The Proposal

"That's why we couldn't say anything. We were both scared you would think it was happening all over again. Babe, neither one of us wanted to hurt you."

"So what does all this mean? Do you want to be with her now?"

"No, I want to be with you. I would like to include Franki, but I want to be with you."

"But what the fuck does that mean?"

"It means that I want to be with you, your partner, your lover, your soulmate, I don't want to jeopardise that. If that means that we can't be with Franki, then that will be sad, but I will not do anything to endanger or compromise what we have."

"Yeah, nice words, but just tell me what you want, or where you see the future going."

She finished her cup of tea as some customers came in. I sat my mind going round and round, trying in vain to get some traction, find a solid piece of ground in a marshy swamp.

When she came back in she moved to stand behind me. He wet sexy lips nibbiliciously nuzzling on my ear lobes.

"Maxy, let me lay out a picture of how I see a possible future for us. Would that be all right?"

I nodded silently, afraid to speak in case I lost it.

"Okay, here goes, and remember, this is just a possibility, I'm not saying this is how it has to be. It is just one road."

With a deep breath she added. "What say we let Franki into our life. By that I mean she becomes part of us, it would no longer be me and you. It would be the three of us."

Confused, I listened to her expose her views of how our new world would look. "If we allowed Franki in, it would mean all of us adjusting, but I see so much love. I know you love her still, and I know I love her. You can tell me as much as you want, that you don't, but I know deep down inside, you do."

The nibbling grew more erotic as she added. "I know I love you, please never doubt that, but I love her as well, at this moment, it is a fledgling love, a fleeting field of emotions, but I see it growing, and this morning she told me she loves me as well. Today she told me what I suspected for a long time."

"You want the three of us to live together?"

"Yes Maxy, I do."

"How could that possibly work?"

She shrugged, her teeth tugging playfully on my ear,

"I don't know about the mechanics of it. All I have is a concept. Call it idealistic, but I can see the love that three people sharing being so much greater than the sum of our individual love."

"You don't get it Bea, how do three people live together? Are we sharing a bed, bills, income, chores. I'm talking about the realities. Jealousy, anger, ambitions, desires. I mean shit, where would we live?"

She sighed, the realities sinking over her as well. "I don't know Maxy. You asked, and I wanted you to know what I want."

Her mouth still nobbled, but the intensity was gone. She got dragged away by new customers, and I sank back into my concerns... Much deeper than the mechanics... What did I want?

I got all the signs in, and started locking up as Bea emptied the till for banking Monday.

As we walked to our cars she asked. "Where are we going?"

"Home, of course." She looked like she had something she wanted to say, but bit her lip and climbed in. She followed me back to Panmure, I noticed as we pulled up at lights, she was on, her phone, obviously talking to Franki.

At home, we parked and walked in together. Out flat was small, I moved in here when Franki and I split, and Bea moved in with me. It wasn't really big enough, but it was cheap.

We worked together getting dinner ready, as we always do. "Maxy, it would be nice to invite Franki, she should be part of this discussion. It's not fair to talk about her, when she can't add her thoughts."

"Don't you think we need to figure out our position first?"

"How can we, not without her input."

I could see where this was going. "Yeah, okay, but I think we are putting the cart before the horse."

Franki rocked up as we were dishing up the plates. She placed her bottle of wine on the table, and her and Bea fell into a deep mouth watering kiss. I felt the temperature climbing exponentially. When she turned to me, her arms circled my neck and the kiss, oh god, the kiss. She sucked me into her being. Our bodies suddenly one. Separating, I quickly glanced at Bea, to see if she was angry. Strangely, all I saw was joy.

We sat together gathered around our table which was only big enough for the two of us. It was cramped.

Bea jumped straight in, no preamble, no pleasantries, straight in. "Franki, Maxy and I were talking earlier about the future." She glanced at me anxiously. "I mentioned, I want you to be part of that."

I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat immovable.

Franki nodded. "I would love to be part of your lives in any way you let me."

"Franki, we don't know how it would work. We just want to talk about possibilities. Let me be honest. I love Maxy with all my being, and I will never do anything to hurt him, but I have these feelings for you as well, which I can't quantify."

"Bea, I feel the same way, except I can quantify. I love you, I know we haven't lived together, or even really got to know each other, but I do love you. We have a connection."

