Page 61 of The Princess

Spencer wrapped an arm around Jonah and pulled him closer, placing a kiss on the side of his head. “Shhh, let the man have his harmless delusions.”

Damon scoffed. “You’re not seriously going to tell me that if everything went to shit, you’d take my side over Taylor’s?”

“This whole conversation is giving me a headache.” Jonah reached up and rubbed his temples. “We’re all adults. There doesn’t need to be sides. I am perfectly capable of staying the hell out of your relationship drama. And so is Spencer.”

“Yeah, but can you say the same for Colby?” Damon didn’t miss the way Jonah winced. “But anyway, we’re now arguing about hypotheticals. Ones that I’m going to do my best to make sure never happen.”

“I can drink to that.” Jonah raised his glass, as did Spencer and Damon, and the three friends clinked them together.

“But I am sick to death of talking about myself.” Damon looked at Spencer. “Tell me about your current projects. What kind of scrap are you making magic with this time.”

Spencer was the shop teacher at the high school, and he was also a sculptor who worked mostly with metal and scrap materials. He once made a sculpture of a bear out of chain that had to be at least eight feet tall.

“Windmills,” Spencer said, as if that explained everything.

“Windmills?” Damon asked.

“Windmills.” Spencer grinned at Damon, fully aware that he was being annoying.

Jonah rolled his eyes and gently elbowed Spencer in the ribs.

“You’re impossible,” he said to Spencer. “He made a tabletop prototype out of forks, spoons, and butter knives. Now he’s onto making a bigger one.” Jonah pulled his phone out and scrolled through his pictures until he found what he was looking for. “That’s the prototype.”

Damon looked at the screen. “I both love and hate how talented you are. That you see a box of discarded cutlery and think, ‘gee, someone threw out this perfectly good windmill.’ All I would see is a box of dirty forks. You could probably make a ton of those little ones and sell them to people for their gardens.”

Spencer shrugged. Other people had always seen more value in his work than he did. “I suppose I could,” he said after a time.

“They’d make good housewarming gifts, too. Say, if people you knew were going to officially move in together.”

Jonah’s eyes went wide and even Spencer looked surprised.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but I think after all the recent events, there’s no reason not to. Except, don’t say anything to Taylor about it. He doesn’t know and Nash and I have something special planned for him.”

“You’re going to ask him to move in with the two of you?”

“That’s the plan.”

Jonah narrowed his eyes. “How long have you been seeing my brother?”

Damon shrugged. “Does it matter? It’s not like he’s a stranger. And even if he were, I think my best friend would put aside his own weird feelings and thoughts and just let his best friend be happy and enjoy the moment.”

Jonah continued to scowl at him. “You suck. Of course I’m happy for you, but I worry about Taylor rushing into things.”

“He’s an adult, Jonah. And this is the reason Nash and I didn’t want to tell you about us. The Bennett family does one thing really well and that’s love each other. But sometimes they’re shitty at listening to each other, or anyone else.”

Spencer rubbed Jonah’s shoulder and Damon watched him unwind. It was like magic, the way Spencer knew how to calm Jonah down without using words. The way he was quietly supportive and seemed to know exactly what Jonah needed from one minute to the next.

Damon wanted that with Nash and Taylor. He wanted to curl up with them at night and wake up with them in the morning. He wanted to be the one to support them when they needed it. He wanted Nash’s do not disturb office hours and Taylor’s love of plants. Nash’s oversized sweaters and Taylor’s slowly evolving wardrobe.

“We’re going to ask Taylor to live with us.” Saying the words out loud gave them power. “We don’t know if he’ll say yes, so we also have a backup plan. But don’t say anything to him. We want it to be a surprise.” Damon’s leg jittered under the table, bouncing up and down, shaking Damon all the way through.

He was terrified that Taylor would say no. That he’d feel left out or less important to them because they hadn’t involved him in the process from the beginning. The ink was all but dry on the place Nash had his heart set on, and soon they’d be able to surprise Taylor with it. Damon hoped it would be a good surprise.

“I hope it goes well for the three of you.” Jonah managed to smile at Damon. “I mean that.”

“I know you do.” Damon forced his leg to stop bouncing.

“Any chance you can tell me what the surprise is? Beyond asking him to live with you, of course.”

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