“What about shelters?”
“There aren’t enough, and they fill up quickly. You wait in a line all day to have a spot to sleep. Eventually, the subway stations become an answer to get out of the snow or rain, not that it’s any warmer down there than outside.”
“When did you come back here?” Flynn knew she was from this neighborhood originally, though her family had long ago moved away to a safer area.
“I was twenty-one. I’d been alone for a while at that point.” Callie had been dead by then. Harper wouldn’t talk about her or the night she died, not to Theo and Flynn. At least not yet. The only person she’d ever spoken about it with was the therapist she’d been mandated to see. After that cathartic yet gut-wrenching session, she’d never uttered a word about her long-lost friend ever again. Her street-urchin buddy. Shit, Harper missed that girl.
“Harper?” Flynn broke into her memories.
The server was back, placing a massive plate of fries on the table, three ramekins of her favorite condiments on the side of the wide white plate. The fries smelled good, making her stomach rumble in anger that she hadn’t fed it yet. She dug in, always going for the ketchup first. Need to start with the classics.
“Good?” Theo asked with a smile as he watched her devour the fries.
She nodded, her mouth too full to answer. The honey mustard was the good kind, sweet with the perfect amount of kick the mustard provided.
“Want some burger?” Theo offered her the piece he held. It was cooked medium rare and stacked to the brim with all the fixings. Her mouth watered.
She leaned forward and took a huge bite right out of his hand.
“Thank you,” she mumbled around the amazing food. “How did you find this place?” she asked Flynn. “The food is good.”
“Ben was a fitful infant. He used to keep me up late into the night, and I would get bored at home, so we went for drives. It seemed to calm him. I found this diner in the middle of the night when I needed to change him. The waitresses played with him nearly the entire time we were here, and I was able to get a little work done on my computer. Instant babysitting. We’ve been coming here ever since.” He turned his gaze toward the rest of the dining room, then back to the open-concept kitchen. “They’ve watched him grow up, are still watching and caring. Ben loves coming here.” He grinned. “He’ll be annoyed when I tell him we were here without him.”
This was a special place for Flynn’s little family, and Harper felt honored that he’d wanted to take them here.
“Thank you for bringing us here,” Theo said before Harper could swallow her food to get the words out. “I see how much it means to you. That you brought us makes it important to me as well.”
“To us,” Harper agreed.
Flynn nodded briefly, his mouth shut tight.
“Would you tell us a bit about Ben?” she asked.
“Don’t think you’re going to distract us from your financial troubles.”
She waved Flynn’s concerns off. “We can talk about that later. I want to talk about something happy. Your son seems like quite the little guy.”
Harper knew she hadn’t fleeced the men, but she was being honest. Discussing the details of her dream going up in flames would put her on edge and ruin the night. This outing was supposed to be about getting to know one another past the need and the lust they all felt, and Ben was a large part of Flynn’s life.
“He is something else,” Flynn said. “The love of my life.”
“As it should be with fathers and sons,” Theo said. He looked down at Harper and bumped her shoulder. “Fathers and daughters as well.”
“At least when they’re children,” Harper conceded, hoping Ben wouldn’t become as crazy as she had been as a teen.
“He’ll be a good kid as he grows, I can tell. He’ll try to outsmart me any chance he gets. He’s already doing that. The other night we had a ten-minute debate on the benefits of him staying up late. Of course, he was able to stay up ten minutes later by taking the time to argue with me. I didn’t realize it until after he was asleep. The kid is
tricksy
.” Flynn sighed, a warm smile lighting up his features. “I wouldn’t have him any other way.”
“His mother?” Theo asked gently. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to…”
Flynn shrugged, his mouth turned down. “We had a fling. It was sex, nothing more. Two months after our final…encounter, she came to me and told me she was pregnant and she wanted me to pay for an abortion. I asked her if she would have the baby because I wanted to raise it. She agreed.”
“It couldn’t have been that simple,” Theo said doubtfully.
“On top of paying for all the medical care…I gave her a sizeable donation.”
“You paid for him?” Harper asked, an ill feeling like acid churning in her gut at the thought of the woman bargaining away her kid. “Did you have a DNA test done?”
