Autumn

I end up between Luke and Benedict, who take their seats first, leaving a space between them very noticeably.

Their dad is squeezed in on Benedict’s other side. Elijah is on the other side of the table, putting Raymond in the middle between him and Rhiannon. And as usual, my parents sit at the heads of the table.

Mom is still chattering, going back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room, bringing out plates of food that smell distractingly good. There’s roast chicken with lemon and rosemary, and a big platter of buttery potatoes.

Rolls and green beans and a dish of glazed carrots. It’s funny because Mom only cooks like this for guests.

She catches me looking at the food and gives me a look, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from rolling my eyes. It’s like she thinks I’m going to launch myself across the table to get to the potatoes before they’re even served.

There’s just nothing else to focus on that’s not steeped in awkwardness. What am I supposed to do, stare at Raymond and Rhiannon who are whispering into each other’s ears across the table.

I glance over at my dad, sitting quietly at his end of the table. He seems content to watch everyone else, and I smile at him when he glances my way.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Hey, Tum Tum,” he says, smiling back. “How’s the bakery? Everything good?”

I nod. “Yeah, everything’s really good. Busy because of the season, but you know⁠—”

“Joe,” Mom cuts in, cutting me off. “Help me bring the drinks out, please.”

The please is ornamental, of course.

Dad clears his throat and nods, getting up to help her.

Business as usual then.

That just leaves me with the awkward feeling of sitting between Luke and Benedict, who seem to be intently pretending no one else at the table exists.

But it feels rude to just sit here and not say anything, so I turn my smile to Luke. “So,” I say, going for polite warmth. “How have you been?”

He looks at me, and I feel caught suddenly in the intensity of his hazel eyes. This close I can pick out the blend of greens and browns in them, and they’re really quite beautiful.

Of course, he’s so stoic that it’s impossible to tell if he’s annoyed with me for talking to him or grateful for a break in the silence.

Before Luke can answer, Raymond snorts, cutting in. “I can answer that for you, Autumn,” he says.

“Luke’s been living like a hermit in his cabin in the middle of nowhere. End of story.”

Next to me, Benedict snorts softly. But Luke hears it, and that focused gaze lands on him immediately.

“Bold of you to mock someone who actually has a home, Benedict,” he says, his voice deep and rough around the edges. “When’s the last time you were in one place for longer than a few weeks?”

There’s an edge to the question, and I look at Benedict, gauging his reaction. His stare is every bit as intense as his brother’s, and he gives a tight smile back. “Well,” he says. “It’s not like I have anything to keep me anywhere, is it?”

Luke and Benedict stare each other down, and I start to feel incredibly uncomfortable being caught between them like this. Whatever happened between the three of them, it’s clearly something big. Something that has all of them feeling bitter and mad.

Elijah doesn’t say anything, and eventually the conversation at the table moves on. Mom and Dad come back in with drinks, pouring water and wine for everyone.

Platters start to get passed around the table, and I fill my plate with a modest amount of food, not glancing at my mother to see whatever expression is on her face. Maybe she’ll be too busy doting on her favorite daughter to pay attention to me for once.

As I eat, I can’t help glancing at all three of the older Montgomery brothers in turn. When we were younger, I knew them pretty well. Our families were close, and I saw them all the time. But they’re all so different now.

They seem harder than they did then, like losing their mother and whatever else happened between them was rough enough to sharpen all their edges to hurt.

They’ve always been handsome, but now there’s something imposing and intense about them all that makes my stomach flutter. Each of them has their own style, their own personality, and while the tension makes me nervous, I can’t deny that their intensity is very intriguing.

But I do feel bad about how strained things are. I remember the three of them being really close back in the day.

“…do you, Autumn?”

I jump when I hear my name and glance up to see Raymond looking at me. He’s buttering a roll, one eyebrow arched. It’s funny, how different he is from his brothers. Where they all have something of a ruggedness to them, even straight backed Elijah, Raymond is much more clean cut.

He’s as effortlessly handsome as his brothers, but more in a corporate model kind of way. He wears his charm on his sleeve and always seems put together, no matter the situation.

“Sorry, what?” I ask, hating that I’m making it clear I was zoned out.

His lips twist in an amused smile.

“Off in your own little world?”

“I just have a lot on my mind. What did you say?”

He clears his throat. “I was saying that we had a last minute RSVP from one of my cousins. We didn’t think he was going to be able to make it, but he changed some things around, so he can fly in.”

I blink, not sure what that has to do with me. “That’s… good?”

“It is. But it sort of skews the guest list, so we’re going to have to compensate. You don’t mind if we take away your plus one, right? It’s not like you were going to bring anyone anyway.”

My cheeks flame as every eye at the table turns to me. Of course I’m the one they want to punish for this. Of course they wouldn’t just tell this cousin that he missed the RSVP date and move on.

The plus one on my invite has been staring me in the face like a beacon since I got it, and I’ve been warring with the humiliation of showing up to my sister and ex’s wedding alone versus the hassle of trying to find someone to go with.

I haven’t even had time to think about it.

But it’s the principle of the thing and that fact that I don’t want to look weak and chronically lonely in front of the man who broke my heart.

