40. Aubree
FORTY
Brody
There’s a box on your bed for you. Be ready to go at 6:00.
I stare at the text for several seconds in confusion before I respond.
Me
Be ready to go where?
Hayden
Just be ready. No questions.
Me
What about the kids?
Just as I’m hitting send, Beatrice comes strolling into the shop with a conspiratorial smile on her face.
“Grammy!” Evie squeals, running over to give her a hug.
“Hello, sweetheart. How are you?”
“Good. I’m doing my homework.” Evie shows her the world map she’s coloring. “This is where we live.” She points at the state of New York. “Mommy said tomorrow we’re going to look at new places to live.” She glances at me. “Will we still live here?” she asks, her finger on the map.
“We will. It just won’t be in this building anymore.”
It’s been almost a month since school started and the kids are doing well in separate classes. They’ve both made friends and have several from previous years. Miles loves hockey, and Evie adores gymnastics.
The coffeehouse is busy, and I’ve picked up several more accounts from shops and stores that wish to carry my product. I’ve started seriously looking at apartments since I’d like to be in our new place before winter, and because of my supplemental income, it feels like we’ll be okay to move. It will suck having to travel to work, but I don’t have a choice, thanks to the building owner refusing to renew anyone’s leases. We can live month to month until the building sells, but then we’ll only be given two weeks’ notice to move out, and I’m not playing that game.
“Will we live with Hayden and Brody?” Evie asks.
“We totally should,” Miles cuts in. “They have an elevator that goes right to their house, and they have the best game room.”
“You’d be okay with us living with the guys?” I ask curiously. The kids have never lived with anyone but their father and me, and unfortunately, their dad passing when they were young means they don’t remember a lot of it.
“Yeah,” Miles says. “You smile and laugh a lot, so I told them it’s okay to be with you.” My heart squeezes in my chest, remembering the conversation I overheard him having with the guys the night of his birthday.
“Me too!” Evie adds.
“Hey, kids,” Beatrice says. “We should get going.”
“I’m ready,” Miles says, grabbing his backpack and hitching it over his shoulder.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“We’re spending the night with Grammy,” Evie says matter-of-factly.
“You’re…” And then it hits me. The guys must’ve planned this and told the kids about it.
“Have a good night,” Beatrice says, giving me a kiss on my cheek. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Once they’ve left, I finish closing the shop and head upstairs to see what the guys have left for me. On the center of my bed is a big black box with a red bow. Inside, I find a blue maxi dress. With a V-neck and slits running up the sides, it’s the perfect combination of sexy and classy. It’s paired with gorgeous black heels, and underneath I find a sexy bra and panty set.
I take my time getting ready, straightening my hair and applying my makeup. Since I haven’t had time to get my nails done lately, I paint them myself, reading for a little bit while they dry. Once I’m dressed, I stand in front of the full-length mirror and smile. I look like a princess. A beautiful princess who is happy.
My gaze goes to the picture on my bedside table. I pick it up, looking at Pete and me. It was taken at our wedding. We were both smiling hard, excited for what the future would hold. Neither of us having any idea that our happily ever after would be so short-lived. All I wanted was to love and be loved. To create a family that I never really had. Sure, I had my nana, but it wasn’t the same—I wanted a husband to hold me and kiss me, to be my partner in all things. I wanted a father for my children, someone to wake up and go to bed with. To cry and laugh with.
And for a short time, I had that… until I didn’t.
I stare at the picture in my hand and think back to the day at Fields—seeing the photos and drawings Brody and Hayden had hanging up, showing how much the kids and I mean to them.
Taking the photo with me, I walk through the apartment, realizing that not a single photo has been taken after Pete passed. I’ve been so wrapped up in mourning that it’s like I forgot to celebrate the people who are still here.
I make the decision right here and now that when we move, I’m going to put up newer pictures of the kids and add in pictures of Hayden and Brody. They’re in our life, and if I have it my way, they’ll stay in our life for however long the fates will allow.
There’s a knock on my door, and I set the frame down so I can answer it. On the other side, I find Brody and Hayden standing in sharp tuxes, their faces clean shaven. Both men are holding a bouquet.
“You look stunning,” Brody says, kissing my cheek and stepping inside.
“Perfect,” Hayden adds, following.
Since the flowers both have vases, I thank them and set them on the center of the table, then grab my clutch that holds my ID, phone, and money.
“I don’t know what the occasion is,” I tell them, “but I must admit as much as I love you in a suit, these tuxes make me want to rip them off and have my way with you.” I wink playfully, and they both smile wide, making my heart melt.
“It’s been four months since you agreed to go out on a date with each of us,” Brody says, taking my hand in his and kissing the top. “We’re taking you out to dinner to celebrate.”
When we get downstairs, I find a sleek black limo waiting at the curb for us. Hayden opens the door for me, and I tell Brody to slide in first, wanting to sit between the two of them.
The ride to dinner is spent with the guys feeling me up and kissing me, telling me how beautiful I look and how much I mean to them. If I were dating one of them, I would feel cherished and loved, but dating them both is almost too much. Sometimes, when they’re doting on me, I wonder if I’m enough for them. If they’re missing out because there’s only one of me to two of them, but then I shut down my insecurities because if I wasn’t enough, they wouldn’t be here, showering me with love and attention. They’re wealthy, good looking, sweet, and selfless. They could have their pick of women—but they want me: the curvy, single mom, widow. And they love me just the way I am.
We arrive at the Pierce Hotel—a luxury hotel that I’ve only ever seen in passing—and the guys escort me to the restaurant that’s on the rooftop. The hostess takes us back to a private room with a candlelit square table. After pulling out and pushing my chair in for me, the guys sit on either side of me.
