Page 72 of Medium
“Good. They’ll help sell the house then.”
He paused, a stack of my shorts in his hands. “You were nesting. I remember. You told me you bought a bigger car, you painted, and you planted the flowers.” He dropped the shorts into the suitcase and walked over to me. “The bigger car was to carry me, Rory, and Pia. But the paint and the flowers were to help sell this house so you could move into mine.” He kissed me, slow and sweet.
I reveled in the feel of his body, his lips on my mouth. I’d missed this. When he finally pulled back, I hugged him. “I can’t wait to have our bond back, but I’m glad we know what was missing the first time.” I glanced out the window to the backyard. Pia and Ms. Jackson must’ve come back inside. “Do you think we can get Rory to move in too?”
Shane snorted. “He’s hooked. He’ll come. Plus he lives in an apartment. It’s not like Pia would want to move in there.” His eyes went wide. “Do you mind.... We didn’t talk about Pia living with us.”
I gave him my most devious grin. “Hey, Pia?” I called.
“Yeah?” It sounded like she was in the kitchen.
“You wanna live in Shane’s house with me and Shane and Rory?”
“Yeah!”
“Okay, good!” I winked at Shane. “See, took care of that. TWIST has someone who can help us get ID documents for her. We’ll be all set.”
Rory stuck his head around the doorframe. “I feel like I missed out on an important conversation.”
I tilted my head up to squint at the ceiling. “Hmmm. No. No, I don’t think so.”
He came inside the room, allowing Shane and me to pull him into our hug. “Nothing you want to ask me?”
Shane kissed his cheek. “No, not particularly. Ellis and I got everything figured out.”
He snorted. “Sounds like it. For the record, I’m with Pia. I wanna live with you two. And her.”
We attempted another three-way kiss, but before we could work out whose head needed to tilt in which direction, someone pounded on my front door.
“I’ll get it!” Manny shouted.
I groaned. “I bet Gerald called the homeowners association about Ms. Jackson.”
Rory pulled back. “They’d show up that quickly? I thought HOAs just sent you nasty letters with fines for breaking the rules?”
“Ellis? Can you come here please?” Manny sounded amused.
I sighed. “They do that too.” I squeezed them one more time then headed to the front door. Rory and Shane trailed after me.
Yep, there was Sharon White, the president of the HOA. She was dressed to impress in a navy power suit and heels. She had a clipboard in one hand and held up her phone in another.
“Hello, Sharon. What brings you by today?” As if I didn’t know.
“Ellis. I received a very concerning complaint regarding a dangerous animal on your property. I’m afraid I can’t allow such a creature to remain in the neighborhood.”
I crossed my arms. “A dangerous animal? Is that really an HOA matter? Seems to me you should’ve called Animal Control if you or whoever made the complaint were that worried about it.”
“Wait a sec.” Rory held up his phone. “If she’s recording this conversation, I feel like you should have a recording too. Okay, go ahead.”
Sharon gave him a once-over. “And who might you be?”
He gave her a charming grin. “I’m Rory, one of Ellis’ boyfriends.”
Her mouth dropped open. “One of....”
Shane came up behind me and kissed me on the temple. “I’m Shane. The other boyfriend.”
Sharon’s eyes went wide. “Well, now, this is not acceptable. There’s a morality clause in the HOA charter.”
