“We aren’t bad guys, Noah,” Sam objected before I managed to.
“Hey, I know that. I was kidding with you. Look, Brandon has ideas about poly relationships. He thinks they are the right thing for some people, and that it’s very hard for one man to be everything for a woman.”
“You mean a girl should get to sleep around?” I asked, confused.
“Nah, not like that. When it comes to Grace, Brandon says we should let her choose one of us after we’ve each done our best to bowl her over with our charm. But when he’s ranting in more general terms, he often says how one man can never be enough for a woman and her children. A family is better if a group of men join together to work for a common goal—their woman, their children, and their home.”
“Okay. Well, that’ll take some thinking about.” I sat up straight, ready to walk away from this nonsense.
“Some people live like that in America today,” Noah added.
“Look, man, we’re twin brothers. Obviously, it makes sense for us to share a girl. We’ve shared stuff all our lives. It’s clearly insane to do it with some other random dudes.” Sam said the last line with heavy sarcasm dripping from every word.
Noah stood up. “I think I’d better go.”
“Wait.” I narrowed my eyes as I thought. “If you came here to see Grace and not us, and she’s not here, then where’s the other man in this whole fight over our Gracey? Where’s your brother? Maybe we should bring him into this discussion so we can cover all angles.”
“I think he said he was going for a burger at Mickey’s?”
Sam stood up. “Alone? Does he go out for burgers alone often?”
Noah shrugged. “I got no idea. My brother does weird things all the time, and I’ve learned to let Brandon be Brandon.”
I jumped to my feet, ready to follow my brother. “Maybe we should go give him some company. Worse comes to worst, Mickey’s has some damn good fries.”
“All right, all right, let’s go then.” Sam punched his fist into the air, ready and willing to leap into action.
We needed to act soon if we wanted to have Grace and not lose her to Noah or Brandon.
And if she really was pregnant and carrying a Baker baby, then she needed to know she could count on Sam and I to do the right thing. We’d both be there for her, no matter which of us was the father.
I didn’t even need to speak to my twin brother to know we would think and act the same way over this..
I didn’t think my heart could go on for too much longer living in such confusion. I needed to whether Gracey was really pregnant. I didn’t believe it, not really, but Sam and Noah thought it was possible. Not just possible but highly likely.
I wondered to what extent they hoped she was pregnant.
Sam or I could be a father. As the idea settled in my mind, I discovered that I liked it.
What I really wanted to know was whether I stood a chance with her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
GRACE MILLER
I’m more interesting than a menu and I don’t mind that at all.
“This place has the best fried chicken sandwich, by the way, if you’re not feeling like a burger.” Brandon sat opposite me in the booth. Although he held the menu in his right hand, he just gazed at me over the top of it.
“I’ve been here before, you know.” It came out harsher than I expected, as if I wanted to tell him the venue for our first proper date wasn’t all that special.
Just what the hell are you doing, Grace?
“Good call, though, I think I’ll try it.” I forced a smile.
“If it is, then I’d better have the same.” The way he looked at me with his warm and sincere smile made me feel like I’d given him the earth.
“Good, you can have the first bite to check it isn’t poison.”
Fortunately, he laughed at my pathetic attempt at humor.
“This is weird, Brandon. We’ve spent loads of time together, and we’re never normally stuck for conversation. But right now, it’s like we’ve only just met on Tinder.”
“So, right now you’re thinking I don’t look as hot as my profile picture, and you’re wondering if the abs were added on via Photoshop?”
“You got me.”
“And I’m thinking,” he continued, “that I can’t believe I left it so long to call you, and when I did, you said yes. And here we are.”
“And here we are. Indeed.”
“First official date. And not a homeless person in sight.”
“No volunteer schedule to be filled in.”
“And no bag of potatoes that need scrubbing, or at least, not by us. No pretending why we’re here. I like you, Grace. And I guess you like me enough to give me a chance at friendship and maybe more.” His eyebrows rose to his hairline.