“I, um—” I stammer. “I was actually going to bring someone.”

Raymond’s eyebrows both go up at that, and now everyone is really paying attention to me. I wish I could sink through the floor. I wish I could go back in time and tell my mom that actually I can’t make it to the dinner.

“Really?” Raymond asks, skepticism in his voice. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”

I swallow hard, but I’m in too deep to back out now. “It’s pretty new,” I reply, lying through my teeth.

“But it’s going really well.” I plaster on a smile, willing it to seem real and not at all forced. It’s my customer service smile, and I hope it works on ex boyfriends the same way it works on rude people who can’t read at the bakery.

Raymond narrows his eyes, and I hold my breath. “Who is it? Someone from town?”

My stomach twists. This, this is the problem with lying. Now I have to make up some person who doesn’t exist and then try to find someone who fits that bill to come to the wedding.

Because Raymond’s not going to let it go, and now Rhiannon is looking like she’s hungry for details, and Mom is torn between surprise and skepticism.

I have no idea what to say, but before I can even start to formulate words, not one, not two, but three voices suddenly speak up in unison, saying, “Me.”

Autumn

Shock makes me go still, and I glance quickly between Luke, Elijah, and Benedict. Because they’re the ones who spoke up. And considering how tense things are between them, I’m guessing it wasn’t a coordinated thing. They just all spoke up at the same time. To say they’re dating me.

What the hell is going on?

The table is silent, everyone looking as shocked as I feel.

Raymond’s eyes are wide, and he also looks between his brothers, shaking his head. “Wait, what? You… you’re dating my brothers? All three of them?”

God, I hate this. I feel caught, pinned underneath the silence and the stares from everyone else at the table. I have no idea what to say now.

I had no idea they were going to speak up and say what they just said. I don’t know what they’re doing. I just wanted to save face in front of Raymond and not have to deal with the terrible, condescending pity in his voice when he talked about me not having anyone.

A glance at his three older brother confirms that none of them consulted with the others before deciding to speak up. They’re looking at each other the way you look at someone when they say something that surprises you, but it’s a subtle thing, probably not noticeable to anyone else.

The three of them are just as surprised as I am.

Luke recovers first, clearing his throat and shrugging. “Yeah.”

Mom is staring at the three of them, looking between them and then back to me. “What?” she asks, shaking herself. “I’m sorry… I just… what?” She seems stunned and confused, and there’s a small part of me that is amused at catching her off guard.

Elijah snorts. “It’s the twenty-first century,” he says in his deep, even voice. “It’s a nontraditional relationship. You’ve heard of those, right? We’re all dating Autumn.”

Coming from Elijah, it seems almost reasonable. He has this way of talking that makes everything he says sound believable and true.

But Mom doesn’t seem to be digesting it well. She leans back in her chair, her eyes wide. There’s a twist to her mouth that lets me know she’s not on board and is put off by the situation, but she’s too polite to go off about it with guests in the house.

So she just swallows and nods shallowly. “Oh. Well, then.”

“Okay, wait,” Raymond says, cutting in. “How did you even start dating them?” He addresses that to me. “They haven’t been back here in years.”

None of his brothers seem to know what to say to that, and I falter for a second, my brain scrambling to come up with something that will sound plausible.

“We’ve been doing long distance,” I say all at once, remembering the plot of a movie I watched recently. “We reconnected online a while ago, and things just sort of sparked between us.”

Rhiannon raises an eyebrow. “Online? Like on a dating app?”

I shake my head. “No, it was on social media. One of them sent me a message to check in, and I responded, and it went from there.”

“And you never stopped to think you didn’t need three of them?” Rhiannon laughs, sharing a look with Raymond that’s not quite snide, but definitely isn’t warm.

“Nope,” I say, popping the ‘p’ sound obnoxiously. “Go big or go home, right?”

“Are you happy?” That question is from Dad, who so far hasn’t said anything about it. I cringe a little internally, because it doesn’t feel good to lie to him. Part of me is waiting for him to try to defend my honor or something and demand to know what the three of them think they’re doing, all dating his daughter.

But of course he doesn’t. My dad is too hands off for that. Too calm and eager to stay out of any drama.

He looks at me steadily, and I give him a little smile, nodding. My insides twist with guilt.

“Yeah,” I say out loud. “I’m pretty happy.”

“That’s good,” he replies.

Mom looks like she doesn’t know what to ask, her lips pressed into a thin line. I know if I let Rhiannon and Raymond get going, then they’ll come up with all kinds of questions, trying to either make me feel bad or poke holes in the story.

I need to wrap this up before it gets more out of hand.

“It’s not that exciting,” I tell them. “We’ve just been talking a lot, and one thing led to another.”

“Three times?” Rhiannon throws out.

“Yes,” Luke says firmly. “That’s why we’re all here.”

“Uh, I’m also getting married, remember? Raymond says. “Don’t forget about that.”

“That too.” The way Luke says it makes it sound like an afterthought, and I have to smother the ripple of amusement.

My heart is still pounding through the conversation. I’m half waiting for all three of them to laugh and admit this is all a lie, or for someone to see through everything, but it doesn’t happen.

