by Cassie Cole
The first few words out of Brody’s mouth were squeaky as he regained his voice. “Like I said. I was gathering data from your store to show to the Pacifica manager.”
“Not helping your case,” Finn said, deadpan.
Brody glared at him. “I was showing the Pacifica manager so I could convince them their new store was a mistake!”
“Wait. Really?” I asked.
“I’ve been working closely with the store manager,” Brody explained. “He was getting ready to move out here permanently, but was waiting to see how the store did first. I showed him your data and projected it out. He called a meeting with all the big-wigs at Pacifica. You see, the new store has been running on slim margins since they opened. Lower prices to try to undercut you and gain market share.”
“And it’s working,” I said. “My numbers have been awful since Pacifica opened. I’m in a downward spiral, while Pacifica always seems to be busy.”
Brody’s blond hair swayed as he shook his head. “The original plan was to undercut your prices for one or two months, then steadily raise prices to their normal level. But with your sales data compared to theirs, I was able to convince them they aren’t gaining market share fast enough. Your customer base is too loyal. My projections showed that they would need to operate at a loss for over two years before they were profitable.”
“But… The data doesn’t support that,” I argued. “I’ve been struggling. Plus, you were arrested before gathering the rest of the data. I have your thumb drive in my desk.”
He smiled weakly. “Well, I made up some of the data at that point. Skewed it heavily in your favor where necessary. But it worked.”
“What do you mean, it worked?” Finn demanded.
Brody laughed and pointed. “Have you seen Pacifica? They’re closing shop!”
A tingle ran up my spine. No way. That couldn’t be true.
“How does that make sense?” I asked. “They just moved in! They renovated that corner of the building for months…”
“They don’t own the building outright,” Brody replied easily. “They’re leasing it. And right now, they’re in talks with the building manager to break their lease. They’ll lose a big chunk of money getting out of the lease, but that’s better than running the store at a loss for several years.”
Brody took a step toward me. I was too scared to move. Scared that this was all some prank.
“Kat, it’s happening. Pacifica is closing their store. It’s over.” He gestured around him. “Vinyl High is safe!”
I wanted to hug him, but I was very aware of Finn standing nearby, hands still clenched into fists.
“Why would they believe your data?” I asked. “Especially since it contradicts the data that convinced them to open in the first place.”
He shrugged. “The data was compelling. And apparently, your big counter-sale during their grand opening scared them.”
Finn playfully slapped me on the back. “That sale was my idea!” He looked at Brody like he was a wild animal he still didn’t trust. “Were they pissed at you for changing your mind?”
“A little bit,” Brody replied. “They fired me over it.”
“What!” I said.
“They used my arrest as an excuse. But screwing up the Pacifica analysis was probably the real reason. It looks bad for the marketing firm to make such a big blunder, and I’m an easy scapegoat.”
A lump formed in my throat and made it hard to speak. “I can’t believe you would do that for me.”
“It’s because I… care about you, Kat.” He stopped and shook his head. “No, that’s not true. I don’t just care about you. I’m in love with you, Kat. I can’t deny that any more than I can deny the math on a spreadsheet. I’ve never met anyone like you. I was instantly drawn to you, from the moment I first saw you at the gym on your first day. It tore me apart while Pacifica was preparing for their opening, and then afterwards. I wanted to find the right way to tell you the truth, but I was terrified of pushing you away, and then you found out the way you did and it didn’t matter. It was too late. I had lost what might have been the love of my life. That sounds overly dramatic, I know, but it’s true.”
He suddenly remembered Finn’s presence to the side. Brody blinked as if suddenly coming to a realization. “Are you two, um, together?”
“Fuckin’ right,” Finn said.
I nodded sadly. “We are.”
He reacted to the news like it was a punch to the gut, but then tried to smile weakly. “Well, I supposed I lost my shot. Regardless, I knew I had to make things right with you, Kat. I know you may never care about me again in any emotional capacity. I can accept that. But I hope one day you can forgive me.”
He came forward and kissed me on the cheek. A polite, respectful kiss.
A kiss of goodbye.
“Think about it. I’ll give you some space to figure everything out. And if you never do… I guess that’s okay too.” He gestured around him. “I hope Vinyl High is successful for a long time. You deserve it. Goodbye, Kat.”
Brody picked up his coat, nodded to Finn, then walked out the door.
Finn stared after him in confusion. “What the fuck just happened?”
45
Katherine
Even once the news sunk in, it didn’t feel real. I kept expecting to wake up from the dream and be right back where I was, with Pacifica open and bustling down the street.
But then some of Pacifica’s customers trickled into my store. Many of them were customers I had never seen before, and gazed around the store with excitement. “This place has more character than the other one,” someone said to their friend.
Paul showed up to work an hour later. “Hey, boss-lady. What’s going on with Pacifica? They’re renovating or something.”
I told him what had happened. He almost didn’t believe me, and then he started cheering so loudly that all the customers looked over. A chubby stoner trying to twerk was quite the scene.