"Yes, I feel it as well." Bea replied.

"Hang on you two. It all sounds so easy, I don't think it is that easy."

"Maxy, you love Franki, admit it."

"Okay, I am prepared to say, I do have feelings, but they are tempered by what happened."

"Max, I would never hurt you."

"Yeah, well what happens when this all blows up in our faces. What happens then, who stays and who goes."

"Why does anybody have to go? You're starting this with negative emotions ruling, you're just waiting for it to fail. If we go into it that way, then it will fail. Let's go into this like we are going to be three very old people celebrating our fiftieth anniversary." Bea blurted out.

Franki giggled softly. "That sounds amazing. Yes, I'm with you."

"Were do we all sleep?" I threw in.

"Together, we are going to be together."

"Well, what happens when somebody is angry with somebody else, what happens then?" I grumbled hoarsely.

"Max, we can't answer every question here tonight. Let's focus on the big things. We sleep together every single night."

"Where do we live?"

"Well, not here, that's for sure." Bea stated firmly.

"Where then?"

"My place." Franki suggested hesitantly.

"It's bigger than here, but it's still a one bedroom apartment. It's got no parking, one bathroom, no wardrobes. It would never work."

"You're right, we need a new place, a bigger place of our own."

"I would like somewhere close to the salon." Franki said.

"Yeah, well I would prefer something closer to work. I like this area."

"I don't care where it is." Bea gushed seeing the emotions rising.

"No, me neither." Franki spluttered trying to remove the tension. Here is fine."

"Jesus, this is moving so fast. What about bills?"

"We split them three ways." Bea said.

"But we have a joint account, we don't split anything, it all comes out of one account. Apart from the business."

"Maxy babe, don't bog down on this shit. We can split everything up. Nobodies getting screwed."

"Except us." Franki giggled.

"Yeah, there's that."

"What about when something needs replacing, cars, or some shit."

"Then we do it."

"What if it's your car, and we have to pay for it."

"Then we pay for it Maxy. We are all gonna have personal shit."

"No, Max is right." Franki interjected. "I'm happy to pay my fair share, if we are going to do this, it needs to be all in. If your car breaks down, I can put money in."

"Okay then, what happens if it goes belly up. Who takes what? I just don't see how it can work?"

Bea grabbed me, and stared into my eyes. "Do you love me? Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Good, do you love Franki?" I glanced at Franki, then back to Bea, shit, this was hard. Taking a deep breath, I mumbled. "Yes."

Bea turned to Franki. "Do you love Max?"

"Yes, completely?"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Well I love you both." Bea stated. "So, in the powers invested in me by the department of internal Revenue, I declare us married."

Franki giggled, but I chewed over the events. "What about other people?"

"What?" Bea gasped.

"Well, you and I are monogamous, at least I hope we are. What about Franki?"

"I am committing to this, and I don't see other people. This is all I want." Franki whimpered.

"Then it's settled."

"Yeah, what if Kathleen reappears Franki. What happens then?"

"Max, I talk to Kathleen every week, she is my friend, The last time I saw her was last year. We don't see each other very often."

"But you would want to see her?"

"Yes, she's my friend."

"What about sex?"

"No, I would not do that. From here on in, Kath and I will only be friends."

"Maxy, stop looking for pit falls. Lets focus on us finding a place to live."

We collapsed on the sofa, it was to small for all of us, I sat on the floor as they got out their laptops and started going over real estate pages. There were gasps, giggles and cries of look at this one as they worked through page after page of rental properties.

I played on my computer, no, I wasn't convinced. I accept that there was something pulling us together like some crazy maniacal magnet, but, I mean shit. How do you make something like this work... Families, friends. That the fuck were they going to say?

We were going to become these crazy fringe people, the hippies without a commune.

As I lost myself in my angst, I didn't notice how quiet the room was. When I looked up at the sofa, Franki and Bea were transfixed, conversing in whispers, staring from one computer to the next, then back and forth. The tones hushed conspirational.

As I glared wonderingly, it was Bea who whispered. "Max, come and look at this."

I clambered up too perch on the armrest beside her. Lit up on the screen was a house for sale.

"here the hell is that?" I asked hesitantly.

