Both men turned and looked at Laura, the deep love that was like a small fiber of energy that wafted out and connected the men with Laura.
“It shocked me,” Dylan said.
“It thrilled me,” Mike answered. “It’s a fitting tribute to a really wonderful woman.” Mike swallowed hard and Dylan seemed to be fighting back tears.
Laura smiled back. “It really was the only choice once I realized that if you could both love her that much, then I could honor her memory, and love her, too.”
“Getting back to business.” Josie poured herself a cup of coffee now, and began drinking it. It made her think of Alex, made her think about all of the ways that she was closing herself off, when what she should have been doing is opening herself up. Look at the three of them, across from her, happy, centered, relaxed and joyful. The confidence that all three of them had—that no matter what problems they faced from within or without, they would talk it through, and be reasonable, and use love as their guide—was what Josie wanted more than anything in the world.
Alex had seemed to offer the first steps in that journey for her, and yet she couldn’t let herself sink deep enough within to be vulnerable enough to see what that looked like on a day-to-day basis. And now that chance was gone. What that did look like from the outside was the three very tired, very happy people across the table from her, with tangible proof of how much they loved each other. That eight-pound ball of proof, now nestled on Mike’s shoulder, curled into a ball as she had lived inside Laura’s womb, legs tucked up under, head turned to the side, lips resting against Mike’s collarbone.
The business was about helping people to achieve what those three had. Was she deluding herself thinking that she could run such a business, when she couldn’t even find one man that she could open up enough for? Not quite, a voice in her head chided her, it’s not that you can’t find him, it’s that you won’t let him in. Don’t pretend that that person or persons aren’t out there for you.Alex is there, and you’re pushing him away.
“Yeah, the business,” Laura said. She glanced over to see Jillian’s state, and grinned a loving look at Mike, his arm wrapped up and around the baby’s entire body. Curled up like a fiddlestick that was starting to unfurl. It was a beautiful picture, almost artistic, in the way his muscles rested in his self-assurance and confidence in holding his daughter. Laura turned her attention back to Josie. “What do you need?”
What do I need, she thought. That’s an open-ended question. “I need the basics, the way that we talked about this before. An office, equipment, a couple people to help me run it, maybe only one—Darla might be enough.”
“If she’s going through what you’re talking about,” Mike said, using his left hand to awkwardly drink coffee while holding the baby with his right, “then she sounds resourceful. I’d start with one person and see where you can go.”
“So basically you want me to create a dating service for people who want threesomes, and I’m trying to envision how on earth you advertise this thing. We’ll have those Westboro Baptist Church fundies protesting outside our window in about three seconds flat.”
“That’d be great publicity,” Dylan said.
Josie glowered at him. “That is definitely not the way I want to start a new career.”
“We can be subtle,” Laura added. “I mean, I thought Ménage Match, Incorporated was a great name.”
“Really subtle.” Josie laughed. “I don’t think that’s quite right; we need something that’s a little more sophisticated, something more…romantic, and not sexual.” Josie went pensive, thinking it through. Here they were right in front of her, proof positive that this could work. How could she take Laura, Dylan, and Mike, and without revealing their identities, usethem somehow, channel the goodness that they had found in each other. And then it hit her. She leaned across the table, and said quietly, “Good Things Come in Threes.”
“Hell yeah they do!” Dylan said.
Mike’s face went from interested to on fire, a giant grin spreading across his face, making those ice-blue eyes sparkle. “You just nailed it,” he said. “Good Things Come in Threes, that’s the company name.”
“Now, we need to get down to brass tacks.”
“Well, for funding, Laura can fund it however she likes,” Mike said, looking uncomfortable suddenly.
“We consider this her thing,” Dylan said, “we’re just here to…”
“To disrupt the process,” Josie choked.
“To give our input,” he countered.
“Potato, potahto.”
Dylan gave her a “fair enough” gesture, waving his hand and reaching, in the process, for the coffee carafe to fill his cup again.
“Do we advertise at all?” Mike wondered aloud. “What about word of mouth?”
“Do you know any other people in a situation like yours?” Josie asked, skeptically.
The three of them paused and thought about it. They all shook their heads. “No,” they said in unison.
“Me neither,” said Josie, “so how do we get started on this?”
“We could take out ads, you know, in the Phoenix or some of the other local newspapers that having dating site ads.”
Josie mulled that one over. “Yeah, we could. It’s kind of a unique service.”
“Well, we need to make it clear, too,” Laura added, “that this isn’t just some…sexual hookup system.”
“We’ll get the creeps, though,” Josie said.
“You’ll have no problem dealing with them,” Dylan ventured.
Josie smiled— that felt good, that he thought that of her. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate that, Dylan.”
He looked like he was about to say something else with a snarky tone, and then pulled himself back. His eyes expressed surprise that she would give him that much credit.
Jillian woke up with a scream that made the fillings in the back of Josie’s mouth shake. How could a baby go from sound asleep, curled up on Mike’s neck, to screeching like a howling monkey? It startled Mike, who unwrapped his arm and began soothing her, patting her back carefully.
“Poor baby, give her to me,” said Laura, reaching around Dylan to try to grab her.
Mike turned away just a little. “It’s fine, I have to learn to be able to soothe her,” he said, a tone of irritation in his voice.