His excitement finally made it feel real.
The day was busy with customers, and the next day was the same. It quickly became clear that not only was I going to survive without Pacifica, but I was going to thrive.
And I owed it all to Brody.
I thought about him a lot over the next few days. He gave me my space, like he promised he would, but I almost wished he would text me. Then the ball wouldn’t be in my court.
I still cared about him a lot. It was difficult to date someone for several months, and then have it all end unexpectedly. I had never gotten closure. So for things to suddenly turn around again…
Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that he had still betrayed me in the first place. There were hundreds of times where he could have told me the truth about his work, but he had still kept it hidden. That wound was still fresh, and it stung every time I thought about it. If he had kept that from me, what else would he hide? Could I ever trust someone like that again?
How was I supposed to feel?
Finn asked how I was doing at the gym, and I avoided the subject with him. He respected that, and didn’t probe deeper. Yet I could see the confusion on his face, wondering what I was thinking. Wondering what I was going to do.
Max was more blunt when I saw him at night.
“It’s alright to be confused,” he told me. “Convincing Pacifica to close was one hell of a way to get back on your good side. You don’t need to make a decision about it right now. Give it some time.”
Paul’s opinion was a lot more biased. “Boss-lady, Brody was like a secret agent! James Bond, man. Taking down Pacifica from within. That took a lot of balls. You should forgive him. Start seeing him again.”
That would have been simple, except that I was seeing Finn and Max. But Paul still didn’t know that, exactly. And I wasn’t ready to tell him.
I had lunch with my brother again later in the week. I spilled everything to him about Brody, and why I felt so reserved. “I just don’t know if I can get over what he did,”
I said. “Sure, he made it right in the end. But it doesn’t completely erase the secret he kept.”
Darryl nodded along while eating a potato chip.
“You’ve been awfully quiet,” I said. “I’ve been rambling on for ten minutes about this and you’ve only said two or three words.”
“I don’t know if you’ll like what I have to say,” he said quietly.
“Tell me. I’m open to any suggestions or opinions.”
He ate two more potato chips before speaking. When he did, he stared down at his plate without meeting my eyes. “The man who killed mom and dad? I went to see him.”
I felt my body tense. “What?”
“This was four years ago, about a year after the accident,” he went on, still studying his plate. “I wasn’t handling it well, and my psychologist told me that maybe I needed closure. So I drove down to the Arrowhead Correctional Center. It’s an hour south of here.”
I felt angry at hearing this news. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my wife. I went there intending to scream at the man, to tell him how much he had ruined my life, and yours. I wanted confrontation, you know?”
I knew. I’d been fantasizing about doing the same thing to the drunk driver who crashed into my parents’ car and killed them that New Year’s Eve long ago.
Darryl glanced up at me, then back down. “They led my inside. Gave me a full body search to make sure I wasn’t smuggling anything in. Then they sat me down in a big empty room to wait. Ten minutes later, he comes in. He was a lot scruffier than I remember from the courtroom. Bushier beard, longer hair. Like he’s stopped caring. He must not have known who was visiting him, because he was excited until he saw me. Then he looked terrified. He sat down across from me and leaned as far away as possible, like I was a snake about to strike.”
I swallowed the bile creeping up the back of my throat. “Then what?”
Darryl sighed. “He spilled his story. It was the same one we heard in court, during sentencing. He had just lost his job, so he went out that night to get blackout drunk. He doesn’t remember anything. He would take it back if he could.”
“And I realized,” he said heavily, “that my anger toward him, although justified, wasn’t helpful. It was eating me away from the inside-out. Screaming at the man who killed our parents wasn’t going to make me feel better, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to bring them back. So I forgave him.”
“You what?”
“It just sort of spilled out of me,” he explained. “I told him I would never forget what he had done, but I forgave him. And Kat? It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. For the first time since mom and dad died, I felt like I could breathe again. I forgave him, he thanked me with tears in his eyes, and then I walked out of that correctional center feeling like a new man.”
I felt tears welling at the corners of my eyes. I silently willed them to disappear and said, “Why are you telling me this?”
He reached across the table and took my hand. “People make mistakes. Sometimes the best thing is to move on. To continue living your life while you can. We’re lucky to be able to do that, Kat. Focusing on the past never helps. It only hurts.”
I nodded and wiped away my tears. If Darryl could forgive that man, then surely I could forgive Brody.
That weekend, I took the day off work and went on a hike by myself. I drove into the mountains and parked at the same place Brody had brought me for our first date. It was more crowded now that the weather was nice, but that didn’t bother me. I took my time hiking up the mountain and I smiled at everyone I passed coming the other way.
When I reached the spot where Brody had surprised me with a picnic, I sat down and pulled a sandwich out of my pack. The waterfall was no longer frozen; it flowed steadily over the edge with a constant background noise. I ate my sandwich and watched the rushing waters, and admired the rainbow that formed from the mist.
