Once she'd calmed down some, Anne gave her the glass of water. We all sat together as Helen drank, trying to be a comforting presence for her. She finally got herself back together and said, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I have money saved to pay for the first and last months' rent somewhere, and probably the security deposit, but not to furnish it. I could put it on credit, but I just got all of that stuff paid off. Fuck. Fuck!" She shook her head resignedly. "I guess I'm just going to have to go back into debt for a bit until the insurance finally pays out. That could be months, though." She hunched over, staring into her glass. "Fuck." Once more for good measure.
I looked over Helen's head at Anne, a question on my face. She comprehended; a small nod. I returned it, and we were decided. I spoke. "So just stay here."
"What?" She sat up and looked back and forth at us. "No. No, I can't do that. I've already been here for a week, I can't keep..." She waved her hand dismissively, head shaking 'no.' "This is your house."
Anne said, "Yes, it is, and it's too big for just the two of us. We..." She bit her lip, a small expression of grief for why the house was too big. "We'd like to have you here. We really would."
Her face got an odd expression, a mix of hope, embarrassment, and doubt. "I dunno. I... I don't want to be a freeloader. You guys have been so generous to let me stay here, and I know you say you want me to stay, but..."
I laughed. "Then don't be a freeloader. Look, if it really bothers you, pay us like half of what you were paying in rent at your old place. Maybe buy groceries every once in a while. You're already helping out with chores, and you've been a great roommate so far. But, seriously, you don't have to pay us anything at all. We like having you here."
She sniffled and started to tear up. "You guys..."
Anne hugged her. "Don't start that again. Now, let's figure out what we're going to watch tonight. How about the Notebook?" I glared at her. That's one for you, vile fiend.
Helen continued to be a wonderful guest. Well, tenant now, I suppose. Or roommate. Whatever. Her rent checks somehow always went uncashed, so I chose to think of her as a roommate. There were adjustments to be made, of course. Once her residency became a permanent thing, her room turned from our guest room into some kind of hacker's bunker. Monitors and computer equipment everywhere, a game console and small TV so that she wouldn't have to hog the living room TV, and a somewhat persistent but not unpleasant pot and incense smell. While Anne and I rarely partook after college, Helen did, and once she moved in, we joined her fairly often.
Helen did tend to use up a lot of hot water, too. The last one in the showers tended to have to be very quick in the morning for fear of suddenly freezing. But she more than made up for minor inconveniences like this. Our home life had been good before, affectionate and loving, but having a third person in the house gave us another person to bounce off of, making our home so much livelier. It also gave us a tiebreaker when we had really important decisions to make, like what to order for dinner.
We all got closer. I don't mean that in any kind of prurient way, just in the way that people that happily live together do. I learned more about Helen's past, like the details of what happened with her family disowning her. She learned about my family, too; they were halfway across the country, and I rarely saw them, but we were still emotionally close. I knew that she envied that, but I think the blow was softened by having such a strong found family in us and her other friends.
We started to have rituals, as a lot of folks living together do. Standard seating order on the couch and at the dinner table. In jokes. A regular bit for us was a reminder from me to her when she went out, "you be back in time for curfew, young lady," followed by the rejoinder, "you're not my real dad!"
There was another ritual, though, that started a couple of months into her time with us. I came home from the gym, and Helen and Anne were both in the kitchen, preparing for dinner. I tended to quietly enter the house so I could try to sneak up on Anne and steal a kiss when I got home, and did so as usual. Helen joked, "Hey, where's my kiss? I'm cooking here, too!" I made a big show of giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Anne and Helen both laughed, and it became one of our regular rituals: a husbandly kiss for Anne and a friendly kiss for Helen.
And that was fine, for about a month. Sometimes she'd kiss my cheek, sometimes I'd kiss hers. But one day, I was distracted by Anne, and Helen was distracted by her preparations for dinner, and we both went in for a kiss at the same time. Our lips touched, an accidental and brief but very real first kiss. The two of us giggled with embarrassment like schoolkids doing something mostly innocent that seemed terribly naughty. We pulled away almost immediately. But it had been electric, like a spark passed between us, the kind that could light a fire to warm a hearth. Or burn a home to the ground.
Anne saved us from our embarrassment by loudly proclaiming, "You brazen hussy! Get your mitts off my man!" then wrapping me in a passionate embrace with a fiery kiss. Helen averted her eyes and laughed nervously. Anne was marking her territory, and we all knew it, even if she was making a joke.
Anne could be jealous at times. She had been through the whole of our relationship. We'd talked before about various fantasies we'd had. A lot of them we acted out. But even though we both fantasized about scenarios that involved multiple partners, both hers and mine involving a second woman in some capacity, that was a clear line that Anne wouldn't cross. As she put it, "the only place your cock belongs is inside me, and the only place my pussy belongs is on your cock, and don't you forget it." I never pushed on it, because I was perfectly content with our fantasies being just that: fantasies. But I also never pushed because she was so adamant about it, and I didn't want to screw up the good thing I had.
Helen's closeness to me was tolerated more than any other woman's had been. I can't imagine cuddling under a blanket with anyone that wasn't a blood relation in front of Anne. Except for Helen. I'd carried Helen to bed when she'd had too much to drink and tucked her in; she kissed me on the cheek and told me what a great guy I was, how she wished she could find someone like me. Anne barely batted an eye. And, of course, Helen and I regularly hung out both on our couch and in her room playing videogames, yelling and laughing. Anne actually encouraged this so that she could have a little time to herself. But her tolerance for our familiarity still had limits, and that accidental kiss made things a bit tense for several days.
Eventually we all moved past it. As fall turned to winter, I started getting home after the sun set. I tended to go to the gym after work, because I liked to build up an appetite for dinner. My girls, as I had taken to thinking of them, had started drinking a little wine and smoking a little pot early in the evenings, and we had fun, mellow times hanging out together after dinner most nights.
Until everything changed.
I had to work late and texted Anne that I'd be home late from the gym, too. Only about half an hour, but enough that they should delay dinner. My last meeting of the day, however, unexpectedly canceled, and I was able to go to the gym at my usual time. I went through my workout and headed home, planning to surprise the girls. I still enjoyed sneaking up on Anne and stealing my first kiss of the evening from her; it always made her squeal with delight, and I loved the way she laughed.
When I entered the house, she was already laughing. Both she and Helen were very giggly. I could tell that they'd gotten the party started a bit too early, had a bit too much wine, and did so on an empty stomach. I could hear them talking as I approached the kitchen.
Helen's voice became clear first "-- glad you found Steve, but was always a little disappointed we didn't work out."
Anne laughed, a sad little chuckle. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I love him with all my heart, but I did enjoy our connection."
