Today’s been a good day so far. Hot as hell out, but still a damn good day.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I started seeing both Cate and Dylan. I gotta admit, I’m still not really all that sure about what we’re doing, but it’s good.

I’ll take good for now; it’s better than I normally get.

The three of us have meals together every couple of days, depending on my work schedule, and it feels like Dylan’s cooking just gets better and better with every class he goes to. I’m so proud of him, my best friend, getting everything he wants out of life. Good for him. I hope he keeps grabbing it by the horns.

Cate, too, my other best friend. It feels weird to say that, given that we all but hated each other back at the beginning of April. But now it’s early May, and the chill has finally given way to the thaw. She’s killing it at her fitness class, far as I know. It’s amazing to see how much happier she gets every single day.

And me, well, I just dunked my biggest case to date. My closing argument was on point, and the jury came back in an hour. It’s a partner-making case, I’ll bet. Not trying to put the cart before the horse, but there were a lot of telling handshakes and pats on the back at the courthouse today. It’ll only be a matter of time before I’m sitting in that boardroom with all the rest of them, and none of them will ever know how I grew up or where I came from.

That’s my little secret. Our little secret, I guess.

Anyway, it’s too hot for the T; ain’t no way I cram into a subway car when it’s ninety degrees out, so I got myself a luxury taxi from one of those apps. Why not? Gotta learn how to live it up a little more if I want to fit in on the top floor.

Speaking of the taxi, here it is now. Big black SUV. Perfect. I hop in.

“Where ya headed, pop?” the driver asks me. I grin. He’s practically a boy, gotta be his first job out of high school. Townie, too. Good for him, I hope he crushes it.

“Out to the Common,” I say, thinking about the townhouse. “Northeast.”

“You got it,” he says, and we start to roll off.

The air conditioner is perfect, cool, crisp, feels wonderful on my face, but as we pass by the towering buildings of downtown, my smile slowly begins to fade.

What if I’m imposing, stopping by like this?

I was just there yesterday, and I didn’t ask ahead of time to hop on over. Cate keeps telling me I don’t need to ask permission anymore, but I still feel bad for the times I barged in on her in the past, and I don’t want to fuck this up.

“Hey kid,” I say, reaching into my suit coat and peeling a fifty-dollar bill out of my money clip. “Change of plans, sorry about that. Take me on over to Back Bay, I’ll comp you the lost time.”

“Damn, pop,” he says, grabbing the bill. I can see him beaming in the rearview mirror. “Thanks! No prob, on the way.”

Sure, my throat’s a little tight with disappointment, but it’s better this way. I don’t want to push, or overstay my welcome. Cate and Dylan have been living in that place without any incidents together. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been really enjoying our thing, but I don’t know if it’s gonna last. I still can’t break that habit of being ready for a thing to disappear from my life.

Once a townie, always a townie, I guess.

Things are good now, but the two of them are probably better off there without me right now. Honestly, there’s no telling that either of them are as into this arrangement as I am. It’s sex. Yeah, good, mind-blowing, amazing sex, but still… just sex.

Sex with friends.

Two very close friends.

But… there’s a reason they call it the third wheel, right? And the last thing I need to do is get in the way of their feelings.

Then again, maybe I’m overthinking it?

I stifle a sigh, staring blindly out the window. I just don’t know. I guess it’s not always just sex. Like I said, the dinners are wonderful, and we’ve done a lot of talking about Cate’s decor ideas for the townhouse. I’m still not quite convinced that keeping the townhouse is the best move, but we’ve all reached a sort of unspoken understanding for now. Keeps the boat steady. And anyway, Cate’s design decisions are amazing; they’ve really started to grow on me. If we end up selling after all, the market value ought to go up like crazy based on her taste alone.

I’m so dug into these thoughts that I barely hear the kid asking me a question from the front seat.

“Say again, kid?”

