Page 121 of Three Pucking Ex's Brothers
“What?”
She wipes her eyes. “The park. I saw him last night, he had a game. We went out…on a date…and…”
Russell lets out a deep sigh. “I didn’t know you and Tommy were…”
Nora takes a few steps forward, leading us in the direction. I follow her without question.
The birds tweet and the sun is shining, but there’s a melancholy cloud over us.
“It’s…” Her voice falters.
“Complicated,” I say with a sigh. “Yeah…I get that.”
Nora sniffles as Russell flanks her right side. I take the left without thinking.
“Yeah. I never expected to have feelings for him or…” She looks to me and then at Russell. “You. All of you.”
Her words hit me like a brick in the chest. All of us?
“This is a mess,” she says through another sob. “I don’t even know how this happened, it just?—”
“Hey.” I grab her hand and kiss the back. Russell watches but doesn’t say anything. “Whatever it is that we need to do, we’ll fix it.” I look at Russ. “Right?”
Russell wraps an arm around her waist as he gives her a soft smile. “Right.”
When we get to the park, I don’t see him at first. The parking lot’s full, and it looks like there’s a little kids’ game going on.
Nora spots him and runs from my grasp, leaving Russell and me alone.
I look at him in question. “So, you…me…Nora…”
Russell crosses his arms as he nods to Tommy and Nora. She pulls Tommy into her arms, and he buries his face in her shoulder.
“And Tommy.”
“All in love with the same person,” I say carefully.
“Yeah. Guess so,” Russell says. “You know how I feel about Nora. You’ve known for a long time, so let’s not pretend that we don’t know what’s going on here.”
“What is that?” I ask.
“We’re all dating and sleeping with Brett’s ex-girlfriend.”
I tense at his words.
“How do we do this?” I ask. “Without hurting each other?” I look at Tommy as they sit on the bleachers together, seeming to talk. She takes his hand in hers, and I see the way he looks at her. He’s definitely in love with her; I can see that a mile away.
And I kissed the woman he loves. He doesn’t evenknowwe’ve been together, or about her and Russ…
“Because if you’re going to ask me to give her up, I?—”
“How about we ask Nora what she wants?” Russ says carefully.
“What about Tommy?” I ask.
Russell takes a step forward toward them. I stand still.
“Ask him too.” He shrugs.
