What He Left Behind(78)
Ian bursts out laughing. “Oh come on. She doesn’t hate us.” He reaches across me, and she bats at him but misses. “Okay, okay. Maybe she does.”
I start to speak, but Ariel jumps up behind Ian. “Shit! Watch that tail!”
He ducks and just misses a smack in the face. “Ariel, down.” He points at the floor, but Ariel just flops down next to him and rests her head on his arm. Ian groans. “Seriously?”
I snicker. “I think we might need a bigger bed.”
Michael laughs, but it doesn’t last. He gently lifts Rosie and sets her on the edge of the bed. Then he turns on his side and looks at Ian. “For the record, you are not, and never have been, a third wheel. You and I aren’t as close as we both are to Josh, but it doesn’t have to stay that way.” He clasps Ian’s hand in his, and kisses the backs of his fingers. “It’ll take time, but I think we’ll get there.”
Ian’s smile is slow to form, but his eyes definitely echo it. “You’re probably right. I guess, like everything, it’ll be a process.”
Michael nods. “Yeah, and I’m a bit more optimistic about the process than I was about the sexual exorcism one.” He pauses, the smile turning to a playful smirk. “Well, okay, that process was fun most of the time too. But you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do.” Ian leans over me to kiss Michael’s lips. “And I agree.”
Michael turns to me and touches my face. “You were right, you know.”
“About what?”
“You said karma owed me big-time. That there was a good guy out there waiting for me.” His smile gets bigger, and I swear his eyes tear up as he says, “Turns out there were two right in front of my face.”
And suddenly my vision is getting blurry for some reason. I wipe my eyes. “Well, let’s hope we can live up to the karma you definitely deserve.”
Michael sniffs and wipes his eyes too. “I’m not worried about that at all.”
“Neither am I.” Ian kisses Michael’s cheek, then mine. “We’ve got all the time in the world to get it right.”
“You don’t need it,” Michael says. “You’ve already got it. But I’ll definitely take all the time I can get with the two of you.”
“Likewise,” I say.
Ian nods. “Ditto.”
It’s a little crowded in our bed with the three of us, the cat and Ariel, and I imagine it won’t be any better when Cody is added to the mix, but that’s okay. There’s nothing about this moment I would change, because I have the two men I love more than anyone else in the world. Ian’s still here. Michael’s part of our family.
And everything is perfect.
Even if the cat still hates me.