When I wake up in the morning, Chloe is already out of bed and out of the bedroom. It’s a bit discombobulating waking up in Zane’s bed and it took me a couple seconds to remember where I was. Remembering where I am also brings back memories of last night – which was amazing by the way. Jesus Christ, Chloe is a little firecracker. I didn’t expect the three of us to click so quickly, but we did. That just tells me that we’re all meant to have this relationship.

Zane is still sleeping, and I try my best to get out of the sheets quietly, but the minute I step off the bed, I wake him up. He has a quick start, sitting up suddenly. He rubs his eyes.

“What’s going on?” he asks me, yawning.

I don’t say anything, giving him the needed minutes to get back into an awake head space. He blinks and rubs his eyes again.

“Where’s Chloe?” he asks.

I shrug. “Bathroom, maybe?”

We both get off the bed and move around the bedroom to get dressed.

“Need a clean shirt?” Zane offers, yawning again.

I nod. He hands me one of his plain white t-shirts and I pull it over my head. I amble over to check the bathroom, but it was conspicuously empty. Zane pulls on a t-shirt himself and then joins me in the bathroom. I get one of Zane’s spare toothbrushes and the two of us brush our teeth. It looks a little domestic, but that’s about all I can say of it. Zane and I are relaxed friends.

The two of us stumble out of the bedroom, in our boxers and t-shirts – once again a little domestic. I hear some noises in the kitchen and so we go that way. We find Chloe rapidly opening and closing the cabinets. We watch her until she seems to give up, no longer opening anything. That’s when she notices the two of us standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Good morning.,” she says, making an awkward face, maybe embarrassed being caught raiding the kitchen. It’s understandable. I’m pretty hungry myself. But something else seems to be bothering her.

“Is something wrong?” I ask.

She softly bounces from foot to foot and says, “I wanted to make you guys breakfast, but Zane’s kitchen is greatly understocked.” She crosses her arms like she’s really upset, and I don’t want to laugh, but she looks so cute. I turn to Zane.

“Zane! How could you? One should always be prepared for guests,” I lecture him, playing along with Chloe’s mild anger.

He rolls his eyes at me, not coming off as too concerned. He must already have plans for the day that he hasn’t shared yet. I wait for him to enlighten us.

“I wasn’t expecting company, so I have done like no shopping, but, there is this amazing farmer’s market not too far away and I was thinking that we could do some shopping and then have a picnic.” He so proud of his little idea, I can just tell from the presentation. His face is expectant, an unwavering smile plastered on. He’s nervous we’re not going to like his day plans, and, on the inside, I am laughing. Zane doesn’t always like to admit, but he needs validation every now and then. The weirdest part is that it pops up at the strangest times. Like now, he needs Chloe and me to thumbs up his date idea. Chloe doesn’t make him wait long, though. She enthusiastically jumps on his plans.

“I love it! I haven’t gone on a picnic in so long. We should all get dressed and head out immediately.” She is so determined to get us out the door, she pushes Zane and I back towards the bedroom. She’s not very strong - so she doesn't even get either of us to move more than an inch. Zane and I look down at her expectantly, both of us raising our eyebrows. She changes tactics and playfully swats our behinds.

"Get your sexy butts in motions, boys!” Chloe giggles.

And then she runs past us back to the bedroom without looking back. Zane looks at me and then I shrug, pushing myself into high gear. My friend isn't too far behind. When we walk inside the bedroom, Chloe is standing in the approximate middle. She looks deep in thought.

"What are you doing?” Zane asks.

 Chloe jumps and looks at us. Her hand on her heart, she glares at us before replying,

“I’m figuring out what to wear. I don’t want to put on the clothes I wore to work, yesterday, and I can’t go out like this.” She motions along her body. She’s still in the oversized tee and boxers Zane gave her. Her work clothes – as well as Zane’s and mine – are strewn all over the floor.

“There is a boutique just a few blocks down. Let me run out and pick you up something!” Zane suggests excitedly. He throws on a pair of shorts and is out the door within seconds.

Chloe looks at me a bit shocked. I shrug, but internally I am laughing. Zane must really be excited by the idea of going to the farmer’s market.

“Ok…I guess I will take a quick shower,” Chloe tells me while she ambles into the bathroom.

***

Zane drives us to the farmer’s market and it’s insanely busy. I typically do my shopping in a regular grocery store, so this is a new experience for me. It looks like a hubbub of activity and I’m mentally preparing myself to enter this foray of people. We haven’t decided on what we’re going to eat, so once we’re parked, we come up with a game plan.

“Okay. We should obviously get pre-made food because we’re going straight from here to the picnic, right?” Zane and I nod, so Chloe continues, “I just want something sweet right now. Actually, I want a lot of sweet things. Like Danishes or muffins or cupcakes. Let’s treat ourselves and have a gluttonous breakfast. Let’s get a sugar rush.” The more and more she gets into the idea, the more Chloe gets excited. This feels like something I would have done in my college days – just sweets for breakfast. I mean, I guess why not? Zane and I rarely have fun like this. Our lives could use some shaking up and it would look like Chloe is the one to get it all started.

