Page 77 of Tickled Pink

“Okay,” he stutters. “Yeah. That’s factual, but you’ve missed… a lot of context.”

“I’ll say,” Jackie says.

I turn to her. “Jackie, can you…?”

“Get the fuck out?” She nods. “I’ll see you Monday.”

“See you Monday.”

She spins on her heels and bolts out the front door, leaving us to… whatever I walked in on.

I face them again. Max and Thad. Thad and Max.

Together, without me.

“Okay…” I exhale hard. “What… is happening here?”

They both open their mouths, but no words come out. They look at each other. They look at me. They struggle to find the words.

I, however, have plenty.

“Are you two together? I thought we were one woman, two boyfriends. When did this…? How long has this been going on?” I ask, my tongue moving too fast for even me to keep up with.

“We had a sleepover,” Thad says.

“A sleepover?”

“You know, the kind teenage girls have when they experiment on each other?”

“I never did that!”

“Max just needed to…” He goes quiet and looks at him.

I look at Max, his face bright red. “Max?”

He raises his eyes off the floor. “Phoebe, we need to talk about something.”

My chest tightens, my heart stopping for what feels like eternity. “Okay,” I say.

“Thad, can you give us a minute?”

Thad seems surprised at first, but he nods slowly. “Sure,” he says. “I’ll take Stinky out.”

“Thank you.”

“Come on, girl.” Thad pats his thigh and Stinky instantly rushes to his side. “Let’s go out back.”

She happily follows him through the living room and kitchen to the back door. It opens and closes.

And then there were two.

Max scratches his cheek in thought before standing up tall and looking at me. “Phoebe, I’m…” He exhales. “I don’t know what I am, honestly, but I’m…”

My gut churns. The pain in his eyes, in his voice. “What?”

He presses his lips together. “I love Thad,” he says.

I furrow my brow, confused. “I know. So do I.”

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