They seem as committed to this as I am now.

Rhiannon folds her arms, leaning back in her chair. “It’s a little weird for you to be dating all three of Raymond’s brothers, isn’t it, Vi? I mean, he is your ex.”

For a split second, I see red. I have to work to bite back the comment I want to make, which is that Rhiannon is sitting there at the table, wearing an engagement ring from my ex. If anything’s weird, it’s that. But that would cause more drama, and I don’t want that right now. I don’t want things to get ugly.

“Now, now,” Mom says, jumping in. Maybe she can sense the tension growing at the table between me and Rhiannon. “This actually works out for the best. Your brothers already have their own invites to the wedding, Raymond, so your cousin can still come, and Autumn still gets her date. Her… dates.”

Instead of looking happy about that, Raymond just looks irritated. His eyebrows turn down, and he’s a half step away from pouting.

But he doesn’t argue. He just nods and starts pushing food around on his plate.

The conversation moves on, thank goodness, with Mom rushing in to start talking about other wedding logistics.

That’s enough to soothe things with Rhiannon, now that she’s back to being the center of attention, but I can’t really focus on anything that’s being said.

Autumn

I just keep replaying the conversation over and over again in my mind, still more than a little shocked that this is where we ended up.

Dinner wraps up with no more surprises, and Mom gets up with a smile. “Alright, if we all want to move to the living room, we’ll have some dessert and coffee.”

Everyone gets up, but before the older Montgomery brothers can go far, I lean in to whisper to them, “Can I talk to you? All of you?”

“I guess we should,” Benedict says, nodding. The other two nod as well, and I lead them down the hall to the guest room, closing the door and locking it for good measure.

It’s not far enough away from the living room that we can be loud about this, so I start off in hushed tones. “What was that? What just happened?”

Elijah glares at his brothers. “It’s a good question. What the fuck was that?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Benedict replies with a snort. “You spoke up the same as we did.”

“Easier to place blame than take responsibility though,” Luke fires back. “Always has been.”

Elijah rolls his eyes. “So now you’ve got the moral high ground? Makes a nice change, I guess.”

“Which one of us are you talking to?”

“Either of you. Same shit applies.”

Benedict laughs, and there’s something almost bitter about it. “What were you saying about having the moral high ground again? You know what they say about pointing fingers, Elijah.”

“Don’t talk to me,” Elijah says, holding up a hand.

“What are you, five?”

“I was going to ask you the same question. Some of us grew up, learned about responsibility.”

“Oh, here we fucking go.”

I just stand there, watching the three of them go back and forth. This is particular issue is a new thing for them to argue about, but it’s clear that they’re used to fighting with each other like this. It’s like they’ve just picked a new subject to have an old argument about.

Their voices are hushed, but there’s legitimate anger and irritation in their words, and it doesn’t really seem like they care if they hurt each other’s feelings or anything.

But I guess there’s truth to the fact that family can hurt you like no one else.

Finally, I feel like I have to interrupt them or we’ll be in here all night.

“Hey,” I say, risking pitching my voice a little louder to get their attention. I hold up my hands, and they all stop, turning to stare at me. “Sorry. I just… look. I appreciate what you were each trying to do for me, I really do. I was embarrassed, and it was only going to get worse. But you don’t have to do this. It’s obvious you don’t really…” I trail off, not sure how to say ‘you don’t even want to be in the same room with each other’ without sounding rude. “You don’t really need to do this,” I finish. “So it’s okay.”

I swallow hard, staring down at the carpet, my lips pulling down a little. “And it would never work anyway, right? Who would ever believe that I was dating all three of you?”

When I chance a glance up, all three of them are frowning at me. I let my eyes slide back to the floor and keep going.

“I’ll just go tell everyone the truth. That you were all trying to help me save face, and it was a lie.”

My stomach clenches at the thought of that. If I didn’t already feel shitty enough about my ex marrying my thin, beautiful sister, this will just be the icing on the cake. I get to humiliate myself and look even more sad and pathetic.

I can already imagine the way Rhiannon will laugh about it. Autumn couldn’t get a date to the wedding, and then had to lie about it. Ha ha ha.

It would be easier if the floor opened up and swallowed me right now.

But that doesn’t happen, and the Montgomery brothers just keep looking at me, so I take a deep breath and walk out of the guest room.

There’s the sound of warm chatter from the living room. Mom is still holding court, and Rhiannon is glowing under the praise and light of being the favorite. Raymond has one hand on her knee, and they’re leaned into each other. A picture perfect couple.

No one looks up when I walk in. They don’t seem to notice I’m there at all.

When there’s a break in the conversation, I open my mouth, ready to just get it over with—but before I can say anything, someone catches my wrist.

It’s Benedict, one of his big hands pressed to my skin. “Wait,” he says in an undertone.

His brothers are behind him, and I half turn, confused.

Benedict uses the grip on my wrist to pull me back toward him. I stumble back, ending up pressed flush against him, and my cheeks flush as I feel the heat of his body through our clothes.

He feels strong and solid, and my heart pounds. I wonder if he can feel it.

Before I can say or do anything, he palms the back of my head and leans down to kiss me.