Chapter 8

August 25^th, 2020

The next month and change involved a lot of time getting settled, as Andy learned more about the girls who now shared his life. They also spent time learning about each other. When they weren’t doing that (or each other), Andy spent time trying to get work done for Netflix or some writing in on another Druid Gunslinger novel, and when he got into a zone, the girls made a pact not to disturb him, especially if he started typing away madly.

That gave them plenty of time to dig into each other’s history, and the girls began to scheme and plan. They took great fun in learning each other’s turn ons and offs, and to figure out how to quell their own wild desires, and to try new experiences.

The girls also took an interest in reading the seven books Andy had written in the Druid Gunslinger series, with Aisling going so far as to even mockup a movie poster for one of them, which delighted Andy to no end.

It was starting to become obvious that the condo wasn’t designed to hold this many people, however. At night, things were fine because everyone was packed in their beds, but during the day, people were having to work around one another. Aisling and Niko set up their laptops at the dining room table, while Lauren spent much of the day either working out in the backyard or reading in a deck chair. Andy and Eric each had their own desk, Andy’s in the dining room and Eric’s in the living room. Lily seemed perfectly comfortable coding in the living room on the couch. When Andy’s last partner showed up, she would have to either share space in the backyard or the couch in the living room. The dining room table might fit a third workspace, but it would be a very tight fit.

There had also been nice surprises along the way, however. Both Lauren and Aisling were excellent cooks, each with radically different styles. Lauren focused on healthy cooking, while Ash was the master of lush, savory cooking that threatened waistlines just from the very smell of it.

The cats had taken well to their new housemates, keeping themselves entertained while everyone was working. From time to time, they would hop onto people’s laps, or walk across their laptops, but for the most part they were just happy to have people to be around who might be willing to pet them in a spare moment.

Everyone was starting to feel the limitations of the condo though, and the heat wasn’t helping. They had fans running nonstop, but the condo didn’t have centralized air-conditioning. When it had just been the two of them, Andy and Eric had been able to manage by closing the windows and drawing the drapes because the condo was nicely shaded by trees. But with six people, that wasn’t holding up nearly as well.

By the time it started to cool down in the evening, a light funk had started to fill the place.

And there was still one more person to show up.

The camaraderie between them all had helped diffuse the tension, even as they delved into each other’s past. Andy had gotten to know some of Aisling’s siblings, especially Dermot, who had refused to let Andy off the line the most recent time they’d talked until he’d promised to send him an advance reader copy of “High Noon At Stonehenge,” the upcoming Druid Gunslinger book that had started Andy down this whole journey.

Turning on the news every night had been hard to watch, simply because it didn’t jibe with the information they had at their own fingertips. As Phil had predicted, the government was doing its best to downplay the casualties, reporting false numbers to make it sound like everything was under control. And while reports of the vaccination program were starting to get out to the masses, nobody was talking about the side effects.

Why, Andy kept asking himself, why oh why was nobody talking about the side effects?

They were wrapping up a day’s worth of work when Niko looked over at Andy with a soft smile. Aisling and Lauren had headed upstairs a few minutes earlier. “I’ve sort of been monopolizing you for a few days, Andy, so Ash and Lauren have a little surprise cooked up for you while I work late tonight. I’ll be up in a few hours to crawl into bed, but you should go up to our room and enjoy what they’ve got up their sleeves.”

“You okay with that?” Andy asked. He’d been navigating a whirlwind of emotions since the girls had come into his life and was doing his best to make sure nobody ever felt left out, and that everyone also got a turn being the center of attention. It hadn’t been anywhere near as difficult as he’d expected, but just relied on him checking in with everyone regularly.