“Yeah, okay. Let’s do this!” Zane throws a fist into the air, obviously caught up in Chloe’s excitement. I stare at him and slowly raise one eyebrow. He drops his hand slowly, his face coloring with embarrassment. Chloe giggles and kisses him on the cheek.

“Let’s split up,” she suggests. “We can shop quicker that way.”

We all get out of the car and the three of us go to different areas of the market. I scope out my corner and see a station selling cotton candy. My gears in my mind start whirring and I really consider getting all of us literal spun sugar. I stop thinking about it and go for it. I get rainbow colored bundles, one for each of us and get them placed in bags to keep the cotton candy safe. I look for what else can complete out confectionary breakfast. The next booth I find has Rice Krispies with M&Ms. I don’t think about this purchase either and get six. I think that’s enough sweet stuff, I think. And then I see candy apples and there is no way for me pass those up. I haven’t had a candy apple in forever. It’s probably been since before I went to college.

I make my last purchase and go back to the car. I’m already getting a rush, thinking about eating all this food. Zane is already waiting by the car, leaning against the door. Chloe isn’t anywhere in sight, so I put my haul in the back seat and stand outside with my friend.

“Find anything good?” I got a small peek into Zane’s bag and I think I saw some cupcakes. This feels like a hunt for whatever will please Chloe – but I’m not mad about it. She’s already made us feel so many things – things I haven’t really fully felt in a while. I’m even considering my future outside of Bingham Law Offices. That’s a major first. Whenever Zane and I talked about our futures, it’s always what we’ll be doing with the firm, but not really our ‘social’ lives.

“I think so,” Zane replies, rummaging through his grocery bag. “There was this fancy cupcake stand. The flavors were wild. I got one with a mango base. The baker explained to me how she did it. She put mango puree it – I mean there’s more than that, but it’s fascinating.”

Zane isn’t much of a cook, so anything to do with extensive cooking catches his interest. Sometimes I’ll cook for him and he watches me with amazement. It’s almost childlike.

“Anything else?” I ask.

“Some muffins. Nothing too exciting. What about you?”

“They had candy apples.” I’m really excited to tell him about the apples and I’m sure it’s showing.

“Oh my god. I haven’t had those in forever,” Zane grins, resting his head back on the car. “Our teeth are going to be destroyed.”

I’ve never had this much sugar in my life. I hope it doesn’t affect me too badly. Chloe comes up with more bags than either Zane or I have. She really went all in. She approaches the two of us and excitedly holds up all her bags.

“Wow. You got a lot of stuff,” I tell her.

There is no way we’re going to be able eat all of this. It looks like Zane is going to have sweets for days.

“What did you get?” Zane tries to look inside her bags, but Chloe pulls them away.

“It’s going to be a surprise. Let’s get to the park.” She climbs into the back of Zane’s black convertible with all of the food and Zane takes us all to a nearby park. It’s a beautiful, sunny day with just a hint of a breeze – perfect for a picnic. When Chloe gets out of the back, she makes sure to grab everything she bought, so we can’t look inside. I grab the blanket we packed to sit on and then follow Zane and Chloe to a prime spot. Chloe picks a spot in the shade of a cherry tree, which has just started to blossom. The pink flowers stand out sharply with the green of the other trees in the park.

 I spread out the blanket we brought. Its Zane’s back up coverlet and its gray like the rest of his house. The three of us climb onto the blanket, relax, and share what’s in our bags. Zane and I get out all we bought. Chloe is elated with the candy apples. She is happy with all we bought and then she brings what she has.

“So, here’s what I got,” she announces. “I got those Danishes I wanted and then they had these organic juices – I got two jugs. Ooo! Also, they had desert pizza. I’ve never had it before and I’m very excited to eat it. It’s like an apple pie, but it’s a pizza. I can’t describe, you’ll just need to see and eat it.” Chloe opens a pizza box and inside there is what I can describe the same way she did – it’s literally a flat apple pie.

So, now we have everything out and we all just start eating. It’s literally the sweetest meal I’ve ever eaten and I’m worried that my teeth will just fall out. I feel like a child whose parents who have left for the day. When we’ve finished eating, we all collapse, our stomachs full.

Chloe remarks on the meal, “That was so much sugar.” She is rubbing her stomach, sighing contentedly. She sits up on her elbows and looks over at the playground. Zane and I sit up and lean against the cherry tree behind us. I follow her gaze and see her watching the kids. They’re all yelling and screaming, basically being a bunch of ragamuffins. It’s cute, though. But Chloe looks enchanted with all of them. Her face is serene and calm as she watches the children run around. This is close to how she looked when she was sleeping on the couch in Zane’s office.

“Hey, Chloe. See something you like?” She blinks a few times after I ask my question and looks down into her lap before falling back on to the ground, looking up at sky. It’s an obvious deflection.

