Page 27 of One Night with My Lawyers
I'd forgotten the details. My protagonist Minnie had a perfect night with a guy. When she woke up the next morning, the voices in her head were gone, and she felt an unexpected sense of peace.
I read the description of the room, and it all matches. The fireplace. The four-poster bed, the pale pink duvet, the masses of pink roses on every flat surface.
“Theo did that?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
And I rejected it. Because I wanted to be safe.
They saw me. Theyseeme. They kept in touch. There's still a chance, right? I glance at my phone. It's a little after five. “What time is it in London?”
“Ten?” Xavier replies vaguely. “Eleven? I think the UK is five hours ahead.”
Eleven then. “It's too late to call.” It’s Christmas Eve. Theo will be spending it with family. “They took care of me, Xavier. They both did. Not just during the session. And I pushed them away.”
I was a fool. But I’m going to fix this. Tomorrow morning, first thing in the morning, I'm going to call them. Even though it’s Christmas Day.
The miles fly by, and the car pulls into the driveway. Xavier lets me out at the front. “Go on ahead,” he says. “The party’s in my office. I’ll be right behind you. I need to talk to Henry first.”
“Because I love walking into a party by myself,” I grumble.
Xavier rolls his eyes again.
“Fine,” I huff. “But only because I haven’t seen Layla in ages.”
But when I get to Xavier’s office and open the door, I don't walk into a party.
Two men turn around. Two achingly familiar men. Theo and Shane. They’rehere.
I blink and rub my eyes, but they’re really here. They’re not a figment of my imagination. “But you should be in London and Dublin,” I say stupidly. “It’s Christmas Eve. What are you doing here?”
“I see my family all the time,” Theo replies. “I thought about where I wanted to be, and it wasn’t in a place. It was with a person. I wanted to spend Christmas with you, Addie.”
Hope wars with disbelief. “But Baby Olivia. It’s her first Christmas.”
Theo snorts. “Olivia is a newborn. She sleeps, eats, and shits. She certainly doesn’t understand Christmas.”
Shane clears his throat. “Xavier said he wouldn’t bring you here unless he thought you wanted to be here,” he says, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I don’t want. . .” He shakes his head. “I know you have all kinds of reasons this can’t be, and I'm sure they’re all very good. But I can't stop thinking that this could be amazing if you gave it a chance. We could be amazing, Addie. The three of us.”
Before I met Theo and Shane, I was frozen. I remember Xavier’s precise words. I’m a writer, and it had been a clever turn of phrase, one I wished I had written.Bitterness sits on you like an ill-fitting cloak, Addie.
I throw off that cloak and wrap myself in their warmth. I kiss Theo and then Shane, and I luxuriate in the sheer intimacy of the moment. I hadn’t allowed myself to kiss them.Until now.It feels amazing.
Eventually, I pull myself free. “I have to warn you,” I tell them. “I’m behind on my book. I’m going to spend the next ten days in front of my laptop.”
“But you’ll spend your nights with us?” Shane asks. I nod. His smile widens, as does Theo’s. “I can live with that.”
“In that case,” I say, hugging them tightly again. “Let’s go be amazing.”