And before I know it, I’m spilling everything, telling them about Max and Alyson, about my history with Max, our renewed friendship, and how that three-way friendship had turned into more.
I explain my worries about how it’s a ticking time bomb, waiting to end, but how if I could, I’d keep them both.
“So why can’t you?” Hunter asks finally, “I did.”
“I mean, yeah, it works for you guys, but this is different, they’re an engaged couple, and Max already dumped me once.”
“That was six years ago, though,” Caitlyn reminds me gently, “People change a lot. Do you feel like you’re the same guy you were when you were eighteen?”
She has a point. “No, you’re right,” I sigh, “But even so, that doesn’t mean he’s changed and magically wants a future with me. He wants a future with her.”
“Maybe because he doesn’t know both is even an option,” Michael says, “But if he knew how you felt, and knew there was a chance for more, how do you know he wouldn’t take it?”
“Even if he did, what makes you think she would?” I counter.
“Look, I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m not even saying for sure that it’ll happen,” Hunter says with a shrug, “But you just have to ask yourself if that possibility is worth the risk.”
“When we started out, things were messy as hell,” Caitlyn said, “We didn’t really work things out until I found out I was pregnant, actually.”
I glance at Aiden, thinking. It occurs to me that if we did manage to work out this whole crazy three-way relationship thing, I’d have a place in their kid’s life, too. The baby we’ve been working to make wouldn’t just be theirs anymore.
The idea hits unexpectedly hard. The thought of the three of us, starting a happy little family like this one, fills my heart with a happiness I’ve never even imagined.
It seems like a brass ring too good not to reach for. But is it worth risking everything?
Or is it the only way I might be able to keep it?