I scoffed at him and pushed him aside with my hip. “I thought you were going to say it was in the rules of being my best friend, but that was pretty accurate too. And she’s not a lesbian, she’s bi, just like me.”
“Babe.” He crossed his arms, watching me. “She may have feelings for Tanner, but I’m sure he’s the only man who can match her head on. She has big lesbian energy. And she has to love me, regardless, because I’m your bestie.”
“These rules are bizarre, and I don’t agree with them in the least.” I said.
He chuckled again. “Gotta play by the rules, nonetheless. Speaking of which, rule number two. This one is in the rules of dating my best friend.”
“Oh God,” I groaned, “What’s that?”
“Tanner needs to put in a good word for me with that sexy firefighter friend of his.”
My hands paused mid-toss of seasoning, and I scowled at my perplexing best friend. “Huh? Who?”
“Thomas.”
I snorted, picking up the sugar shaker. “Uh, your radar is off on that one. He’s not gay.”
Jasper scoffed, “Trust me, he is. And he’s interested in me. He’s just too shy to make a move.”
“Thomas?” I stammered, “As in Thomas Briggs, the guy who works with Rhea and went to school with Tanner?”
“The one who lingers here at the bakery whenever I work. The one who shows up at town events and peeks up at me from under histo die forsexy black lashes with his perfect crystal blue eyes. The one who has enough muscles to pick me up and bend me up into a sexy twisted pretzel and salt me with his?—”
“Okay!” I yelled, cutting him off with my hands up in the air and my eyes screwed shut as I tried hard not to envision what he had just described. “I get it. I got it. Thank you. Please stop.”
He chuckled again, grabbing pans from the rack as I started rolling the dough into a twist. “My point is, as your best friend, I’m privy to such perks of your relationship with not one, but two very hunky dominant lovers.” He deadpanned with a serious look. “Access to their equally hunky dominant friends.”
“I can’t deal with you.” I chuckled, slicing the dough into medallions and passing them to him to put on the pan. “If you think he’s interested, why don’t you just make a move? I’ve never known you to be shy before.”
“Because he’s shy.” Jasper shrugged. “He’s into me, but my guess is he’s never been with anyone like me. I don’t even know if he’s out publicly. Chances are he’s locked away because of where he works, and that’s why he won’t make a move. But if he had some encouragement from someone like Tanner, whom he respects and trusts,” he paused. “Maybe he’d take a chance.”
“Hmm.” I hummed, considering it all, and instantly feeling icky that if Thomas was in fact gay, he felt he had to keep any of his true self hidden because of the fire department’s opinion. Or was it maybe because of the small-town opinions?
Cedar Bluff was slowly getting with the times, but even my relationship dynamic was proving difficult for people to grasp completely, even if they liked the three of us individually.
“Hey Goldie,” Tabby, one of my employees, popped her head into the kitchen door. “Rhea and Tanner are here.”
“Thanks!” I called out, handing the slicer to Jasper. “Don’t cut these into weird shapes this time. Okay?”
He snorted, pushing me aside as he started slicing them exactly as I had. “The heart shape cinnamon rolls were a hit.”
“Yes.” I agreed, wiping my hands on my apron. “The penis-shaped ones were not.”
He cackled behind me as I walked out. “They were supposed to be sticks! Cinnamonsticks!”
I left him to it and walked out into the bustling bakery shop, spotting my two lovers instantly amidst the fluster of mid-morning chaos.
They were both in uniform, competing professions while standing in unison, side by side.
My heart raced in my chest as Tanner nodded to me over the heads of the crowd forming around them. Townsfolk were approaching Rhea and congratulating her, shaking her hand, giving her their well wishes after the excitement of the news broke from yesterday’s fire.
We all knew it would happen; Rhea had been hard-pressed to even get out of bed to go to work this morning, trying to avoid it altogether. But her ethics wouldn’t let her hide.
I didn’t doubt that Honey & Hearth was strategically picked as her public debut to face the masses.
“Alright!” I called out, waving my hand towel around in front of me like I was fanning away smoke from a burnt pie. “That’s enough, move along. You got it out of your system.” I said, moving deeper into the crowd. “We all know Rhea’s fantastic and incredible and all the other things, but move along and let her in for breakfast!”
The crowd moved aside, going back to their tables and lines, waiting for their own food as I stepped into the hero’s personalspace. Rhea all but yanked me into her, sliding her hand over my back as I stuck to her side. “Thank you.” She whispered, kissing my temple as Tanner took the gap in the crowd and started leading us all toward a quiet corner with a table for three. “Jesus,” Rhea sighed, throwing herself down into the corner, hiding as best as she could behind a lemon tree I had planted years ago and grown into the beauty she was today.