“The methods for prenatal paternity tests are extremely invasive and have a risk of miscarriage. I would recommend waiting.”
“Thank you, Doc,” Flynn said sarcastically, sliding down in his chair to kick the good doctor underneath the table. “Yes, I paid for him; no, I didn’t have a paternity test done. It didn’t matter. The second I heard I was having a child, something inside me switched. I wanted that baby so much, I paid for everything—doctors’ appointments, housing for her, vitamins, the birth, everything.”
“Did you make some sort of court agreement?”
“Oh, fuck yes,” Flynn said around his sandwich. “We did that soon after she gave me the deal. Good thing, too, because she fought me for him in the end.”
Harper couldn’t help but gasp. This was straight out of a soap opera. “She wanted him?”
“She thought she did. Halfway through the custody battle, she gave up, changed her mind. She was a flighty, inconsistent person. She never knew who she wanted or what she wanted to do with her life. I’m glad she came to me, though there’s a chance he’s not mine. She wouldn’t have been a good mother. Too selfish.”
“You still don’t know if he’s yours?”
“Nope, but does that stuff matter? Blood may be thick, but love and care are the foundations of parenting. I love him with all of my heart. I won’t ever abandon or give him up. He’s my life.” Flynn swallowed hard, looking them both square on.
“He’s my life,” he said again. “He’s my main priority. If you both have an issue with me having a kid, then we should pay the check and leave. You two can continue this if you want, but I can’t, I won’t put others before my kid.”
Flynn looked defensive, prepared to battle or argue about how important his son was. Harper could only imagine conversations he might have had with past relationships. Why couldn’t he spend more time with them? Why did Ben have to come? Can’t he find a babysitter? Such inconsiderate requests set Harper aflame. Ben was a beautiful and funny little boy. She would never dare to take away or claim control of the affections of a father who would clearly give his life for his son. Contrary to making her want to run away, his capacity to love made her want him more.
“Whoever asked you to put them before your kid was an asshole. We wouldn’t do that, and I can’t wait to get to know Ben.” As she spoke, Harper reached across the table, past half-empty plates, and placed her hand over his.
They both looked to Theo.
“Your kid is funny; I’d like to hang out with him as well. I have no problem dating someone with a kid. But can we just, for a second, talk about what is happening here?”
“We can talk, or we can go somewhere and do what we want to do.”
Theo made a sound similar to a growl. Harper couldn’t decide whether it was funny or sexy, but when she heard how deep Theo’s voice had become after Flynn’s offer, she decided definitely sexy. “As tempting as that sounds, I don’t know if I’m ready for it.” He huffed. “I don’t know half of what we’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do,” she said gently, placing her hand on his knee. “The three of us together, in a monogamous relationship.”
“Can three people be in a monogamous relationship?”
“Yes,” Flynn answered.
“You’ve done this before.” It was less a question, as Flynn seemed to be the most confident out of all of them that what they were doing was right.
“I have been secure in my bisexuality for a long time. Since I was a teen. I’ve had threesomes but never one in a sustained relationship. This would be new for me, but I’m not gonna lie and say I never thought about it before.”
“Bisexual…” Theo muttered, rubbing his eyes. “I’ve never wanted a man like this before.”
“You’ve been attracted to men in the past?” Harper asked, her curiosity piqued once more.
“Yes,” he said on a sigh, as though he were expelling a long-held secret. “But never anything absolute. I’ve always been with women. I’ve been content being with only women.”
“Until me,” Flynn said with a smug grin.
“Yeah.” Theo didn’t hedge or prevaricate, and Harper loved that honesty.
“What are you thinking?” Flynn asked, catching Harper’s eye.
“That I’m pretty lucky.” She leaned on Theo’s arm and reached across the table to once again take Flynn’s hand. This time, their fingers intertwined.
“How can you be that optimistic, considering everything that’s happened?” Theo asked.
“When you’ve lived as I have, what happened this week will eventually become a small bit of nothing in the grand scheme of things. Now it hurts, and I feel like there might be a drought, but I’ll get more money, I’ll rebuild. It’s part of the cycle.”
