Page 431 of Seasons of Love
Frank had finished his pastry, so he held on to Jessie’s lead with one hand and his drink with the other.
“So, what did you want to ask me?”
“I’ve been reading your books, and there’s one where three guys—”
My coughing fit interrupted Frank. He tapped his hand on my back to help me clear my throat.
“Sorry…I was too eager to eat my cookie,” I said. It was an excuse even I didn’t buy.
“So nothing to do with a straight old man asking you about three-way gay sex?”
My mouth was literally agape, and I was in shock.
I shook my head and took a sip of my coffee, trying to compose myself.
“I’m afraid to ask again, Frank, but what’s your question?”
“You have a wonderful way with words. My Annie would have loved your books too. So much love and romance. I read all your books—”
“You did?”
“Of course,” he said as if I were crazy for even thinking he wouldn’t. “I’ve read nearly all of them, and in order. Anyway, I got to this, what do you call it? Oh yeah, poly romance, and I don’t get it. Don’t they get jealous?”
I looked around us. The sky was still blue, the flowers still looked beautifully blooming, but I was pretty sure I’d stepped into some kind of separate dimension.
“Many people see it that way because western society educated us to see just the love between two people and nothing more. Many cultures allow for more than one spouse, and even in the animal kingdom, a lot of species have multiple partners. Of course my romance is fiction, but those relationships happen in real life too.”
Frank scratched his chin and looked pensive.
“Does it bother you?” I asked.
“No, at all, son. When I met my Annie, I felt like the luckiest man on earth, and I’m grateful for every day we spent together. Love is more precious than the rarest gem. To have one person loving you with everything they have is the most wonderful thing. To have more than one…well, that’s just being a lucky bastard. No one should throw that away.”
He laughed, and I couldn’t help joining him.
“When’s that next book coming out? I’m nearly finished with your backlist. You can’t leave me hanging.”
“Tell you what, Frank. As soon as this next one is ready, you can have an advance copy.”
“Perfect,” he said. “Now tell me, how are your husband and my nephew?”
Fuck.
15
MAL
“There’s no other option. We have to do it,” Hailey said, leaning against the windowsill in the conference room.
“If we do it, we may as well kiss goodbye to this year’s profits,” Pete said, raising his hands.
Brian sat forward on the large conference desk. “I think the safety of our guests is more important.”
“I’m not disputing that, but we don’t want to lay off people,” Pete argued.
“What do you think, Mal?” Jake asked.
I looked around the room. This was decision time. We’d looked for all the alternatives to keep the resort open while we repaired the west building, but a survey had uncovered a few other structural issues that needed to be dealt with.
