Theirs to Keep
“Okay,” she said. “You get points for that one.”
“Why?” I smiled. “Because you knew that already?”
Kate shrugged. “Wasn’t hard to find a ‘Karissa’.”
“I’d imagine not.”
“Also because we found the article on your… ‘incident’,” June added. “The one where you T-boned a drug dealer’s Porsche.”
“More like sideswiped until he ran off the road,” I corrected her. “But yeah, that.”
“Sideswiped into a ditch,” Melanie chuckled. She raised her coffee. “Touché on that one.”
“Thanks.”
“Anyway, everything we read made you seem like a loose cannon,” said Kate. “You raised hell up there, then took off down here. And now you’re in our brother’s life. So tell us…”
“Are you a loose cannon?” June finished for her.
I glanced down, wondering what they wanted to hear. The cheap little table we sat around was stained by a dozen or more coffee rings. People that hadn’t used coasters had left heat impressions in the Formica.
“What kind of answer are you looking for?” I finally asked. “Want me to lie? Tell you I’m straight now, and I’ve got all my anger issues under control? Or should I tell you the truth, which is I’m pretty much winging it. That I lucked into a job I truly love, with three bosses I really admire. That I fell into bed with them too, after a whole year of attraction. And not just one by one, mind you. But two and three at a time.”
I paused, watching the surprise creep over their expressions. Not because they didn’t know the guys were sharing me, which they did. It was more like shock over me being so blunt about it.
“I was as shocked as anyone else when it happened,” I said. “But I rolled with it. I rolled with it because I was desperate for some intimacy in my life, and yes, some sex too. But I continued rolling with it because I actually love these guys, and because they love me. Your brother included.”
They glanced at each other again, and information passed wordlessly and seamlessly between them. It was a sister thing, I knew. It made me a little jealous I’d never had one.
“So you love Bryce.”
“Yes.”
June raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What do you love about him?”
“Well he’s bright. Handsome. Generous. He makes me laugh, constantly, even when I don’t feel like laughing. And of course he’s built like a—”
“We know that part,” Kate interrupted. “Go on about the other stuff.”
I took another sip of my coffee. Not only to get my bearings, but to disarm them a bit.
“Bryce is hardworking. Ambitious. And he never stops moving, which is right up my alley. I’m a lot like him in that regard. It’s like no matter what time of the day or night it is, Bryce’s motor is always running. He p
uts it in idle to sleep maybe, but it never, ever stops.”
Melanie laughed and nodded. Apparently my description of her brother was hitting the nail on the head.
“It gets annoying sometimes,” I admitted, “that he never sits still. But since that’s what happens with me, we’re kinda good for each other. We mellow each other out, especially at the end of the day. We calm each other down.”
They were still watching me, still waiting. Letting me go on, until I either said something wrong or was done.
“Most of all I love that he’s always happy,” I told them. “He’s the most cheerful person I’ve ever met — the type of guy who could bring anyone’s day up. And it’s not a fake happiness either. I’ve seen fake happy. Bryce’s good mood is the real deal, and he has the uncanny ability to inject optimism into even the shittiest situation.”
Silence. Sideways glances. Then:
“Fuck,” said Kate. “That last part about the optimism was dead on.”
Melanie laughed. “I know, right? He’s annoyingly optimistic.”