"Pine harbour Beachlands." Bea whispered. "Oh my god it would be perfect. Lots of parking, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and look at the shed. Lots of storage."

"It's really nice." Franki mumbled. I could see she wanted to say more, but felt uncomfortable.

"How much?" I asked.

"Eight fifty." Bea uttered wistfully."

"We could never afford that Bea. I mean even with what we make from the shop, my salary and the market. We don't have enough for the deposit."

"I have some money, I could put into it as well, the salon's doing really well."

"Yeah, but we would need a mortgage, and the banks not going to take on the three of us as a client. Banks don't work that way."

"Depends on how much we were asking for." Franki offered.

"Well, we could put in about fifteen grand. That leaves us about eight hundred and thirty five to go."

"Franki seemed annoyed. "I can put in twenty five thousand."

"We would need at least ten percent, so we're still fifty grand shy of getting just the deposit."

"Okay, we get it Max, but it's the right idea. We could buy a house rather than rent."

She tugged at my heart strings, she knew how much owning a house meant to me.

They reluctantly went back to looking at real estate. As I sat down away from them, I opened up the Pine Harbour property. Shit it was perfect, it had always been a dream to live close to the ocean, and Beachlands as a go ahead area. I loved it. As they squeal in frustrated delight going through more properties. They also went through a bottle of wine as they searched.

It was getting late, I think we all felt it. I decided to go and have a shower. It was going to be an early morning start for the market tomorrow. As I stood, I announced my intentions and they both nodded.

The shower refreshed as always. The steamy jets taking away the aches, and some of my reservations. Drying off I walked back out to the living room. Franki and Bea were locked in a passionate embrace, their mouths welded together. Franki's hands were full of Bea's lush boobs.

Bea's hand was lost somewhere up under Franki's billowing red chiffon dress. The squishy sounds exposing Franki's arousal. The air was full of the earthy aroma of two women in lust.

Their muffled moans pulling me from my reticent coma.

It was so beautiful seeing them together. I felt a little jealous anxiety, but the emotion of it. Seeing them locked together, their passion so obvious, so evident, and open. I leaned against the door frame taking it in. I felt my hands get clammy, my dick twitched, but my heart, my heart swelled with emotion. The two most important people in my life together. It is a dream realised. The only problem, I didn't want to interrupt, to spoil what was a beautiful moment.

I watched. It wasn't until they broke the kiss, their ragged panting breaths filling the room, that Bea glanced up and saw me. "What are you doing?" She panted breathlessly.

"Watching, enjoying."

"Pervert." She giggled.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I was transfixed. You looked so beautiful, so sensual, so erotic. Not in a pornographic way. I mean spiritual. I felt the love, not just the ardour."

Franki raised her arms, opening them to invite me in. "Then come and join us."

"Maybe we could just go to bed?" I suggested.

The lovemaking was impassioned, torrid, and blissful. We were all spent, sleep was upon us quickly, and tonight, I slept soundly.

The damn alarm woke me at five thirty, the sun still not up. As I dressed, I sensed movement. It was Franki. "What are you doing?"

"Coming to help. Bea's doing the shop, I'll come with you."

"Franki, you don't have to."

"I know that, I want to.

We had a great day, lots of sales, lots of laughter. It was like our early years, no tension, just fun. It was while we sat huddled close together in the stall sheltering from the sun, eating our lunch when she said. "You know, if you kept the money, we could buy that house."

I nodded, wondering if she knew. "Yeah, would have been handy right now."

"Max, there are banks that lend on zero deposit, I mean the repayments would be steep, but with all our incomes combined, we could swing it."

"I don't know Franki, with our history do you think it's a good idea?"

"Yes, absolutely. I fucked up once, but never again."

"I suppose I could go and see the bank, ask."

"I could transfer my money tomorrow, put it into your account."

"No, not yet. Let me talk to them first. See what we need to do."

When we got home Bea was already there. Dinner was cooking and smelt great. Franki rushed in and jumped into her arms. "Max is going to the bank."

Bea stared at me in disbelief. "You are?"

"Yes, I like that house. It can't hurt to ask, can it?"

She let Franki go, and leapt into my arms, her legs wrapping around my waist as I crashed back against the wall under her assault.

Swinging wildly from my arms, Bea waved for Franki to join us and we staggered and reeled around until we all collapsed on the tiny sofa.

