by Mari Carr
Then he decided it wasn’t.
They’d been friends forever, so it didn’t feel like they were jumping into this relationship at the beginning. Rather, for Tyson, it was almost as if they’d been a trio for much longer. For him, it had really started just over a year ago when they’d kissed in the barn. From that day on, he’d begun to view them as his, and he’d known he would never want anyone else in his life.
“I don’t know how any of it’s going to work,” he admitted.
“Want some advice?”
He chuckled. “Would you hold back if I said no?”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. Figure out the answers to all the questions before you go talk to Uncle George and Mr. Hott. Because I promise you they’re going to come at you with lots of them. Be prepared.”
It was good advice. He was going to start the conversation Harley had begun last night. And this time they were going to finish it. “Okay.”
“And if you think it would help with the rest—your worries about how the town will accept you—you guys could also talk to Amanda. She faced something similar to this when she came back home to Maris with a girlfriend in tow.”
Amanda was one of Macie’s best friends. And Macie was right. It had been a bit of a shake-up when Amanda returned from college with Brandi. But the hubbub died down eventually and now the two women were planning their wedding. With Macie as the officiant. The family was having a lot of fun imagining Macie presiding over anyone’s marriage, but Tyson suspected she’d do a great job.
“That’s probably not a bad idea. I was going to talk to Jeannette, Luc and Diego too.”
“See? Lots of people. Lots of ways to fall in love. And they’re all still here in Maris, living normal lives. They weren’t run out of town on a rail. You guys won’t be either.”
Macie’s response to his news, as well as her insight into human nature, had helped set his mind at ease. “Thanks, Mace. Seriously. Talking to you—”
She waved him off, interrupting before he could finish. “I’m a bartender, Ty. And brilliant, to boot. You came to the right place.”
He grasped her hand, appreciating her humor. He gave it a squeeze. “I know you were joking, but you really are brilliant.”
She flushed slightly, clearly delighted by his compliment. And then, because she had the attention span of a flea, she changed the subject. “Y’all ready to play at Sydney’s wedding? Only two more weeks to go.”
“We’re ready.”
“It’s going to be the party of the century,” Macie declared. There was nothing his cousin liked more than a good party.
Tyson nodded. “It’s going to be great.” They continued to chat about the upcoming nuptials for a bit.
Then Coop walked in and claimed what Tyson had noticed seemed to be the man’s usual spot at the bar. As always, Coop smiled at Macie, and Tyson couldn’t help but wonder, as he always did, if the widower wasn’t carrying a torch for his cousin. Not that Tyson would mind that. Hank Cooper was a good guy, right to the core. Tyson had been his wife Sharon’s primary care physician, and he’d had a lot of time to get to know the man as Sharon battled, then lost her life to cancer. Coop had been by her side the entire time, caring for her, completely devoted and wonderful.
While he couldn’t help but think Macie would be lucky to date Coop, Tyson also felt very strongly that Coop would be pretty damn fortunate too. Macie was a live wire with an abundance of energy and a bit of a crazy streak, but she was going to make some man’s life a hell of a lot of fun one day.
“What’s new?” Coop asked.
Macie looked at Tyson as she spoke. “Tyson’s involved in a scandalous affair at the moment and I’m pea-green with envy.”
Tyson closed his eyes and reconsidered every nice thought he’d had about his cousin.
“Is that right?” Coop asked, looking over at Tyson. “Good for you.”
And just like that, the conversation ended as Macie winked at Tyson. While Coop studied the menu, she mouthed the words, “I won’t tell anyone” to Ty. He smiled and knew she wouldn’t. She’d take the secret to the grave if need be—but she’d also be ready to rub it in TJ’s face that she knew first, as well.
“Come on, Coop. Stop screwing around with the menu. We both know you’re going to order the special.”
Coop chuckled as he handed her the menu back. “Give me the special.”
