16. Wren
WREN
A bell over the door jingles as I step into the restaurant, triggering the locals seated inside to all look up at me for a beat before they return to their food or conversations. It’s nearly noon, and about half of the booths and tables are occupied.
I take a small table near the front and am almost immediately greeted by a waitress. “Coffee?”
“Please.”
She slides a menu onto the table. “I’ll be back to take your order.”
I wasn’t planning on eating, but tempting smells coming from the kitchen make me rethink my decision, so I order a grilled turkey sandwich when the waitress returns.
While I wait, I wrap my hands around the coffee mug and let myself breathe, and for a few minutes, I feel normal.
I’m a woman having lunch in a mountain town, not a biologist whose soil samples are contaminated with narcotics, and certainly not a woman living under the protection of three men who make her pulse jump around like a rabbit doing a courtship dance.
Just coffee, a sandwich, and maybe pie.
When laughter rises from a table nearby, I glance over at the two women sitting across from each other, who look vaguely familiar.
One has dark hair pulled into a thick braid, and the other has long blonde waves and a sweet little baby tucked into the crook of her arm.
She catches me looking and waves, and then the brunette looks over and smiles.
“You’re the biologist, right?” she asks. “No maps today?” When my brows lift in question, she says, “We saw you in here a while back.”
As I nod, the blonde says, “Want to join us?”
Before I can answer, the brunette pulls a chair out, welcoming me over. The women are about my age, and because it’s been a while since I’ve spoken to anyone except my supervisor and the Wilder brothers, I decide to accept their invitation.
As I take my coffee over and sit in the offered chair, the dark-haired woman introduces herself as Elena Ramirez and says she’s the principal of the elementary school.
“And this is Kira Parker and her daughter, Felicity,” she says, as the blonde adjusts the sleepy baby’s position in her arms. The infant looks to be about two months old, and has one tiny fist pressed to her cheek.
“I’m Wren Hollis, but maybe you already knew that.”
“Moon Ridge does have a pretty efficient news network,” Elena says.
“How long are you in town?” Kira asks.
“A few weeks, probably. Depends on the fieldwork.”
“Wildlife?”
“Yes, US Fish and Wildlife. There have been some disturbances in the backcountry.”
Kira’s eyes sharpen. “That sounds vague in an official way.”
“It is.”
The waitress finds me at my new table and delivers my sandwich and fries. The other two women are halfway through their lunches, and they continue eating now that I have food.
“Was that a Wilder brother you were with out front?” Elena asks after a few quiet bites.
“Boone Wilder. You know him?” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize how silly the question is. “Of course you do.”
“We also know you hired the Wilder brothers to guide you,” Elena says, “but don’t worry, we don’t know everything. Information is still being scouted on your middle name and your exact shoe size.”
I let out a laugh and feel myself relax like I haven’t in days.
As we eat, we talk about the town and how long the women have lived here. I learn that Elena has an eight-year-old son and Felicity is Kira’s first baby, though she’s hoping to have more children.
At some point, Elena casually asks if I’m staying at the motel, and I freeze just before taking the last bite of my sandwich. It’s a short pause, but the women notice it.
“I guess there are still other things the town doesn’t know,” I say. “I’m temporarily staying at the Wilder cabin.” As heat rises to my face, I add, “For safety reasons.”
“Of course,” Elena says gently.
Kira, who’s been eating one-handed, sets down her fork and shifts the baby against her shoulder. “Safety reasons are how a lot of things start around here.”
When I cock my head at her, she says, “I live with three men, too.”
“Me too,” Elena says.
At first, I’m sure they’re teasing me, but their expressions tell me they’re not. I stare back and forth between them, not sure whether to ask questions or pretend I don’t have any. The scientist in me opts to gather information. “Are you … romantically involved?”
Both women nod.
“Each of you with three men?”
They nod again, and I’m sure my eyes are as wide as they’ve ever been. Several follow-up questions spring to mind, but since I’ve just met these women, all of the things I’m wondering about seem too personal. Instead, without much forethought, I say, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Elena and Kira don’t say anything, but their expressions invite me to say more.
“There’s nothing going on between us, but honestly, it feels like I’m sitting on a ticking time bomb in that cabin.
Rhett walks into a room, and all the cells in my body seem to rearrange themselves in response to his energy.
Cade barely says anything, but I’m somehow aware of him every second.
Boone smiles and makes it all seem easy, but nothing about him is easy. ”
The confession should embarrass me more, but it’s overridden by the relief I feel from voicing my feelings.
“I keep telling myself it’s proximity. Stress, adrenaline, or the fact that they’re protective and strong and built like a very specific mistake I want to make three times.”
