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Ten minutes later, I met Adam and Orlando around the corner from the theater, at the little coffee shop I bought my morning bagels at. The three of us needed to sit down and fight this out, if that’s what it took to settle it. I knew very well that I could end up alone by the end of it, but at least we’d all have some sort of resolution.

Adam arrived first, taking my breath away as he always did, in plain jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt under his brown leather jacket because it was cool outside for late May. He looked wary and tentative as he ordered his coffee and sat down beside me at the little table I’d taken in the back corner. There were only one or two other people in the shop that day, so we had some privacy.

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When I got home from the theatre that night, Deanna was curled up on the sofa bed with a movie on, and Orlando was in the bedroom, waiting for me. It was after eleven o’clock, and I was really tired from the show.

“How did it go?” Deanna asked as I hung my jacket in the closet. She sat up in bed and pulled her knees to her chest, the same way I always did. Even in her purple flannel pajamas, she still looked too grown-up for her own good.

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Deanna and I didn’t get a chance to talk again before the Tony awards ceremony, the night before we were to send her home. Nick doubled our rehearsal time, so between that and the show itself, all I did was work and sleep. Orlando was needed in Los Angeles for a couple days, so he and Elijah went for a boys’ trip, much to my disappointment. Of course, I just get to the point where I can be with him physically, and he had to go again. The irony of the situation was not lost on me.

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When we got upstairs, Orlando unlocked the door and we went into the dark living room. Instantly the lights came on and we were greeted by a series of cheers. The room held ten or so people, including my dad, Aunt Tess, Deanna, Elijah, and a couple of people I didn’t recognize. It was after two o’clock in the morning, but we were suddenly wide awake and I was glad we’d taken care of our urges in the limo.

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Thanks to how late we were getting to bed the night before, we didn’t roll out of bed the next day until almost one o’clock. I looked over at the clock and shot up out of bed. Deanna’s flight was in a few hours, and we hadn’t gotten her ready to go yet. I pulled my robe around me and hurried into the living room.

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“Charlie?” I heard a few seconds later. “Are you here, love?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” I said, coming out of the bedroom. Lisa followed me.

Orlando looked like he’d just seen Santa or something, the way his eyes were shining. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at him. “I need you to come with me.”

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Over the next few days, I tried to get my head around the fact that I’d be moving in with Orlando permanently, and he got ready to leave for his Pirates duties. I didn’t like the idea of him leaving, especially considering we hadn’t really been apart for longer than a day or two in the past few months. I couldn’t help but feel sad that we’d be going back to stolen moments between commitments. I resolved that I wouldn’t cry when he left, but I knew the moment the door closed behind him, I’d be a basket case.

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Orlando’s temporary publicist, Carrie, showed up at the apartment promptly at noon the next day. She’d been hired by his regular publicist, Carrie, to get him on his flight without too much hassle. Robin was already in LA, dealing with Pirates promotions.