“We told him we’d check with you first,” my father said.
“You did?” This was new. They normally moved where the wind took them.
My mother took my hands in hers. “We wouldn’t want to leave you in the lurch.”
My brain scrambled to understand what sort of lurch they’d be leaving me in, but came up empty. “How would you be doing that?”
“Well, you’re pretty much running a household here, you and Finn. You have two girls, a house, even a dog, and you’re so young. We’ve been trying to help around the edges, and even though Thomas was insistent, we won’t go if you need us to stay.”
I had a household? Huh.
“That’s very sweet of you,” I said, genuinely touched they’d been helping in their own way, despite them probably meaning the talk with Billie. “Thank you. But we’ll be fine here, I promise.”
My mother frowned, looking from one of my eyes to the other and back again, as if she could see through them and find out if I was telling the truth or not. Then she smiled and nodded. “I think you will be.”
My father hugged me. “But you call us anytime and we’ll come straight back. Promise?”
“Promise,” I said and hugged them both. No matter how much I’d wished my childhood had been different in some aspects, my parents had good hearts and I was lucky to have them. “Do you have time for a quick cup of tea before you go?”
They smiled at each other, then my mother said, “We’d love one.”
Chapter Fifteen
Scarlett
At five minutes to ten on Monday morning, Billie walked through the front door of Ferguson and Johns law firm in one of my best pantsuits. Her hair was smooth and glossy, the ends curved slightly forward as they sat against her cheeks. I’d said I’d try to get her an interview for my job on the reception desk—which I was still covering until we found a replacement—and Ms. Ferguson had agreed to see her on short notice.
Billie and I had chosen the pantsuit before I left, just in case I managed to get her an appointment today. It fitted her reasonably well—she was taller than me, but smaller in the chest, so the top wasn’t perfect but it gave her enough coverage.
I turned to Andrea and introduced her to Billie, then said, “I’ll be back in a few.” I’d already told her about the promotion and Billie’s interview, so she’d known I’d be in and out this morning.
“Come on,” I said to Billie and headed down a corridor.
She stayed in step, though that was easy with her long legs. “Any last minute advice?”
“Not really. I think they’re going to love you, so be confident.”
“Roger.” She glanced at the doors we were passing. “And you never did explain to me why we’re keeping this a secret from Finn.”
“It’s not a secret exactly.” More that it was a secret hiding another secret—I still hadn’t told him I’d taken the promotion. “If you get it, we’ll tell him.”
“There’s more to this.”
“Yes, there is,” I said as we reached Ms. Ferguson’s PA. “And we don’t have time for explanations now.” I smiled and introduced Billie to the PA, who buzzed her boss.
Totally ignoring Billie’s raised eyebrow, which told me she wasn’t going to drop the Finn angle, I gave her a quick hug. “Good luck. Come and see me at Reception when you’re done.”
I headed back to my desk to wait, crossing my fingers as I walked. I’d always liked Billie, and it would be great to see more of her and have another friend at work.
Twenty minutes later, Billie had the job and I’d arranged a coffee break with Cathy so I could introduce the two.
“Congratulations,” Cathy said as she carried her mug to the far table in the staffroom.
Billie grinned. “Thanks. And thank you, Scarlett, for arranging this. You’re the best.”
“You’re totally welcome. I was so glad the timing meant I could help.” Especially as my parents were the reason she’d dropped out and needed a job in the first place…
“So,” Billie said, smiling even more widely, “back to the bigger issue. Why aren’t we telling my brother about this? Spill.”
I shifted in my seat. Took a sip of coffee. I liked Billie and counted her as a friend, but she was still Finn’s sister—how much did I tell her?
Cathy narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t tell Finn you took the promotion, did you?”
“I’m getting around to it,” I said, and put my mug on the table. “I’m just waiting for the right time.”
Billie cocked her head. “Why wouldn’t you tell him? You two are close.”
“You know him.” If anyone would understand this, it was his sister. “He has ideas about what’s good for everyone.”
Billie nodded. “Ah. He thinks you should be finishing your degree instead.”
“Yes. And no.” I sighed. “He thinks I should be doing something with my art, and failing that, finishing my degree.”
“It’s your decision. Just tell him.” She shrugged, as if the answer were obvious. Things were black and white to Billie, and I envied her that sometimes.
“I will, but there hasn’t been much of a chance. Things are…” I couldn’t tell her we were dating, so how to explain how, though things were amazing, that only made me more reluctant to rock the boat and bring up a touchy subject? “How about we say things are a little complicated between us right now.”
Billie looked from me to Cathy and back again. “I thought something was different. Did you two have a fight?”
I shot Cathy a look to remind her this was a secret, and she gave me a barely-there nod. But I had to give Billie something or she’d jump to conclusions and probably guess the truth anyway. I took a sip of coffee to give myself a moment. Amelia had mentioned a little on Billie’s first night home, and would tell her sister if she hadn’t already, so I could safely say whatever Amelia knew.
