Page 91 of Nanny for the Athletes

“The reporter called me for a statement,” Christian explained. “She asked if Beth was seeing any of my teammates. It’s obvious who she means.”

I turned to Beth. “Okay, time to come clean. What other Colts players are you hooking up with?”

Beth was in the process of sipping on her root beer, and nearly spit it out as she laughed.

“I don’t think this is funny,” Logan said.

I spread my hands. “If you can’t laugh in life, what’s the point?”

“The point is that we need to be careful,” Christian said. “Or…”

“Or?” Logan asked.

“Or we accept that we essentially have zero privacy in our lives, and we stop worrying about it,” Christian suggested.

“Wrong,” Logan barked.

“Care to elaborate?” I said.

Logan shook his head.

“Well, that’s one point of view,” I muttered.

“This is a discussion for all of us,” Christian said. “The three of us are dating Beth.”

“We’re doing a whole lot more than justdatingher,” I said, giving Beth a wink that made her giggle.

“Which means,” Christian continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “that thefourof us are in a polyamorous relationship. And we’re at the point where we either hold back and try to keep this a secret, or stop caring and allow the public to find out.”

“No,” Logan said stubbornly.

I pointed at the phone on the table. “Seems like it’s already public.”

“They have a few photos, but no actual knowledge about who Beth is,” Christian said. “The TMZ article refers to her as amystery woman.”

“Oh, I like that! It makes me sound exotic,” Beth said.

“We’re at a crossroads,” Christian said. “Where do we go from here?”

“Can I offer an opinion?” Beth asked.

“I guess you may,” I teased.

She stuck her tongue out at me. “Dating the three of you is great. It’s amazing, even. But it’s a lot of work. Which is totally worth it! I’m not trying to say it’s not.” She cleared her throat. “But trying to keep it a secret is going to require a whole lot of extra work. And I just don’t think I have the energy for that.”

“Do you have the energy for paparazzi showing up at your kennel?” Logan asked.

She shrugged. “I can deal with them coming around at first. But they’ll probably get bored and move on. And in the meantime, that’ll be good publicity for my business.”

“Sothat’swhat this has all been about,” I joked. “Using us to get your business off the ground.”

“Damn, you figured it out,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “This was my master plan all along, to convince you to invite me to a charity event and then double-team me in the back of a limo, all so my dog boarding business would be successful.”

“You’re a manipulative mastermind,” Christian said.

“All jokes aside,” Beth added, “we don’t have to make a firm decision right now. I don’t want to change my behavior around you three just because a reporter might see.” She patted Logan on the thigh. “Let’s keep doing what we’re doing and see what happens naturally.”

“That’s a good segue into my next topic,” Christian said. “Schuster had three front row tickets in the end zone for this Sunday’s game against the Jaguars, but his family bailed on him. He gave the tickets to me. Do you three want to come?”

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