“I said, that’s a lotta smoke up the way, pop. Looks like someone fell asleep with a lit cigarette. My old man did that all the time, dunno how we managed to keep the house from burning down.”

But I stopped listening about halfway through, rolling down the window on the passenger side and looking out. That looks awfully close to my building.

“Keep on goin’, kid,” I tell him, frowning.

“You got it,” he says, but then I hear the sirens approaching behind us. The kid pulls the car to the shoulder, honking the horn at the folks in front of him to let him in.

I watch as the fire trucks start zooming past us, weaving through the tight spaces like they must have done a million times before.

“Kid, there’s another fifty in it for you if you tail ’em,” I say, starting to feel worried now.

Please don’t be my building.

Please just be the shitty one next to it.

“Yep yep,” the kid says, and swerves the car into traffic the moment the last fire truck gets an inch past us.

I’m thrown to the other side of the car, but I don’t care, as long as he gets us there fast. And he does; kid’s amazing, gotta admit. He stays hard on the tail of the last fire truck, aggressively blocking anyone from cutting him off. As we get closer and closer, passing rows of buildings and alleys, it’s looking more and more likely that my wish isn’t going to come true. My heart slowly sinks with every block that goes by.

It feels like a million years, but we finally get there. My gut clenches. It’s my building, and it’s bad.

A brigade of fire trucks is surrounding the place, and there are paramedics, cops, and firefighters everywhere, along with a healthy crowd of rubberneckers that keep getting pushed out of the way. Of all the fucking luck. But of course. Of fucking course. Hadn’t I just been thinking how good things were going? Jinxed it.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fucking fuck.

I swipe at my face, tearing a few bills out of my clip and throwing them up to the front seat.

He turns to face me. “You want—”

“I’m out here, kid,” I say, and a second later, I fling the door open and hit the ground running, briefcase in one hand and my money clip in the other. I use my briefcase as a wedge, digging my way into the surrounding crowd until I can finally push through to the inner circle. “Hey!” I shout, running smack into an officer.

“Get back, pal,” he shouts right back at me, looking at me like I’m the asshole interfering with him doing his job.

“That’s my place,” I grit out, brushing him aside. I only get a few yards before he grabs me again and holds me in place.

“Sir, you can’t do that,” he says, raising his voice to be heard, but without the underlying asshole in his tone now. He’s got an arm firmly around my neck, and gestures with the other one. “It’s full up with smoke!”

“It’s my place!” I yell again, struggling to break free of his iron grip.

“I don’t wanna have to hurt you,” he yells back, tightening his grip. “But going in there will hurt you. You’re acting crazy. Stay back.”

Finally, I can’t fight against it any longer; I’m getting nowhere. I fall still and hold my hands up.

“Alright. Fuck. I’m done,” I say, and he lets me go.

I take only a single step forward, staring up at the building. The fire might not have started on my floor, but it was definitely on my floor now. I can see the flames licking out of the sides of where my windows once were.

“No,” I mutter, dropping everything I’m carrying and bringing my hands up to my head, tearing at my hair. “It’s everything.”

“Sir, is anyone else in there?” the officer asks, looking concerned.

“It’s everything!” I shout. “It’s my life! My art, my files, my computer, all my pictures! My suits! My thousand-fucking-dollar suits!”

Everything that meant I’d made it. Everything I’d worked for.

All I had.

“Loved ones, sir,” he shouts, trying to be heard over the roar of the fire and the crazy scene around us.

I almost don’t understand the question at first, staring up at the building. But a moment later I do, and my thoughts shift to Cate and Dylan, my heart freezing in my chest. No question: if either of them were in the building, I’d run in past a million officers.

I’d fight and die for either of them.

For both of them.

“Oh my God,” I whisper, my hands dropping to my sides.

The officer looks at my expression, horrified. “Sir? Anyone? Is that a yes?”

I can’t even hear him. The thought of the two of them in that building, it’s just… it’d be my entire life.

Gone.

I love them.

