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I made a quick trip to Jim's to hand over the envelope with the photos so he could scan them, make copies, and run them through facial recognition software.
"Thanks for handling all of this, Jim. How does a small-town attorney use facial recognition software? That seems more like a spy thing."
"Well, you know my affinity for a good spy movie."
I realized as I got back in my car, Jim never answered my question.
When I pulled into Hairy’s, Tom pulled in right behind me. He met me halfway to the door with a hug and a seriously hot kiss.
"Let’s get inside, I know you're always cold," he said.
"No one could be cold after a kiss like that."
He grinned down at me and held the door open.
When I handed Tom a drink, he asked, "Do you want to eat first or talk first?"
Ah the talk. I'd sort of forgotten about that. I'd given him the highlights. I wasn't sure there was much more to say.
"You know I've been dating Jim, Chance, and you since I moved here. You're all great guys, but I can't keep dating all of you."
"But you wish you could?"
"Maybe. You each are unique, and it seems the current chaos in my life with Harry's will and the cryptids and everything, means I can't completely stay away from any of the three of you even if I wanted to."
"But you don't."
"You're not making this easy. Look, I'm not a teenager. My divorce made it clear that I didn't take enough time to consider my choice of mate the first time."
He choked on his drink. "Sorry, your word choice threw me a curve."
"I want to do better this time around. I went from having a couple of dates in a year to dating three amazing men in the same week and now the four of us are caught up in this insane uhm whatever this thing is, so I have to be around all of you all the time. I decided that I needed to choose which of you were the best long-term option. I already told Jim, that I think we're better as friends."
"Everly, stop," he said. He pulled me in and kissed me. I really lost myself in the kiss. He eased me down to a seat at the kitchen counter before he stepped away. "Just tell me, are we dating or am I keeping Jim company in the friend zone? You're killing me getting to the point."
"Is this a date?"
"I hope so."
"Do you kiss all of your friends like that?"
"Definitely not."
"Then yes. This is a date. You're a great guy. I think we're good together, but I want to be honest with you—I won't be able to avoid Jim and Chance. We're all involved in this mystery, for lack of a better word."
"I get it. We just need to set appropriate limits."
"I'm sure we can work that out," I said, stepping into him for another kiss.
Dinner was great, and we snuggled up on the sofa afterward to watch an adventure movie. "I'm thinking I might try to set Laurie up with Jim. What do you think?"
"Why not Chance?"
"I think Jim's a better fit for your sister." In reality I knew that I wasn't quite ready to give up on the idea of Chance and me, but I was making an honest effort.
I spent so much time with my guyumvirate that it was hard to assess where I was in my relationship with Tom based on the standard dating progression scale. To me, this felt like a second date with Tom. It was a really nice night. I went to bed thinking I might have finally made the right choice for my love life.