Macie started chatting with Coop about Sydney’s wedding and her plans for Amanda’s ceremony. Coop did a lot of nodding, while murmuring the occasional “yes” or “mmmhmm,” but other than that, Macie carried the conversation.
Caleb and Harley entered the restaurant together, so Tyson grabbed his coffee cup to join them at a booth near the wall. “I’ll catch you guys later.”
It was Friday and they’d decided to make it a half day. Tyson was off work from now until Monday morning. And he intended to spend at least ninety-five percent of that time naked and in bed with them.
He claimed the spot next to Harley in the booth and set his cup down. “I told Macie about the three of us.”
Caleb winced. “You did what?”
Tyson tried to fight back the anger he felt at Caleb’s offended tone. “I told her.”
“Jesus, Ty, why don’t you just hang the news up on a billboard on the highway? I suspect it would reach about the same number of people.”
Tyson scowled at his friend. “Macie won’t tell.”
Caleb rolled his eyes and looked away, making it clear he didn’t agree with that reassurance.
“What did she say?” Harley asked.
Tyson grinned despite his annoyance with Caleb. “It’s Macie.”
He let that answer his question and Harley laughed. “Cool. Score one more for our side.”
“It’s not a contest,” Caleb muttered. “And it’s hardly fair when you consider who you’ve told. You started with the gimmes.” It was clear the stress of talking to his father was starting to get to Caleb. Tyson realized his friend wasn’t upset that he’d told Macie. It was more like he was upset with himself for not being able to do the same.
“I know it’s only been a couple of weeks,” Harley said as she grasped Caleb’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Feels like longer though, doesn’t it?”
Tyson nodded. “I’ve loved you since we were kids, and I fell in love with you that day in the barn last year when we kissed.”
“Change of plans,” Caleb said, rising from the booth. “Come on.”
Tyson stood as well, confused, and then Harley followed him out of the booth. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Caleb bypassed their cars in the parking lot and the three of them walked a touch too quickly and in silence for several blocks, until Tyson figured out where they were headed.
They walked toward the gazebo that sat in the center of the park. It was a pretty day, so there were a few people out, taking advantage of the sunshine, eating picnic lunches, tossing Frisbees and playing with their dogs.
They climbed the steps to the empty gazebo and together they turned to look out at the large, open grassy area before them.
“I fell in love with you two right here,” Caleb said. “Our first public gig, remember? Tyson’s dad told us it was time we stopped messing around in the basement. He got us the gig and we played a handful of songs at the Maris Barbeque Festival. That field out there was packed with people and we were all standing up here—nervous, excited, terrified.”
Tyson could see everything Caleb described, recalled the day as if it were yesterday.
“It was our senior year,” Harley added as she pointed to the left. “Johnnie sat right over there under that tree with Granddad. They were so proud of me that day.”
Caleb rested his hands on the railing. “Everyone was. Not many people had heard us play before that and I don’t think their expectations were too high. Think they thought we’d bang out a few clangers, they’d clap politely, and that would be it
.”
“We rocked it,” Tyson said, remembering his cousins jumping up and down and screaming out his name after every song. The way his dad gave him a thumbs-up at the end of the performance. He’d never questioned his father’s love, but just the same, whenever Tyson could gain his approval—something that required quite a bit of work—he remembered it, savored it.
Caleb nodded. “We put it all out there, played our hearts out, showed them what we were capable of. The whole town looked at us differently that day. Suddenly we weren’t just a bunch of rowdy teenagers. We had something that set us apart, that made us special.”
Tyson felt uneasy. “Why are we here, Cal?”
“Look around.”
Tyson followed Caleb’s gaze around the park. There wasn’t anyone there who he didn’t know by name. Hell, he could have named their parents, siblings, jobs, and told at least one funny story about over half the folks there.
“We have to put it all out there one more time. Show them our hearts. And believe me, this time, they will see us differently again.”
Something Macie had said earlier stuck with him, so Tyson repeated it. “Is the regard of this town more important than what we have?”