I love each of them, and I love them together. Cate, Dylan, the both of them. They’re my whole goddamn heart, every last bit of it. Hadn’t they both tried to tell me, in different ways? Why hadn’t I seen it?

Because on top of the crashing knowledge, I’ve got something else. This isn’t new. I think I’ve always felt like this.

Why couldn’t I ever give Cate a chance when we were kids?

Why did I explode on Dylan when I saw him with another guy?

If there’s one sure bet in my life, it’s that I push away the people that I love. Everyone except Sully, but that man just didn’t take no for an answer, so I really had no choice on that one. But I did it with Cate and Dylan both, and I pushed so hard because… because I felt too much. I’ve always felt too much for them.

It’s terrifying.

I take in a deep, deep breath, and shakily sigh it out as the force of my epiphany courses through my body. Not even close to as terrifying as the thought of them in that flaming building. No, I’m done being scared. Fuck that. They’re not in there, and I’m in love with them.

I’m blessed.

Cate and Dylan, and the people they’ve grown into since the last time I saw them. I want to be with them forever. I can’t imagine life without them.

“Sir,” the officer shouts again, shaking my arm, and I turn to face him, grinning from ear to ear.

“No,” I tell him, elated, and the officer looks confused. I continue, “Nothing I love is up there. Not a single damn thing. Just stuff. The people I love are far away, where it’s safe.”

The officer stares at me like I’m a crazy person, and I probably am, but I can barely hear what he’s saying to me, because all of my attention immediately jolts at the sound of Cate’s voice, and again with Dylan’s right behind it.

“Jack.” It’s Cate, and I can hear it now in her voice. It’s not just my imagination, and now that I’m not trying to talk myself out of it, it’s plain as day. She cares about me, too. “Jack, are you all right?”

“God, Jack,” Dylan’s saying, talking over her as they both rush toward me. “We were worried sick about you.”

I feel as though I’ve been struck by lightning. How could I have been so foolish? Of course those two want me. They’ve made it so crystal clear at every passing opportunity, and the only thing that keeps getting in my way is me.

Before I can say anything, the two of them plow into me, both wrapping their arms around me in a huge hug.

I laugh. Hard. Bending over, wheezing-for-breath hard, if they hadn’t been holding me up. Because right now? Losing all the things I own? It might be the happiest I’ve ever been.

Nah, no “might” about it.

It is.

“Are you hurt?” Cate asks, her hands all over me as a look of concern grows on her face. She thinks I’m losing it.

“No, no, I’m fine,” I say, still grinning like a fool.

“Thank God,” Dylan says, his arms still tight around me from the other side. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

I feel a shudder go through Cate’s body, and she adds a heartfelt, “Me, neither.”

The officer who’d stopped me earlier is waving at us to get back, clear the way, and this time, I don’t put up a fight. The only place I want to be is wherever these two are. And then it hits me. They’re here. Why? How? It’s like they materialized out of thin air, just when I needed them most.

My life just doesn’t work that way.

“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, stumbling to a standstill just outside the ring of gawkers. I look back and forth between them, dumbstruck. This just ain’t the kind of luck I normally have.

Cate’s eyes well up. “We were doing some painting at the townhouse—”

“Yeah, and the fire popped up on the news,” Dylan interrupts. “We recognized your building right away.”

Cate looks up at it, raging like an inferno. “We got here as fast as we could,” she whispers, turning back to me. “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

I grin. And then I’m laughing again. I don’t even recognize myself right now, but that’s okay. I see the moment they get it. These two, I tell you, they know me so well. I guess, in some ways, better than I do myself.

“Nothing I need is up there,” I say, spelling it out as I tug them back against my sides, where they belong. “It’s okay. What say we go home?”

Dylan’s face splits into this heart-stopping smile. He’s just… lit up, and hot on its heels, Cate’s beaming at me, too.

Yeah, no two ways about it. Happiest day of my life.