Franki blustered, "We have to get a bigger sofa."

"Yes." Bea giggled. Somebody is going to get squashed otherwise."

Our plan sounded good in theory but talking to the bank unearthed the problems. Yes, we could borrow the money on no deposit, but without Franki's contributions we didn't have a high enough income. When I mentioned we could take in a border to make up the difference they shied away.

I tried several banks, that afternoon, but it was the same response. No go. I got a text from Bea saying we were staying at Franki's place that night.

Walking in, they both jumped me. "Well, what did they say?" It felt terrible breaking the news to them. I felt like I was reporting the death of a loved one.

"Oh well, there might be others." Franki sighed unable to hide her sadness.

"Yeah, I can ring around tomorrow, see if I can find something."

I tried all week, I tried every broker and lending institution I could find, but they were all telling me the same thing. We didn't have the income to support it.

Friday night, at dinner, I think we all felt a little deflated. Bea especially for some reason it hit her harder. Franki was more resilient. As we picked away at our desert, she sprung it on me.

"Okay, I have a suggestion, but before I offer it, Max, you have to promise to listen without getting angry."

That sounded ominous, strange looks passed between the girls. I felt like an animal staggering into a trap. "All right Franki, give it to me."

She closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath before saying. "I have a solution, but it means accepting help."

"What sort of help?" I asked.

"Today, I rang Kath and she..."

"Like fuck." I snarled springing from my seat, sending plates flying. "No fucking way. I would rather sleep in a cardboard box by the motorway."

Bea snapped. "You promised not to get angry."

"Yeah well, you know how I feel about even hearing that sluts name. Fuck her and her money."

"Max, she know people, she wasn't going to give us the money, she was going to introduce us to some people who could help. She is still my friend." Franki hissed. My angry response angering her as well.

"Max, I love you, but she is my friend. You can't speak like that about her."

"I can say what I bloody well please. She's no friend of mine, and will never be welcome in my home."

Max, that was uncalled for. Franki's trying to help." Yeah well, if that's going to be her suggestion every time we have problems, it is not going to work."

The room went silent before Bea said. "I think we should at least hear what she has to say. If she knows people who can help. What is the problem."

"The problem is I hate the bitch, and want nothing to do with her. If you can't see that then we have far deeper issues."

She grabbed my hand as I stood resolutely beside the table. "I understand, but we are taking nothing from her except an introduction to some people she does business with."

"I said no, and I meant it."

Picking up my plate I carried it into the kitchen and ran hot water in the sink so I could start doing the dishes. Franki appeared beside me. "I'm sorry Max. I didn't think it was such a big deal."

Bea arrived next, dropped her dishes in the sink and picked up a tea towel. "Yes, I'm sorry as well. For what it's worth, I think you're over reacting."

"Think whatever you want, but I'm not interested in getting help from her."

Franki's arms surrounded my waist and we all ended up in a group hug.

I guess there was a bit of extra tension in the room, but once we were snuggled up in bed, it fell away. The next day, I had to work, stock take season, so there was no escaping it. Franki and Bea both worked as well. At dinner that night things seemed to be going along okay, yeah a little tension, but noting outlandish. We were all feeling the strain of missing out on that house. As stupid as it sounds for totally different reasons, it meant a lot to each of us. At the dinner table, Franki's phone rang, she checked the ID before jumping up and rushing away from the table.

"Hi Kath." I heard her whisper, as she glanced back at us. The bedroom door closing behind her.

Bea gave me a concerned look. Okay, I realised they were still friends, I accepted that, I was concerned though, I was determined that she was having nothing to do with that damn house.

"Max, they are friends babe."

"Yeah I know."

Franki returned about half an hour or so later. It was awkward, a long silence ensued. The only chatter was between Franki and Bea. I decided to give a mate a call and see if he wanted to meet down the pub for a beer.

"I'm going down the pub." I called back as I closed the door on the way out. It wasn't something I did a lot of, tonight though I was uncomfortable, and needed to get out before I said something dumb.

The boys were in good form, and we had a few beers, played some snooker, told some jokes and generally had a few laughs. It was exactly what I needed. I got a text about ten. "Going to bed, see you when you get home, hurry if you don't want to miss out."