Cassie had smirked at Ellie's statement assuming the dinner would be at her house. It was true that Eric Clayton cooked for the five of them quite frequently. In fact, it was pretty much a given that if the full Clayton-Spencer clan was eating together, it was at the Clayton house and prepared by Eric. She'd chuckled at Adrienne's comment about them never wasting a beat. "Of course we don't; we're musicians, so it's all about the timing. Gotta keep that tempo."
Cassie emphatically agreed that they needed to get a full orchestra or a way to simulate one. Her mind immediately began envisioning several parts of "... Out Of The Closet, And Onto The Battlefield" where an orchestral sound would benefit it.
There was no doubt at least part of the evening would likely be a rehash of the Dating Rules talk for Adrienne's benefit, but Cassie could tell as soon as she saw Eric and Madison that something else was on their minds. It reminded her of the uncertainty they had shown in the moments after she came out.
She smiled at them. "Hey, Moms and Dad. So, yeah, we talked it all out with Adrienne. And we're all dating each other now."
Madison nodded. "And I'm happy for you girls. But there's some ... Some things you should know first." Her gaze fixed on Joan for a moment before moving on to Ellie for perhaps a moment too long, accompanied by a slight nervous look. "Please know we're not trying to discourage anything between you three. But there are ..." She trailed off, glancing at Eric nervously.
Eric reached over to take Madison's hand, giving need a reassuring smile and nod as he did so,, and started speaking. "Your moms and I have some experiences we need to share with you girls. A cautionary tale, so you don't make the mistakes we did. Have a seat, girls. This is, well, it's going to be a lot."
Cassie settled down onto the couch, motioning for Ellie and Adrienne to join her. "Hey, so real quick, if this has anything to do with, uh, the thing Mom told me this morning, about you three and that history, we haven't told Adrienne about that. Not our place."
Eric nodded. "That's reasonable. So, Adrienne, there's some background you need to know first if anything else here is going to make sense. As I'm sure you've noticed, none of us parents have an objection to you getting into a relationship with our daughters while they're already dating each other. That's because, well, if we had a problem with it, we'd be hypocrites. Joan, Madison, and myself have effectively been in a private polyamorous relationship since Luke, Ellie's father, left Joan."