Harley’s eyes were glued to Caleb’s face, and Tyson could see the anxiety she was feeling.
Caleb never hesitated. He shook his head. “No. It’s not. But I love this town too. Love the people in it. My parents aren’t like y’alls. They won’t get this. They won’t. And I have to figure out a way to tell them, to make them understand it. I just need a little bit more time.”
Tyson felt guilty for pushing the issue. He should have known this would be harder for Caleb. He wasn’t the type to throw caution to the wind. He took calculated risks and when it came to people he cared about, people he loved, he would work overtime to ensure he never hurt them.
“Or,” Harley said with a twinkle in her eye. “We could just strip off all our clothes and go at it like sex maniacs, right here on the gazebo, right now.”
Tyson chuckled and Caleb grinned as he shook his head. “You’re twisted, Harley. You’re getting to be as bad as Macie, seeing everything from some weird perspective.”
Tyson expected her to continue the joke, so he was surprised when her face sobered.
“Actually, I think I’m the only one looking at this from the right perspective. Johnnie died when he was only twenty-nine years old. He never got married, had kids, bought a house. He never got to dance to the ‘Orange Blossom Special’ with his own legs. Despite all that, he was one of the happiest people I’ve ever known.
“We are so blessed. We have our health and the chance to live out something truly amazing. And yeah, Cal, maybe people will judge us for it. But I don’t care. Johnnie faced some of the most horrific limits I can imagine—not being able to walk, to feed himself, to move his arms. And he still retained his humor, his love of life. He found ways to dance at the barn parties; he was all over that damn farm, telling me how to do everything. He was a voracious reader, he loved music and art, and he laughed all the time. Plus, he never missed his weekly lunch date at the restaurant with Macie. What if someone had looked at him and said, ‘You shouldn’t do any of that because people in wheelchairs should stay home where we don’t have to see them’? What if he’d let someone else limit what he wanted to do?”
Tyson was blown away by her elegance, by her conviction, by her strength. “I would have liked to see someone try to hold Johnnie back. He’d have run the asshole over with his chair.”
“Then backed up and done it again,” Caleb added. “Harley—”
“You’re letting other people set the limits. It’s your life, Cal. Your future, your happiness. Just answer one question for me. Do you want more?”
Caleb didn’t hesitate. He nodded. “You know I do.”
“How much more?”
Tyson wasn’t sure what to think when Caleb’s gaze traveled to him. “All of it. I want all of it.”
“Come on,” Harley said, taking Caleb’s hand. They walked in silence as they returned to the restaurant.
“Where to?”
She tugged him toward her car. “You’re not the only person with a special place. Can you guys leave your cars here this weekend?”
There were plenty of spots in the Sparks Barbeque parking lot. Tyson nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Why?”
“You’ll see.”
They drove out of town and headed for her family’s farm. Tyson knew this route as well as the back of his hand. “The farm?”
Harley grinned as she pulled down the driveway that led to the farmhouse. “Not exactly. I came out earlier today and set up a few things with Granddad’s help.”
“Did you tell him too?” Caleb asked.
Harley shook her head. “No. Not yet. You’re not the only one struggling to come clean, Cal. I mean, Granddad is super cool, but there’s a definite awkward factor when you consider I have to tell my seventy-five-year-old grandfather I’m shacking up with two guys. I’m pretty sure I’ll die of embarrassment before I get the words out.”
Tyson chuckled. “Just make sure we’re nowhere near when you break the news.”
“Chicken shit,” she taunted with a grin.
She parked her car by the barn, not bothering to go into the house. As they entered the building, Tyson spotted the three horses, all saddled with familiar packs on their backs.
“Camping?” he asked, though it was obvious that was her intention. The three of them—sometimes with Logan, sometimes without—had gone on more weekend camping excursions than he could count.
“Yep. Thought we were due for a trip.”
“I love it,” Caleb said, hugging Harley. “And I love you.”
