Page 12 of Triplet Tease

“But that’s if this dude exists at all,”said Harry. “I’ll bet he doesn’t.”

“What’s with all the betting?” I asked.

Finn ignored my question and stared at Harry.“I don’t know why you’re miserable. It wasn’t a completewaste of time. This guy, Derry, wants us to meet him there againtomorrow night. He seems sure Liam will turn up almost carrying abrochure of sweet little babies ready to order. Any species we like,as long as they’re not human.”

Harry let out a snort. “I think we arewasting time with this dude. He struck me as the sort of guy who hadno friends. You just said it yourself, Finn, he’s there for thegirls.”

“And what’s wrong with that? At least theguy has good taste. They’re all there to earn a living, and hewanted us to tip them generously. At least that was decent of him.”

Sensing a rift between my brothers on this, Istepped in. “I’ll go with you, Finn, tomorrow night. There’s noneed for the three of us to go if Harry doesn’t want to.”

“You sure?” Harry looked warily at me, asif I’d taken leave of my senses.

“Yes. I’m sure. I remember why we’redoing this. Do you remember Doris and Boris when they arrived at thesanctuary a few days after we did?”

Doris and Boris were the names chosen for acouple of baby capuchin monkeys rescued from smugglers. They’d beenseparated from their mother, and they were dehydrated and terrified.I hadn’t been sure they would pull through. Seeing them like thatwas heartbreaking. They might be animals, but they weren’t so verydifferent from us, and as babies, they needed their mom to survive.

Harry stared at me. He didn’t need to say aword. We both remembered holding those little creatures at our chestsand feeding them formula from bottles as we talked about the crueltythat tore infants from their mothers.

Finn rested his bottle against his bottom lipand smiled. “It’s no great sacrifice to sit in a room where sexywomen dance in their underwear while we wait to see if this mysteryman shows up.”

Harry grunted, disapproval evident on his face.“You know what, I’d just like to meet a nice girl interested indancing like that for me because she wanted to and not because I wasabout to give her sixty dollars. I thought you’d feel the same. Ithought both of you would feel the same.”

“Hold on, bro. I’d never been to a placelike that before. I had no idea what to expect, and it wasn’t whatI expected in many ways. But you have it wrong,” Finn protested.“Derry was a little strange, but he seemed to care about the women.I dunno, I want to meet a marvelous woman who’s into the samethings as me; of course I do. But while I’m single and while Ihaven’t got a girl who’ll dance like that for me in my bedroom,going there seems like harmless fun to me.”

“I met a nice woman today,” I announced.

My brothers both turned to me with surprise allover their faces.

“When? Where?” Finn leaned forward, eagerfor answers.

“That’s my boy. Tell us everything.”Harry’s face found a smile at last.

“This afternoon, when I went out for a walk,I saw the most beautiful woman in America. I talked to her, we wentfor coffee, and I got her number. I’m planning to invite her to thecharity lunch tomorrow.”

“What charity lunch?” they asked in chorus.

“Didn’t I tell you? It’s all beenhappening here while you were out. It’s lucky I stayed home. For astart, Simon came and knocked on the door.”

“Simon Bretton?” Harry’s eyes went wideas he uttered the name with a note of reverence in his voice.

“He came here?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” I said.Simon’s father owned the apartment we were standing in. As anarchitect, our father had designed the building. “Yes, Simon camehere, it’s not so strange.”

“I guess. But it’s unfair that you’ve metSimon and I haven’t.”

“You’ll have the chance to worship him andget his autograph soon enough, bro. As I said, we’re invited to acharity fundraiser lunch tomorrow.”

“I suppose. I wish I’d been here to meethim,” Harry grumbled. Of course, he’d love to meet any famousphotographer in an informal way like that. Harry still consideredhimself the amateur of the family, even though he’d made a livingas a photographer for a few years. Our late mother had turned herpassion for wildlife photography into a very successful career. “Whatwas he like?”

“Kind of awkward,” I admitted honestly. “Iguess he’s shy. Anyway, he came to invite us to a fundraisertomorrow. It’s a low-key affair at a local arts center. I made theexecutive decision and told him, yes, we’d be there. I thought I’dcheck in with you guys before I invite my new girlfriend.”

“She’s your girlfriend now? I take my hatoff to your fast movement.” Finn slapped a hand on my shoulder.

“She doesn’t know it yet, but in my mind,I’ve claimed her.” I winked.

“So, you won’t want to go on a wild goosechase at a strip club when your lunch date might turn into anall-night party,” Harry said.

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