I’m assuming they handled the details ahead of time because the server doesn’t take our order. Instead, he brings out a bottle of the wine I love and pours us each a glass.
“How did Miles do on his math test?” Brody asks after taking a sip of his drink. “It was today, right?”
“He thinks he did good,” Hayden replies before I can. “He texted me this afternoon and thinks he got them all right.”
“What? When?” Brody pulls out his phone, his brows pinched together.
“Not in the group chat,” Hayden explains. “I texted him earlier about his hockey game on Monday and asked.”
“He’s so damn nervous,” Brody says with a chuckle. “We should take him to practice on Sunday to get him hyped up.”
“Hell yeah,” Hayden says. “He’s going to kill it as goalie.”
As the guys talk about my son, my gaze volleys between them, listening, watching, and taking it all in. Two years ago, Lacey set me up on a blind date with some corporate bigwig who worked with her husband. I tried to refrain from bringing up my kids, wanting to keep the date about me, but when it came up, and I mentioned my kids, I could immediately see the shutters dropping. The date might as well have ended at that moment because once he knew I was a single mom, there was nothing left to say. This is why I told them I had kids when I first went out with Brody and Hayden. I figured it would push them away, and I could say I tried, then go back to being a lonely, mourning widow.
Only instead of pushing them away, they embraced me being a single mom and they didn’t stop there. Without expectation, they’ve developed their own relationships with my children. Relationships that aren’t just for show to win me over—no, they care about them and connect with them. We’re at dinner, celebrating our four-month anniversary, and instead of discussing getting laid—which hasn’t happened in over a week thanks to life—they’re talking about hockey games and math tests.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Brody asks. It isn’t until he knocks me out of my thoughts that I realize I’ve teared up, my emotions getting the better of me.
“Nothing,” I say honestly. “Everything is perfect.”
Hayden’s brow furrows. “Then why the hell are you crying?” He swipes at a tear that’s leaked out and is sliding down my cheek.
“I just… I’m…” Jesus, how do I explain how I feel? I take a deep breath and just go with whatever comes to me. “I love you both so much. I love that you love my children and that you think about them. That you think about me. I didn’t even know we have an anniversary date,” I say through a watery laugh. “And…” I sigh, my gaze flitting between the two of them. “I’m happy.”
Those two words shouldn’t send me over the edge, but they do because after living through the childhood I did, then finding love and shortly after losing it, then losing my nana, happiness has been really hard to grasp. But between my children, who were the only things keeping me afloat since losing Pete and my grandma, and Hayden and Brody, I’ve finally found happiness again, and it feels so damn good.
“Every time I imagined what happiness looked like, it seemed so far off. It was wrapped around my marriage, the life we were creating. After he died, that happiness looked different. It wasn’t as vibrant, full of color. Don’t get me wrong—my kids are my entire world, but I craved the happiness that comes from adult conversations, lazy mornings in bed… orgasms.” I feel myself flush, but I’m not embarrassed. Hayden and Brody make me feel safe to say whatever’s on my mind.
“I didn’t think I’d ever find that kind of happiness again. But then you two came along. You gave me back the happiness I longed for. Filled my heart with a kind of love that I didn’t think I’d ever feel again.” I lift my hands and thread my fingers through both of theirs. “Thank you for not giving up on me when I pushed you away. Thank you for loving me, for loving my kids.”
Hayden shakes his head, and Brody chuckles under his breath.
“What?” I ask, worried I said something wrong.
“We had this huge speech planned, and then you swooped in and stole our thunder,” Hayden says, his tone half playful and half serious. “Fuck it.” He shrugs, then pushes his chair back. “We were going to wait until after dinner to do this, but after everything you said, now seems like the perfect time.”
Hayden gets down on one knee, and then Brody joins him. I know what this means, but I can’t quite wrap my head around it until Brody pulls a ring box out and opens it, exposing a gorgeous princess-cut diamond ring with two matching outer bands.
“The middle one is the engagement ring,” Brody explains.
“But instead of one wedding band, we had it designed so you’ll have two,” Hayden adds. “They fit around the center band, symbolizing the three of us as one unit.”
“Aubree Heart,” Brody says, his eyes locking with mine. “We know that in the eyes of the law, you can’t legally marry us both, but we would love it if you would wear our ring. And one day…”
“Soon,” Hayden cuts in. “Really fucking soon.”
Brody rolls his eyes, and I laugh at how adorable they are.
“One day soon,” Brody says, “we would love to marry you and put our rings on your finger that symbolize our commitment and love to you, as well as your kids, the law be damned.”
Brody plucks the middle ring out of the cushion as Hayden says, “And for the record, the kids are aware, and Miles has given us his approval.”
“Evie too,” Brody adds. “And Beatrice…”
“And Lacey.” Hayden chuckles.
“Pretty much, we’ve gotten everyone’s approval but yours,” Brody says with a light laugh. “So, Bree, will you make us the luckiest guys in the world and marry us?”
“Yes,” I choke out. “I would love nothing more than to marry both of you.”
Brody slides the ring onto my finger and then pulls my face down to his, kissing me softly, passionately. “Thank you,” he murmurs against my lips.
He ends the kiss, and Hayden pulls me into his arms, his mouth crashing against mine. Claiming, taking, demanding.
When the kiss ends, I glance down at my ring, my heart filled with so much love. Then I look at my two men, who want me forever, and the only thing I want is to begin forever with them, right now.
“I know we haven’t eaten dinner yet,” I say, “but is there any way we can skip it and go back to your place to celebrate?”
Hayden barks out a laugh. “Oh, baby, we’re not going back to our place tonight. We booked a suite here, where we plan to spend the entire night showing you just how happy we are that you’re wearing our ring.”
Oh, hell yes.
Well, in that case… “Check, please.”