Page 27 of Kiss and Tell

“Joey…” he started.

“Miles. I swear to you, I don’t look at youthatway. I look at you like I look at my brothers. Because you’re my brother too.” Joey didn’t say anything else, giving Miles time to digest what he’d just learned. A small part of him hoped the information would make a difference.

Finally, Miles broke the silence, saying exactly what Joey expected and feared. “What you told me… It doesn’t change things. Because I’m not looking for what you are. I’m not even looking at all.”

It was yet another lie, but Joey didn’t call him on it.

“Like you said,” Miles added, tapping his temple. “I need to evict someone before I even think about starting something new.”

Miles claimed the last word as he turned and walked into his bedroom, shutting the door.

Joey stared at Miles’s closed door for a moment, then headed to his own bedroom. Dropping down on the edge of the mattress, he pulled out his cellphone, clicking on the number of the one person he could talk to about this.

It was late, but he knew Tony would answer.

“Everything okay?” Tony’s gruff voice told Joey he’d woken up his big brother. He heard a rustling that told him Tony was getting out of bed, followed by the quiet sound of a door closing. He’d obviously left the bedroom so he wouldn’t disturb Rhys and Jess.

“When did you know?” Joey asked. “That Jess was the one?”

“The second I lifted her out of that freezing-cold car.” Rhys and Tony had taken Jess and Jasper in from the street, the young mother and her son homeless and sleeping in a car in the dead of winter. Like him and Miles, his brother and Rhys were best friends and roommates.

Then Tony huffed out a breath that sounded like a laugh. “Who is she? Do I know her?”

“She’s the brewmaster at Rain or Shine Brewery. We’re interviewing her for the show.”

“You sound miserable as fuck. Am I to take it she’s not interested in you?”

“She’s interested,” Joey admitted.

“Then why do you sound like you lost your best fri—” Tony paused, then said, “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh,” Joey said gloomily.

“Guess I don’t have to tell you it doesn’t have to be either/or.”

“You don’t have to tellme,” Joey said. “But I think I asked the wrong question. How did you convince Rhys to share?”

“That’s still the wrong question,” Tony replied. “Because I didn’t convince him. We got there on our own. We realized our lives wouldn’t be complete without Jess and Jasper pretty early on. Took us a little longer to figure out our lives wouldn’t be complete without each other, as well, so instead of pistols at dawn, we decided to share.”

Joey wasn’t so sure Miles would ever come to that realization.

“What you want is a beautiful thing, Joey. But it’s not easy to achieve. Two people finding their perfect half, falling in love, is rare enough. Three hearts fitting together? That’s fucking miraculous. You only left Philly a few days ago, bro. Take a breath. Then take about a hundred more. Let things play out a little longer. You can’t push this on Miles. He’s gotta find his own way there.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

Tony was silent for too long. “I think you know the answer to that.”

Joey did, and it felt like an arrow straight through his heart.

“While you can’t push him,” Tony began, “that’s not to say you can’t guide him.”

Joey chuckled. “Guide him, huh?”

“Open his eyes to the future you’re seeing. Miles is a smart man. I’m betting he won’t be able to say no when he understands just how much he stands to gain.”

“Thanks, bro,” Joey said, nurturing the tiny spark of hope Tony had lit in his soul. “Give Jasper a hug for me, and kiss Jess’s belly, tell my future niece or nephew that her uncle Joey intends to spoil them rotten.”

Tony chuckled. “I’ll be sure to do that. As soon as Jess stops throwing up. Right now, it’s a splash zone.”

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