a beagle mix, a couple of weeks ago and we’re still working on breaking a few of her bad habits. She also chews on things she shouldn’t, which may be why her previous owners had surrendered her to the shelter.

Even though Roscoe loves — and love is an understatement — the four men he now lives with, he seemed to miss seeing Trixie as often as he used to, so we found a friend for him. Rosie has a lot more energy than Roscoe, but she doesn’t bother him when he’s napping, so they get along fine.

It’s been almost two months since Roscoe and I moved in with Jay and the Hayes brothers. The men were able to buy the exact house they’d had as a beach rental. I can’t imagine what they must have paid, because I’m sure the property was in high demand for summer bookings.

I was thrilled with their choice, since the house already held a lot of happy memories, but I didn’t move in with them right away. They actually took me out on several traditional dates first, if you can call a date with four men traditional. We had dinners out, saw movies, and played a lot of miniature golf.

I knew I wanted to be with them, but I wanted us all to get to know each other better — and in the case of Jay and I, to learn more about how we’d each changed and grown.

My patio home is for sale now, and the only downside to moving in with the men is that I miss living next door to Sheila, which is why I invited her, Caz, and Becca to have lunch with me today.

We’re on the back deck under the oversized canopy Brendan had installed to shield me from the sun. Bea is sitting on the window ledge watching us. She wasn’t thrilled about our move at first, but once she saw how many windows the house had, she was a happy kitty again. Like always, she’s still at the foot of my bed when I wake up, even though I’m in different beds on different nights.