“No,” he said again. “I wouldn’t call it off because it’s not what she truly wants and I know it’s not what you want either. You love that we’re getting married, Finn. I know you well enough to know that. And your name is going to be on that marriage license right next to ours and that hasgotto count for something.”
Sophie and I both stared at Daniel, watching quietly as he flicked invisible dust off the side of his nose, shoulders heaving with every breath.
“It counts,” he said again.
“I know,” I agreed quietly. “But I still don’t know what the future looks like.”
“What if we get a new house?” Sophie asked. “Something the three of us can build together?”
Since meeting them, I’d spent nights alone in my house, in my bed, wondering what a future would look like for the three of us. It was easy to stumble on basic and unimportant things like who gets stuck sleeping in the middle of the bed, how will three people share a bathroom with only two vanities. None of the protests that my subconscious gave me on those long, lonely nights were real and Sophie had just proven it.
“You would sell your house?”
“Would you sell yours?” she asked me.
I thought first of my office, the color it had been and the color it was. I’d owned the house for nearly a decade, making sure the money from the Covington finances had gone to good use as soon as I could. I loved my house because I had made it a home, and there were memories in the corners I didn’t want to see sometimes, but the thought of walking away and starting over…
“Yes,” I answered.
“Yes,” Daniel said back to me.
“Of course,” Sophie said. She slid her arm over the top of the counter, ring knocking against the marble as she wiggled her fingers. I took her hand and brought it to my mouth, kissing her ring the same way Daniel often did.
“Is this okay?”
She nodded.
It felt appropriate to pay some respect to the commitment between them that existed before they’d known me. If their lovehadn’t been planted, I wouldn’t have it now, and I had to be grateful for that.
“The house is unimportant,” I said.
“I know.”
“The optics are…the optics are more important. Different.”
I let go of her hand in favor of finishing my whiskey.
“How so?” Daniel asked.
“Everyone knows the two of you. If people see us together, two of us at a time, they’ll think you’re cheating.”
“Does it matter what other people think?”
“A bit, yeah.” I laughed under my breath and shrugged helplessly. “Doesn’t it?”
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s business, to be honest. But we can make those decisions as we go. There are people who can know, some who already do,” Sophie said.
“I am sorry about that, by the way.” I stepped away from the island, folded my arms in front of my chest, and leaned against the far counter. The oven was still warm against my hip, the handle digging into the outside of my thigh. “I never want you to look unprofessional because of me.”
“I was there too,” Daniel reminded, cheeks red.
“Your brother took it all in stride,” Sophie promised. “He said he and his fiancé have almost gotten caught in compromising situations before too.”
“Wait, his what?”
I pushed myself back toward the island, coming around and grabbing her chair, turning her so I could notch my body into the space between her thighs. Daniel scooted closer from behind, draping his arms over her shoulders so his fingertips grazed the top of her breasts.
“Silas, right? That’s his name?” she asked.