Goldie and the Three Wisconsin Bears

“Wow…” I say. “That’s impressive.”

Nico waves it off. “Like, I said, I’ve always been lucky. And my freshman year of high school, I got even luckier. Mitch’s parents caught jail sentences, and he came to live with us. We got along from the start, and it turned out he had a hell of an arm. We just got each other on the field. Whatever he threw, I caught. It was a natural fit.”

I nod. I’d notice their easy camaraderie the night before. This foster brothers’ backstory makes complete sense. But I have to ask, “So how does Jeb fit into all of this?”

Nico lets out a dry chuckle. “Jeb never told us what happened with his mom or dad, but one day when we were sixteen, Mitch and me walked out to the living room to find him sleeping on the couch. He’s two years younger, but he was already just as tall as us. And he took to Coach Granger’s football lessons even easier than Mitch and me. During neighborhood pick-up games, he’d block anybody who tried to come at Mitch or me. And if Mitch passed him the ball, we knew it was going to make it all the way to the touchdown line. I swear that guy could swat off a T-Rex and still hold on to the ball. Mitch was the quarterback. I was the running back. And Jeb was the tight end. By the time Jeb joined us on the high school team, we’d established our bro block, throw, catch strategy. Or, as one local newspaper reporter called it, “The Click, Click, BOOM!”

I can tell how much delight playing high school ball with his brothers must have given him. And his nostalgic mood makes me feel lighter too—despite this unorthodox and extremely awkward situation. “Coach Granger must have been so proud of you guys.”

“He was, but then he started having some health problems my senior year in high school.”

Nico’s easygoing smile caves in a little, as if it can’t stand up under the painful memory. “But I was still lucky. I had Jeb and Mitch to help me take care of him. Between the three of us, we managed to keep our grades and our football rankings up. He held on until Jeb’s junior year in high school, which was our freshman year at the University of Wisconsin.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I say. But I can see why Nico considered himself lucky. My mom died a few years before I won the Princess Georgia state beauty pageant, and it felt like my life had been unraveling ever since. I can only imagine having the kind of support Nico did.

“I’m glad you guys had each other to lean on after your dad died.”

Nico nods. “Yeah, I don’t know what I would have done without them. Coach left us his pension and the house in Muskego. The pension was enough to pay for Mitch’s and my expenses at the UW. But Jeb had to do about six months in a group home before he could move back into the Muskego house. Mitch and me visited him as much as we could, but it wasn’t enough, I guess. Instead of going to UW like we did after he graduated high school, he enlisted and eventually made it into the Army Rangers. Guess he had some stuff to work out. Meanwhile, Mitch and me both got offers to play for the Wisconsin Bears’ second string team right out of college.”

I nod along, but… “I’m still not understanding how this story ends up with you guys hiring escorts to service all three of you.”

Nico’s smile turns wry. “That’s where even more luck comes in. Mitch and me partied pretty hard at UW, and we kept finding ourselves on opposite sides of the same woman. We didn’t tell Jeb about it, and we never talked about it to each other. But the reason neither of us had committed to a long-term girlfriend in college was that we preferred sharing from the start. We tried dating one-on-one a few times—especially Mitch. But it just didn’t feel natural. So we settled into sharing. And it was even easier to find girls willing to get with the both of us after we became pro-ballers.”

Now it’s my turn to chuckle. “Wow, you really are lucky.”

“Yeah, I am,” Nico agrees with a grin before continuing on with his story. “So I’m playing professional football with my brother from another mother and partying like a rock star. I figured I couldn’t get any luckier than that. But then Jeb joined the team after he was done with the Army Rangers. Mitch had convinced the head coach to give Jeb a walk-on tryout. And get this, he was better than any of the tight ends in that year’s draft.”