“We’re all thinking too hard lately. The only time things feel completely right are when we’re alone together. So let’s go be alone, fuck each other’s brains out, and then come back stronger.”
“Let me get this straight,” Caleb said. “You’re seducing us in hopes of distracting us and making us forget what we were just talking about?”
Harley gave Caleb a sheepish grin. “Um. Yeah?”
His eyes were serious when he nodded slowly. “I have absolutely no problem with that.”
“Everything we need in those packs?” Tyson asked.
“Yep.”
“Then let’s go.”
Chapter Ten
Harley finished gathering kindling for the fire pit as Tyson and Caleb put up the tent. In the past, whenever they went camping, they’d brought two tents. One for the guys and one for her. This time, they just brought a four-man one.
“Good thing you remembered the tent stakes, Harley,” Tyson joked as Caleb flipped him the bird.
Harley laughed. “I’m more responsible than Cal.”
Caleb shot them both dirty looks. “One time. It was only one time I forgot the damn things. And it wasn’t like we had to rough it. We just had to pile into one tent.”
“A two-man tent,” Harley reminded him. They had teased Caleb about the misadventures of that camping trip for years. It had been the summer after the guys’ freshman year in college. They were home for the summer and Caleb declared one morning that they were going camping. Harley had been in Dallas with Johnnie for a doctor’s appointment and Logan and Tyson were both working, so Caleb assured them he’d take care of packing everything they needed, so as soon as they arrived at the farm they could head out to the campsite. Otherwise, they’d be traveling through the woods and arriving after dark—which was the reason all of them had given Caleb for waiting until the next day, when they had more time to prepare. However, he had it in his head they needed to go sooner rather than later, so they entrusted him to do all the preparations.
Tyson staked down one corner of the tent. “We were stacked up like sardines in that thing. Pretty sure I didn’t get five minutes of sleep. Woke up with Logan’s elbow pressing against my face and Harley’s knee in my back.”
“It wouldn�
�t have been a big deal if it hadn’t started raining. A couple of us could have stayed outside otherwise.” Caleb used that defense every time.
And now, like always, they ignored it.
Harley snapped a branch in half, adding it to the pit. “Between the storm and being squished half to death in the middle of you guys, it was a long damn night.”
The second she mentioned her placement in the tent, she felt two pairs of eyes on her. No doubt they were recalling that night as well. Logan had been on one end, Caleb on the other. She and Tyson were jammed into the center, and that was the first time she’d slept between her two guys.
She had always lied about her reasons for not being able to sleep. In truth, she’d felt a sexual attraction, a pull to them. She hadn’t acted on it, but she had lain there all night, imagining things she thought could never come to pass.
The last couple of weeks had proven her wrong on that count.
“I had a hard-on that whole night,” Caleb confessed.
Tyson snorted. “You get hard when there’s a strong wind or whenever you smell bacon. That’s hardly news.”
Caleb chucked a small stone at his friend, but Tyson deftly dodged it.
“Maybe so, Ty, but when I think about it, that night was the first time I wondered…”
Harley agreed with Caleb’s statement. “I wondered too, Cal.”
Tyson swallowed heavily. “Yeah. So did I. Of course, we were all twenty, which when you think about it is synonymous with horny. And while this works as a threesome, Logan was there too, and he would not make for a happy foursome. Son of a bitch snores something awful.”
Harley dropped down on one of the logs set up by the pit as a seat. Her granddad had built this campsite at the edge of their farm nearly fifty years earlier. He’d brought her dad out here when he was younger, and then her and Johnnie, back before the accident. It was an eight-mile ride by horseback and it sat next to the river. They were surrounded by nothing but woods. It was peaceful, picturesque, perfect.
It was Harley’s retreat. Sometimes she’d simply ride out here for the day when she needed to get away. She’d arrive in the morning, cook lunch over the fire pit, sit by the river with her feet in the water, and then she’d ride back in the afternoon. She’d come here the day after Johnnie died, sobbing out her sorrow to the trees and the water.