Maybe there was a metaphor there. A frozen waterfall may be more peaceful, but it was meant to flow. Things were better when they were moving forward. Once over the edge, no water droplets looked back up at the way they had come.
Enough time had passed. I was ready to move forward and stop looking back.
I pulled out my phone to text Brody. There was already a text waiting for me. A group text, sent to me, Max, and Brody.
Finn: The four of us need to talk.
46
Finn
Max blinked at me. “Are you sure, man?”
“Positive.” I filled my lungs with the cool spring air and exhaled. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
We were waiting outside Vinyl High. Kat’s employee, the stoner guy whose eyes were always bloodshot, came out and told us that she had taken the day off. When we told him we were waiting for her, he blinked at both of us as if wondering if we were narcs, and then shuffled back inside. He’d been staring at us through the window ever since.
“Plus,” I added, “he might not even accept. He could sprint away from the whole thing faster than Usain Bolt. Then we’re the good guys for offering.”
Max narrowed his eyes. “Are you suggesting the offer because it’s what you want? Or because it’ll make you look good?”
“Both,” I said. “Why can’t it be both?”
He laughed and shook his head. “You’re nuts, man.”
Finn and I had a great relationship by this point. It was weird. Sharing a woman hadn’t driven us apart with jealousy. It had brought us closer. We were practically brothers, now.
And like brothers, we gave each other a lot of shit.
Max poked me in the chest. “Five months from now, when Kat decides she loves Brody more than either of us, I’m blaming you.”
“Fair enough. But it’s a risk we have to take. Especially if it’s the only way for Kat to be truly happy.”
Max’s teasing attitude disappeared. “Yeah. I agree, even if I don’t seem happy about it right now.” He jerked his head. “There he is.”
I turned around. Brody came walking down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. He slowed when he saw me.
“You’re not going to choke me, are you?”
I smacked him on the shoulder so hard he staggered sideways. “Relax, buddy. You redeemed yourself with the Pacifica stuff.”
He blinked. “Are you just trying to get me to lower my guard…”
“You’re fine, I promise,” Max said. “Stop shivering.”
I let the smile fall from my face. “But if you ever hurt Kat like that again… You’ll end up with far worse than a stress fracture. I promise you that.”
Brody nodded. “Did you invite me here to threaten me? Or is there some other purpose?”
“We have something we want to suggest,” I replied. “An arrangement that leaves all of us happy. Especially Kat.”
“Anything for her,” Brody said. “What is it?”
That’s when Katherine arrived.
47
Katherine
It was weird seeing the three of them together. The men I had slept with this year. The men I had been seeing simultaneously.
The men I was in love with.
Brody smiled weakly. “It’s good to see you, Kat.”
I felt awkward around them, unaware of how to act. “Let’s go inside.”
Paul was checking out one last customer. Otherwise, there was no one else in the store. As soon as that customer left, I told Paul, “You can take a smoke break. I’ll take over for fifteen minutes.”
He looked at each of the men around me, decided he wanted no part of this, and headed out the door. I locked it behind him and flipped the sign to CLOSED. I wanted some privacy for this conversation.
“Well?” I asked. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
I had a suspicion about the answer. Finn and Max knew I had feelings for Brody. They weren’t happy with me suddenly being confused about my emotions for the past week. They were going
to make me choose, here and now.
I’d prepared for that on the drive over here. At least, I tried to prepare. I still didn’t know what I was going to do. How to choose between my relationship with Max and Finn, and Brody on the outside.
Maybe some clarity would come to me in the moment.
Finn crossed his massive arms and looked around at the rest of us. “Max and I have been talking.”
Uh oh. Here it comes.
“We want to suggest that Brody joins our group.”
“Joins what?” I gave a start. “Oh. Wait, seriously?”
“What group?” Brody asked, confused.
Finn ignored him and focused on me. “You clearly have feelings for him. You’ve been distant all week trying to figure things out. Max and I have given you space, but…”
“It’s been tough seeing you like this,” Max added.
“If you stay with just me and Max, you’ll probably regret it later. You’ll always wonder if you made the right decision. You might even resent us for it, or our relationship will blow up when you finally can’t take it anymore. We don’t want that.”
Brody gawked. “The two of you? You’re both seeing her?”
“We’re sharing her,” Max said evenly. “Try to keep up.”
Finn hugged me. As always, I felt warm and safe in his embrace. “We want you to be happy. That’s what matters most. And we both already know Brody, and we like him. At least, we like him again now that he redeemed himself with Pacifica.”
Max slapped Brody on the back. “You hit a home run.”
“That’s our suggestion,” Finn said finally. “There’s not much difference between two guys, and three. That’s better than forcing you to make a decision now, which is clearly where things are going.”
“What do you think?” Max asked.
I couldn’t believe it. They were giving me exactly what I wanted. I could be with all three of them at the same time. I didn’t have to choose after all.