Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Even though I love the group dynamic in the bedroom, the very few relationships I tried in my twenties had been between two because, well, that’s what you do according to society.
Being in Kit and Brady’s orbit again, I’m convinced society is a toxic place of closed-mindedness and tradition.
Kit’s my best friend, and we always had this intense connection that surpassed friendship, but Brady came along, and somehow, I fit with him as well as I do with Kit.
When Kit leaves to wait for Brady in the lobby, I take out my phone and video call my parents in Hawaii.
“Aloha, Jimmy!” Dad answers in his chipper tone. He’s where I get my Polynesian genes from.
“It’s afternoon in New York, Dad.”
“New York? Why are you in New York? I thought this was going to be the phone call your mother and I always dread.” He turns his head to call out, “Abbey! Our least favorite son is calling.” He thinks he’s so funny.
“I’m actually here with your favorite son,” I say.
“Kit’s there? Put him on.” He ducks and weaves his head as if he’ll be able to see Kit from a different angle. Parents and technology, I swear.
“He’s not here.”
“You said—”
“He’s in New York. Not in the same room this very minute. Besides, I called to talk to you. The one who Mom actually birthed, and I need advice.”
“Marry him.” Mom appears next to Dad.
“Yeah, not that advice.” Even if she’s determined to make it happen one day. “But it is about Kit. And … someone else.”
“Uh-oh,” Mom says.
“Did you go and get yourself stuck in a love triangle?” Dad asks.
“I thought it was only girls in teen movies that did that,” Mom says.
“It’s not a love … triangle … exactly.” I may not keep secrets from my parents, but it’s not like talking about sex with them is easy.
“Oh, is it a three-way situation? A … What do you call it?” Mom’s brow pinches while she tries to think.
“A ménage à trois,” Dad says.
“I know we taught you to share as a child, but this takes it to a whole new level.” My mom also thinks she’s funny.
“Why did I call you guys for advice again?”
“We’re listening,” Mom says. “But you’re not talking. You’re being vague.”
Sure, vague. Has nothing to do with them not letting me get a word in yet.
I let out a loud breath. “How did you two know you were with the one, and how did you know … that there was only one for you?”
“I don’t understand the question,” Mom says.
“I think he’s asking what made us choose to marry each other and be faithful that whole time.”
“I have a boy toy on the side.” Mom laughs.
Dad and I don’t join her.
“Oh.” Her face falls. “You’re serious.”
“I know you’re all about love is love and you’re free thinkers, but there’s this guy. Brady. Both Kit and I are into him, and when we’re together, it’s amazing, but it’s finding time to be together that’s the issue, and we were at his house earlier, and he kicked us out when his family came home—”
“Family as in wife and kids?” Mom asks.
“God no. His dads and brother. And a few uncles, I think. There were a lot of people there.”
“How old is he?”
“He’s twenty-four, Mom. In law school. He’s really smart.”
“Not so smart of him to come between you and Kit though, is he?” Dad says.
“It’s not like that. At all. If anything, he brings me and Kit closer in some ways. When Kit left California and then quit the navy entirely, Brady’s been the one talking me through it. He’s the entire reason Kit and I still see each other at all anymore.”
Mom purses her lips. “It sounds like you’re saying you’re using this Brady kid to get to Kit?”
I grunt and run my hand through my hair. “No. I’m saying that somewhere along the way, I might have developed feelings for Brady. The same kind I have for Kit.”
“You always told us you and Kit were only friends,” Dad says.
“We are!” This is not coming across right. I try to find the words, the words I’ve probably been denying for way too long. “I didn’t think I’d miss Kit as much as I have. I don’t miss him in the way a best friend misses his roommate. At the same time, when I think of Kit, I think of Brady, and I … I want them both. But I can’t even make a relationship work with one person. With two, I could fuck everything up. And there’s also no point in even thinking about this because of the distance between us all. So why can’t I let it go like I always have? Why, when Brady’s family came home and he freaked out, did I feel like a dirty little secret doing something wrong instead of what we are, which is … well, I guess technically we could only be called fuck buddies, but it’s so much more than that. At least it is for me.”