“I found out recently Finn has been interfering in my love life—”
“Do you have the chart?” Cathy asked, clearly on board with the plan to give Billie a little information to avoid breaking the real secret.
“What chart?” Billie said, curious gaze darting between us.
I bit my lip. Amelia had seen it, so it was fair game. “I’ll show you later, but I made it because I’d been having a sexual dry spell. I charted the guys I’ve dated to see if there were any patterns in how long they lasted. I thought I was taking all the factors into account until Amelia pointed out the relationships became shorter in correlation to how long I’d known Finn. And they were down to one or two dates during the time I’ve been living at your house. I confronted him and he admitted he’s been scaring all my dates off.”
“No!” Billie said, eyes wide.
Cathy nodded. “Can you believe it?”
“Actually, I can’t believe it,” Billie said. “I thought you and Finn had been sleeping together for the last couple of years.”
“What?” I said. “We’ve always told you we were friends.”
“Yeah, but Finn’s been pretty guarded about himself since our parents died. Before then, too, but especially since. I assumed you were together and he wanted to keep it on the down low.”
Surprised, I was momentarily speechless. I’d had no idea she’d been thinking that, long before it was true. “We’ve both been seeing people all through our friendship. Though, of course, I haven’t been having much success…”
“So, you and Finn. Never?” Billie persisted.
I hesitated. I couldn’t tell her, but an outright lie felt wrong, so how to answer? Unfortunately, while I was deciding, I felt my neck and cheeks warm up and knew I was blushing.
“I knew it,” Billie said, triumphant. “I knew there was more between you.”
I shifted in my seat, feeling the conversation rapidly move beyond my control. “It’s only recent. And we don’t know if it’s going anywhere, so we’re not telling anyone. Please don’t let him know I told you.”
She grinned.
“Don’t worry. Remember he’s half a brother and half a parent to me—I’m used to keeping secrets from him.”
Suddenly, I was uncomfortable. I didn’t want to be the cause of any division between them. “Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll tell him you know. Just don’t let Amelia know—she’s got a fantasy that Finn and I will end up together and I don’t want her to get her hopes up.”
“My lips are sealed.” She frowned, and in that moment she reminded me a lot of her brother. “But before we drop the subject, I just want to point out that you two always meant more to each other than just friends, no matter what you say. You might think you’re only recent, but for all intents and purposes, you’ve actually been in a relationship for years. So don’t be scared to make it public. You and Finn are solid together, anyone can see that.”
We’d actually been in a relationship for years? So not true. He’d been no more than a friend for most of that time.
A twinge in my conscience made me look away from my friends and out the window. In all honesty, ever since the night I’d met Finn—when he’d walked in like mild mannered Clark Kent and transformed in front of my eyes into the guy who rescued me from a loser—I’d probably been more than a little in awe of him. It wasn’t only the very satisfying act of throwing the loser into the wall, but the way he’d been with me afterwards, the things he’d said. I would have been in a much worse state emotionally in the days and months that followed if it wasn’t for him.
The bonus had been that when I’d spent more time with Clark Kent, I’d found he was a pretty awesome guy, and he quickly became my best friend. I guess I’d never really lost that dash of awe, though. Maybe I had seen him as something other than just a friend all this time.
Taking another mouthful of coffee, I nodded to Billie to acknowledge her point, but really didn’t want to discuss it any further. Cathy, bless her, jumped in and changed the subject.
“Weren’t you at university? Why the change in plans to work here?”
Billie explained about finding her bliss, while I recovered from her comment about me and Finn not having to play it safe by keeping things secret. I was starting to wonder the same thing…
“So,” Billie finished, “now I want to earn a bit of money to buy supplies to travel around like John and Jane do. They have the best lifestyle.”
I winced. “You might not think so if you’d grown up that way. Thomas and I are pretty much just trying to put down roots and do the opposite of our childhood.”
Billie turned disbelieving eyes to me. “I think you were so lucky.”
I wanted to say the same back—she’d had the childhood I’d wanted, where she went to the same schools and lived in the same house, but she’d also lost her parents when she was sixteen, and no amount of continuity of schools could make up for that.
“In some ways, I guess I was,” I said.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Billie said. “My parents were amazing, and Finn has done a better job than I would have if I’d been the one in his position—I owe him a huge debt. Amelia and I lucked out by having Mum, Dad, and Finn there for us, but, I don’t know—I just feel like I need to get out of the everyday routine and my own expectations of myself. Find who I really am.”
It made sense. “I guess we want whatever we missed out on. I want to find out who I am by staying in one place long enough.”
Of course, I admitted, if only to myself, I had been in one place for a while—in Sydney for four years, and living with Finn for a year of that. Did that mean I should know who I was by now? And what I really wanted?
Finn
I climbed the stairs to Scarlett’s art studio in the attic, trying to work out what to say. It was Amelia’s night to cook, and she was in the kitchen making nachos with Billie helping, and I was hoping for a few minutes alone with Scarlett.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I found her at her easel, completely in her element. The brush was an extension of her hand, flowing over the canvas, leaving color in the rhythm of her breath. The effect was amazing. She was amazing.
