while he was away. That clearly needed more thought. An idea came to him as he fingered his jaw, tapping a thumb against his cheek. Actually it was a plan he’d considered in the past, but it had never been the right time before now.
“What if I don’t go away?” he queried
“I don’t understand. Why would you stay?” Robin was clearly irritated with Finn’s answer.
“Well, I can do my work here in Eden. I’ve thought in the past of opening a venue where people would come to me rather than me go to them. This place would be ideal.”
“Hey, now wait a minute. This place belongs to me . I bought it with the last of my savings,” yelled Emily, her ire rising strongly as she thumped a hand against her chest.
Finn frowned. He wasn’t used to women owning their own homes, let alone a bar. “Okay, but surely we can come to some sort of arrangement. I mean, the business I bring in when people come to listen to me play or sing will boost your sales.”
That didn’t help one iota. “I don’t need you to boost my income. I did very nicely before you, thank you very much.”
“Yes, why should she share her profits with you?” Robin clearly decided he wanted to get in on the argument.
“Oh, for God’s sake. All right. I’ll find another place to open as a place of entertainment. But the point is I will be here to take care of her as well.”
“Are you suggesting we share her? You and me?”
Robin’s flabbergasted comment raised Finn’s fears to the surface again. He’d forgotten about this issue.
“Yeah. We’ll take turns,” he offered.
That was the final straw for Emily. “Oh, and I don’t have any say in this! I’m absolutely fed up. Some marriage this is, and it is barely minutes old. If you think you can hold me to it, you’ve got another think coming.”
Emily stormed out. Finn could hear her footsteps as she stalked into her bedroom, her anger palpable. He could hear her getting changed, pulling cupboard doors open, and slamming them closed again. Even the swish of her wet dress as she pulled it off could be clearly heard.
Both he and Robin were silent as they listened. Looking over, he could tell the other man was as startled by their wife as he was and wondered if Robin had been having any thoughts of regret, too. Probably not since Robin had wanted Emily so badly.
Finn had a moment of shame whether he should have stepped back and let Robin have Emily to himself, but it was too late now.
When the sound of Emily leaving her room and stomping down the stairs receded, Finn decided to tackle the issue. “Um, look. We need to set some ground rules or something. We’ve both ended up married to her, even if it wasn’t something we wanted to happen, and now we’re stuck with it—for life. So let’s work things out. It’s probably better if we do it before Emily comes back. We need to present a united front with her.”
Robin nodded his head. “Oh yeah. Otherwise she’ll walk all over us.”
“Too right!”
They shared a laugh for the first time and suddenly a barrier dropped as the need to work together became more important than their enmity. He smiled at the younger man. In any other circumstances he might not have gotten to know such a serious person, but he had to make an effort now.
Sitting down on a chair, Robin leaned forward with his elbows over his thighs, hands clasped between his legs. “So you’re going to stay here?”
Finn lifted a leg to rest it on a chair, one hand on his knee. “Yeah, sure. You okay with that? I mean it’s not like we’ll share a bed. We’ll all have our own rooms.”
Robin cocked his head as he considered his answer. “Yup. I can work with that. So we’ll share Em’s bed on alternate nights?”
“I suppose. Something like that.” Actually he wasn’t that worried about being with Emily after another man had been with her, he had just not wanted Robin to have her. But now they were a three-way marriage. He had to rethink this,
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