Kira’s lips twitch, and Elena covers her smile with her glass of water.
“I’m serious,” I say, even though I’m fighting a smile, too.
“I know,” Elena says. “Believe it or not, I know exactly how you feel.”
I lower my voice. “I don’t understand how I can want all of them, though. They’re so much the same, yet so different. I feel like something’s wrong with me.”
Elena’s smile disappears. “Oh, Wren, there’s nothing wrong with you.”
The certainty in her voice settles over me like a warm blanket.
Kira looks thoughtful as she strokes her child’s back. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting more than one person. Lying or hurting people is wrong, but wanting more than one person and being honest about it isn’t wrong.”
Elena leans in. “When I first realized I had feelings for Buck, Weston, and Calder, I thought I had to choose one of them, because that’s what I’d always understood relationships to be. But that wasn’t how things were happening with us.”
“What was happening?”
Her eyes get a faraway look. “They were all there for me in different ways. Buck made me feel safe and supported. Weston saw parts of me I tried to hide, and he didn’t make me feel weak for being exhausted.
Calder understood my fears, and grounded me.
” She pauses, a smile dancing on her lips.
“I realized loving one of them didn’t lessen what I felt for the others. ”
“The hardest part can be giving yourself permission to follow your heart,” Kira says.
That simple sentence seems to unlock something inside me, but I still have my doubts. “I don’t even know if they want that,” I say.
Kira arches a brow. “Well, Boone’s walked by the window at least four times since we started talking, so there’s that. As for the others, you probably know deep down, because women know these things, but if you’re not sure, you can ask them.”
“What if it changes everything?” I ask, speaking my first thought aloud.
“It will,” Elena says, “but not all change is loss.”
“Men like that don’t jump into things lightly,” Kira says. “Not when they’re brothers, or brothers-in-arms, as my men are. They’re aware of the costs of a misstep.”
Rhett’s face appears in my mind with its controlled, immovable lines. The responsibility he carries on his strong shoulders. “They’re careful,” I say.
“Careful can be good,” Kira says, “but it can also be an excuse.”
I take a sip of my freshly refilled coffee and realize I’m a grown woman with a voice, capable of asking for what I want. What if I don’t have to choose?
Kira suggests we have dessert, and in the spirit of not choosing, we each order a different kind of pie—blackberry for her, apple for Elena, and coconut cream for me—and we share.
A minute after I finish my last bite, Boone appears at our table, paper bag in hand, usual easy grin on his face.
“Ladies,” he says. “Causing trouble?”
“Helping,” Elena says.
Kira smiles at him, then down at little Felicity. “Those are often confused.”
He focuses on me. “You ready?”
When I nod and start to say my goodbyes, Elena squeezes my wrist. “Come by the school sometime before you leave town. Or my house.”
“Everyone in town knows where everyone lives,” Kira says.
“That’s unsettling.”
“It is,” Elena says cheerfully. “But it’s settling, too.”
I get to my feet, feeling more unsettled and settled myself after the conversation I just had.
Boone slides the check out of my hand and insists on paying. “Ready to go to the store?” he asks.
“Maybe another day.” I’m still replaying the lunch conversation in my head, and there’s really nothing I need at the store.
Outside, Ed Winslow is sitting on the bench, which is firmly angled toward the corner. Mae is standing in front of him, studying the position.
“Well?” Ed asks her.
She tilts her head to the right, then the left. “It could be turned a little more.”
Ed closes his eyes, and Boone laughs under his breath.
As we walk toward the truck, he stays close enough that his arm brushes mine a few times, sending sparks through me each time.
“What’s in the bag?” I ask.
“My errand.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It contains errand-related items.”
“Boone.”
He opens the passenger door for me, then hands me the bag when I’m inside. There’s a tin of tea I mentioned liking two days ago when I found an old box of plain black tea in the cabin pantry. There’s also a pack of hair ties, the good kind that don’t snag.
He gets in behind the wheel and watches my reaction. “They had your tea.”
“And the hair ties?”
“You mentioned the ones you have are losing their elastic.”
I stare at him as it takes me a moment to even remember mentioning it. It was a completely offhand comment, not a conversation.
Boone’s smile is faint now, almost cautious.
All three of the men notice too much, but Boone notices things, then turns them into offerings he lays at my feet while acting like they don’t mean anything.
“There are slippers in there, too,” he says, “so your feet won’t be cold in the mornings.”
“Thank you.”
His eyes hold mine. “You’re welcome.” For once, he doesn’t tease or lay on the charm, and though I like his charm, I like this even better.