Hunter frowned deeply, his brow crumbling as he processed my words. “I thought you were happy being single? You’ve never said anything about this.”
“I know, and I was happy being single, but something has changed.” I motioned at him. “I want what you have. What all of you have. When I look at you these days, all I see are people who could make it work where I couldn’t.”
“With all due respect, that’s bullshit,” Cyrus said. “Yes or no. Do you want love and a family? You’ve never even seemed remotely interested in either.”
“That’s because I feel like I’m the only one who can’t get what I want,” I admitted. “At least, that’s what it’s about now. I wasn’t interested before because I didn’t think it would be fair to get involved with someone when I was spending all my time trying to make the gym work.”
Chris stared at me and let out a bark of laughter. “How is it that you thought none of us have been in that position? I have. I know Hunter has. Cyrus, well, I don’t know. Cy?”
The man in question rubbed the back of his neck, then shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve been there. I just wasn’t even brave enough to admit it to myself at the time. When things went to shit with my ex, I thought I was done with love. I just didn’t realize it wasn’t done with me. It hadn’t even gotten started with me yet, actually. It only really got started once I met Luna.”
He turned to me. “At least you’ve had the balls to admit what you want, not only to yourself but to us as well. That’s the first step to getting it, just realizing that you actually want it. We’ve all let work take us the long way around to love, but we all found it when the time and the girls were right. You’ll get there, too.”
Hunter broke out into a round of applause. “Well said. When the time is right, you’ll meet the right girl. It’s just the way things work.”
Chris nodded. “You must know how much I hate to admit this about them, but they’re absolutely correct. True love will only come when you loosen your grip on your baggage enough to notice it. We all had our own shit to get through before we got to where we are now.”
“Chin up, Parker,” my brother said. “It will happen for you. Just you wait.”
Wait? For how long?I didn’t ask the question, though. None of them could answer it.
I appreciated them rallying around me but I wasn’t so sure it really would happen for me. At least, not with the woman I wanted it to happen with.