“Nothing. I was just… staring off into space.”

That doesn’t seem to be what’s going on. Her face was wistful, like she wanted something – not like she was ‘just staring off.’ Zane has the same idea I do because he pushes for more answers.

“Is that it?” Zane says it softly, trying to get Chloe to open up.

She turns her face towards him and puts her hand on his arm. She takes a few seconds to answer, just looking at her hand as she rubs it along Zane’s arm.

“There’s more, but I’m… I don’t know. I haven’t really spoke about it with anyone.” She seems a little confused by the last end of her statement like she’s only realized she’s never talked about it. I have no idea what it could be that she’s so afraid to share. I hope it’s not anything too serious. “But I could tell you guys, I guess…” She takes her hand off Zane’s arm and puts it under her head. While talking, she looks up at the sky as if she’s talking to no one in particular.

“I know you guys know that I don’t want to work at the firm. But it’s more than that. I know what I want to do with my life and I’m not doing anything… or I’m kind of ignoring it right now. My Dad wants me to be a certain person and it’s just not who am I. I’m not someone who wants to work in a firm. I want… I want to be a wife and mother – it’s a little old-fashioned, but I’ve always wanted children and a family of my own. I want to be a stay at home mom, just like my mom was,” she nervously playing with her fingers as she talks. “I know it might not happen for a while, but it’s where I’d like to end up one day or whatever…”

Hearing all of this – it takes me a few seconds to fully digest it. Marriage and kids – that’s a lot of information. I mean, I’ve never had a desire to be married or have kids, it’s never been something I’ve thought seriously about. Maybe instead of saying I thought negatively about it, it was more of an indifferent feeling. Some of our friends have kids – Zane and I – but they’re people we rarely see. I don’t even know if I’d be good with children. There’s a high chance they’d hate me – my humor isn’t the nicest and I can be difficult – but if I raised a child of my own, they could potentially be more like me. Another me? What a strange thought. And for Chloe to drop this on my so suddenly – not that I’m faulting her for sharing her life goals – I should be panicking because this is closer than any hypothetical. She’s actually a part of my life and because of this I should be running for the hills because it doesn’t fit into any of the life plans I’ve made for myself, but neither did she, really. None of what is happening here ever came into my head as if it would be a part of my life journey. And that could explain why I feel calm. I’m actually thinking about what’s been said because it sounds appealing. Little children running around and asking me for advice and probably annoying me because kids are annoying, but also adorable. I can’t plan for every eventuality, so maybe when there are surprises like this, I can be happy about them.

But how would it work? Me being a husband and a father. There’s never been a woman who I’ve wanted a life like this with – except for Chloe, I guess. But we are all together right now and Zane had hinted at more of a short-term thing. I don’t think he would want a future like that, but then would he be okay with the two of us entering into something more? Would Chloe? She didn’t say she wanted to have that family with me. This seems like something she has had on her mind for a while. I remember when she came into Jack’s office, she was hesitant, so his desire of hers has been with her for a while. I’m making quite the leap here in my head that she’d want to have my kids. But I’m kind of afraid to ask because what if she says no? I don’t have a single clue how I’d react. And by god, I’m super sure Jack would not want me impregnating his daughter. He wouldn’t want me to have anything of a sexual or romantic nature to do with his daughter. I’m more than ten years older than her, it would give him a heart attack, probably.

I finally turn to Zane and he doesn’t look appalled or freaked out, he looks thoughtful. He must really be considering this whole family thing. Could we all do this together? People have all kinds of family arrangements, why wouldn’t ours work? No one has said anything since Chloe has made her admission and I think it’s made her antsy, so she gets up.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom.” She walks away, leaving Zane and me alone to talk about everything.

Zane speaks first, “I was not expecting that.” He doesn’t sound disappointed, though.

“Do you want to keep going with… what we’ve been doing?” I don’t know a better way to word it. In my mind, I call it our threesome, but I’d like to have a slightly less crass way to say it.

“I do.” He’s very confident in his reply.

I’m still a little iffy because I don’t know how we’d do it. I’m someone who likes to have some kind of plan. Maybe the two of us can figure out the logistics of the relationship.

“I do, too. But I have no idea how we’d even do it.”

Zane gets into a slightly more intense mode and it seems like he might have some ideas. “Okay, so I was thinking we could all just start out dating. You know, what we’ve doing lately. Go on a few dates and get to know each other better. And maybe when we all get more serious, we can talk about moving in or something?” Zane has really thought about this. He basically wants to treat this relationship like any other relationship. That could work, but there is one more thing.

“But what about Jack?” I ask. He’s really the biggest hurdle. The three of us could take our time, but there’s that three-month deadline we have to worry about and I’m not sure if I want to be sneaking around behind his back.

“I don’t have a solution for that. That’s a hard one…”

I see Chloe coming back, so I tell Zane, “We can talk about this later. Right now, we can see where this goes and hopefully we can come up with a solution later.”

Zane nods and we wait for Chloe to come back over and continue our day out.