She turned slightly as she coated the brush with more paint, and saw me. “Finn.” She pushed her glasses up her nose with the inside of her wrist. “Come in.”
Her eyes were a little wary, but I had a good idea what that wariness was about.
I pushed off the doorframe and stepped into her world. “Billie told me about the job. Thank you for helping her.”
Scarlett winced. “She wouldn’t have needed the job if my parents hadn’t been here. She’d be on her way back to classes. It was the least I could do.”
“None of that was your fault,” I said, hoping she believed it this time. “And still, I’m grateful you helped her.”
She placed her brush in the jar of water on the table beside her and wiped her hands. “I was glad to.”
“It was your job she got today, wasn’t it?” I took a step closer, wanting to see her eyes, to see what was going on in them as she answered.
She swallowed. “Yes.”
I dug my hands into my pockets. “You took the promotion.”
“I did,” she said, watching me closely.
“When?”
“Last week.” She pulled off my old button-down shirt she used to protect her clothes when she painted, and hung it on a hook I’d screwed into the wall for the purpose. “I move across to the new job tomorrow, when Billie starts on the front desk.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It stung, that my sister had been the one to fill me in on Scarlett’s life.
“Truth?” she asked softly.
“Always.”
She glanced down at the floor for a moment, then back up to meet my eyes. “I knew you’d be disappointed. And I hate seeing that in your eyes.”
“God, Scarlett, no.” I moved closer, ran a hand up and down her arm. “I just want you to be happy. When you’re looking for a sounding board, or to talk it over, then I’ll tell you what I think. But if you’ve made up your mind, then I’ll always stand behind you.”
Her hazel eyes were suspiciously bright, and she blinked rapidly. I pulled her into my arms, hoping to bypass the possibility of crying. It made me feel helpless—that I’d failed to fix things.
“You’re good to me,” she whispered.
“It goes both ways.”
After a minute, she stepped back. “There’s something else.”
I tensed. Those words usually weren’t followed by good news. “Then you’d better tell me.”
“Billie knows we’re sleeping together.”
“You told her?” Keeping it a secret had initially been Scarlett’s idea, so her telling my sister made no sense.
“She asked point blank, and I blushed and hesitated, so she worked it out.”
That sounded like Billie. “I’ve been trapped into giving her more information than I meant to in the past, too,” I said ruefully.
“She was surprised because she thought we’d been sleeping together for years.”
I was stunned. “I had no idea she thought that.” Then again, she’d always been good at holding her cards to her chest—the opposite to Amelia, who shared most of the things going on in her head.
“She also said that you and I, and I quote, ‘Might think you’re only recent, but for all intents and purposes, you’ve actually been in a relationship for years. So don’t be scared to make it public’.”
Everything inside me stilled. I’d been thinking the same thing lately. When had my little sister become so wise?
I ran my hands through my hair. “You know what? She’s right. We said we’d keep it a secret while we were finding our feet, but this is you and me. We always land on our feet.”
“Well, except when we put our faith in cheap bookshelves.”
“And even then it was pretty spectacular.” I reached for her hand and pulled her against me, the memory stoking the slow burn in my blood. “Besides, your parents know, and Billie knows. We may as well make it official.”
“Mainly that we become public. Don’t have to sneak around or hide.”
“Will I get the full Finn McKenzie treatment?” She stroked a hand down my chest. “Taken out for dates?”
Even though I knew she was teasing, I answered seriously. “You’ll get everything I can give.”
As we pulled away, she fidgeted with the ends of her hair. “Even though we’re taking this to another level, I still think we’ll have to be careful how we manage it. We’re skipping some steps that normal couples go through when they’re dating.”
I grinned. “Just because we already have a house together, two kids downstairs, and a dog?”
She laughed. “Yeah, that. Thing is, since we’re ahead on a few factors, I think we should be careful on a couple of others.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Scared you’ll change your mind?”
“Just thinking that if we’re not careful, we’ll pretty much be an old married couple with family routines and a white picket fence before we have a one month anniversary.”
I chuckled and interlaced our fingers. “What do you have in mind?”
“We keep our own bedrooms.” Her gaze was steady on mine. “Neither one of us moves in to the other’s room.”
Everything inside me rebelled at the suggestion. “I’ve been wanting you to spend full nights in my bed. And when I say wanting, I mean dreaming and fantasizing about it. Maybe saying a prayer or two.”
She held up a hand, staving off my objection. “A newly dating couple would each still be living in their own place. We should replicate that.”
“I’m not fond of this rule.”
“Nothing to say we can’t visit…”
“A little better.” I pulled her close and pressed a kiss behind her earlobe, where I knew it drove her crazy.
“Also…” She laid both hands on my chest, which I liked, and pushed back, which I didn’t like as much. “That means you need to think about that stuff we talked about in the car on your birthday.”
I mock-sighed. “Two minutes into an official relationship and you’re already the most emotionally challenging girlfriend I’ve ever had.”
The Finn Factor Page 18
