Uniting the Souls (Souls of Chicago #6)(57)

Things had been going amazingly well between the three of us. There were a few bumps along the way, as most relationships experience while you learn to adjust to sharing your time and space with someone else. For us, it took a bit more compromise on all our parts because there were three people instead of just two to get used to. We dealt with each issue as it came up though, communicating with each other and being respectful of one another.

We were all pretty good at communicating our needs or concerns. The only exception to that was Isaac’s refusal to talk about his past. Matt and I were trying to be patient with him, but we wished he’d open up about whatever had happened so that maybe he could start letting go of it. Isaac claimed that he’d let it go a long time ago and so there was no point in bringing it up, but Matt and I knew better.

There’d been a couple of times when we’d heard his quiet sobs in the middle of the night when he thought we were both asleep. We’d pulled him in between us, shielding him with our own bodies, but he’d said that he’d been having a dream and didn’t remember it. Those were the only times Isaac ever lied to us. It hurt, but we had to trust that he would tell us when he was ready. At least I hoped he would. Every day I fell more in love with the two of them and it killed me to think that one of them was hurting and wouldn’t tell me about it so I could help.

“Man, you have it bad!” Aysha’s teasing voice pulled me from my thoughts and my eyes darted to hers.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I’m talking about the look on your face as soon as you started talking about your boyfriends and the fact that I’ve been standing here for the last few minutes apparently having a conversation with myself.” Aysha stared at me and I felt my face heat.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you. I guess I got lost in my own thoughts,” I said.

“Because you have it bad. Am I right?” She gave me a look that dared me to deny it, but I didn’t want to, not with her.

“Yes, you’re right, I’m crazy about them,” I admitted and her eyes widened, obviously surprised by the fact that she hadn’t had to drag the truth out of me.

“Is it serious?” Aysha asked. Her playfulness from before, replaced with a look of concern.

“I can’t answer for them, but for me it is. I want to be with them all the time. I think about them when we’re apart and wonder what they’re doing, I worry about them if I know they’re having a difficult day at the center and I want to know every single thing there is to know about them. I also want them to know everything about me, which is why we’re having this dinner. You and Nicholas are a huge part of my life and so are Matt and Isaac. It’s time the two parts merged.” I shrugged my shoulders, not sure how else to explain how much my guys meant to me. I could see the understanding in Aysha’s eyes though, and they softened as she looked at me.

“I’m very happy for you. Just be careful, okay? It can be difficult enough to get used to being in a relationship with one person, much less two,” she cautioned, but she was grinning at me when she said it.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be careful.” I grinned back at her, not all that surprised that we’d been thinking along the same lines since we’d always seemed to do that. A thought occurred to me then and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Hey! Why aren’t you giving me a harder time about all of this?” I asked.

“Did you want me to give you a hard time?” she said with a chuckle.

“Well, no. Of course, not. I just thought you’d be more worried about seeing me in a relationship after…you know,” I said, hating the fact that I was bringing up her ex and hoping it wouldn’t ruin the mood. Aysha rolled her eyes playfully though which further heightened my curiosity.

“I just decided that you were right, not all men are cheating assholes,” she said turning her back to me so she could slide the potato salad in the fridge. My jaw nearly hit the floor. I was shocked, but so happy to finally hear her say that.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Drew, would it?” I asked carefully. We were entering new territory and I felt like I was dealing with a wild horse, one wrong move and I could spook her. Aysha whipped around to face me, slamming the fridge door shut as she turned.

“What? How do you know anything about Drew?” she demanded, looking flustered.

“His name popped up when he called earlier. I wasn’t snooping, you left your phone lying right on the counter where I was working,” I said defensively. Aysha looked like she was struggling for a second and then her shoulders slumped.

“Fine, you were honest with me, I guess you deserve the same.” I’m sure my eyebrows were up to my hairline. I had fully expected her to brush the call off as something work related or something similar, but apparently, my sister had been keeping secrets.

“Drew is a man I met at the library when I took Nicholas for story hour. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common. He’s a single dad with a girl a year older than Nicholas. He got divorced about three years ago when his wife abandoned him and their young daughter because she decided she’d rather go to California and try her luck at becoming an actress. He’s handsome and funny and he owns a chain of grocery stores, so he’s hard-working,” Aysha said, shrugging her shoulders like she was embarrassed.