“What’s that?”
“Life, death, and rebirth.”
HARPER’S HAIR FELT soft yet wiry against Theo’s bare arm. He could feel her small breaths as she exhaled or spoke. They chatted for a while longer, picking at each other’s food. Harper in particular. Theo knew she had to be hungrier for more than she’d ordered, and he was concerned she wasn’t eating enough. Aside from the bruise on her face, she looked drawn and tired. She may have slept a lot in the hospital, but she wasn’t rested. He’d make sure she slept well in the comfort of his apartment that night.
“Theo.”
He looked up as Flynn spoke.
“It’s your turn. We’ve each told a tale of woe. What’s yours?”
“I don’t fit with this pack. I don’t have a tale of woe.”
“Aside from your parents pressuring you to become a historian?”
“Yes, aside from that horrific upbringing. No, jokes aside, they were good parents. They loved me and treated me right.”
“Are they…”
“They passed a few years ago. Died in a plane crash on their way to their second honeymoon.”
“Oh, Theo. I’m sorry.” Harper nuzzled into his arm, and he lifted it to tug her in close. She rested her hand on his chest, and under the table, a foot came next to his and began to rub. It was too large to be Harper’s.
“Would you tell us about them?” Flynn asked, his handsome face full of compassion.
Theo had an urge to move over in the booth, allowing all three of them to cuddle together on one bench. He thought it might feel nice to have their heat surrounding him.
Theo kissed Harper on her forehead and told them the story of how his parents met, how they raised him to work for everything he had. He was never privileged in the way people thought of it today. He was never given anything for nothing. There was always a test or a puzzle to solve in order to receive a reward.
“They were harsh taskmasters. School and work, those were things they prized. We weren’t poor, but we sure as hell weren’t rich. When I finally worked my way through school and finished my degree, passed all the damn tests, I was able to give back. I bought them a house in a good area, got them out of this city. They were happy, and that’s all I needed.”
“Any siblings?”
“No, I’m an only child.”
“All their hopes and dreams rested on you?” Flynn asked. “Sounds like a heavy burden to bear.”
“It was a lot of work, but if they hadn’t pushed, I never would have become a doctor and then met both of you.” It was more than worth it, including the rough patches.
“What about you? Any siblings?” Theo asked, his curiosity about Harper still unfed, no matter how much he learned.
“I have siblings. My family moved away from here about ten years ago after I returned home.”
“Do you talk?”
“Sort of. It’s not exactly easy. They blame me for a lot of the problems in the family. There is tension between my maternal grandmother and parents.” She sighed and played with the tips of her fingers nervously. “It’s easier for them if I stay away.”
“Is the argument about you?”
“It’s about a lot of things, but yes, mostly about me.” She yawned, and Theo glanced at the large decorative clock on the wall over the main entrance. It was past eleven, and Harper looked about ready to pass out. It was hard to remember that she’d been injured recently, as, aside from the bruise on her face, her vivacious nature and outspoken manner was strong in its deception. She could fool anyone into thinking she was fine and could run a marathon. Had she always lived her life in such a way, running and racing with no thought for her well-being?
“I think that’s our cue to go.”
Flynn grinned at Theo, both their thoughts trained on the beautiful woman willing to put up with the both of them. Flynn paid the bill, saying this was their first date and he refused to be denied in the matter. Theo let him do what he want, especially when he stood to walk toward the cash register, his body moving with a strength that was too sensual for words.
“Yeah…he’s got a great ass,” Harper mumbled.
Theo thought he should have been embarrassed, but Harper was staring at Flynn’s ass as well. “Did you look at his ass before he rescued you?”
“Yes, but I make it a habit not to date my volunteers. It was hard to avoid with him, though.”
“How did you do it?”
“Kept my distance. Kept him busy whenever he came in.”
“Can I volunteer sometime?”
“Sure. Won’t be anything to volunteer for soon, though. Better get your hours in while you can.”
He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, the bruise on her skin beginning to turn a sickly greenish purple. “Are you okay coming home with me?”
“Yes. My only concern is how I’m gonna keep my hands off you.”