The Comeback Kiss

by Lani Diane Rich

  Joe shook his head and moved to stand next to Finn. “That’s fine. None of it matters anyway, because in a week, you’ll be gone again. And I’ll be here to pick up the pieces. Again.”

  Finn straightened up and took a step closer to his brother, his fist clenched at his side.

  “Yeah? She hasn’t wanted you for the last ten years, what makes you think she’s gonna want you now?” “Because, when you leave, she’s gonna finally figure out that you were never anything but a waste of her time.” “And what the hell do you think you were?” Finn said. “Nothing but a distraction.”

  “Maybe,” Joe said. “But don’t worry. Soon as you’re gone, I’ll be happy to give her all the distraction she can handle.”

  That’s when the first punch landed, although Finn wasn’t sure who threw it. All he knew was that he didn’t care about anything at that moment aside from smacking his brother down. He swung and caught Joe across the chin. Joe rallied pretty damn quick and got Finn in the stomach, sending him crashing back against the far window, the Venetian blinds clattering loudly in response.

  Finn pushed against the window and sailed into Joe, knocking him back into the wall, sending the flashlight rolling under the desk. He got one, two good punches in, and then Joe suddenly had him turned around, one arm pulled up behind his back. A second later, Finn’s face was slamming down on the desk.

  “Jesus,” Finn said. “Where’d you learn to fight?”

  “I spend two nights a month in the fire station with five burly guys,” Joe said. “It’s either spar or paint each other’s toenails.”

  “Heh,” Finn said. “That’s funny. When’d you get a sense of humor?”

  “About three months ago,” Joe said. “I found a good deal on eBay. Are we done here?”

  “Not even close,” Finn said, rising up suddenly, catching Joe off guard and butting his brother’s face with the back of his head. Joe cursed and released Finn, who spun around, grabbed him by the collar, and tossed him over the desk, sending the desk skidding a few feet as it took the brunt of Joe’s momentum.

  “We done now?” Finn said. Even in the dark, he could see Joe’s lip bleeding. When they were kids, the first appearance of blood usually called the end of the fight.

  But they weren’t kids anymore.

  Joe pushed himself up off the desk and started toward Finn. “You think you’re some big tough guy?” he said. “Think again.”

  Joe swung, Finn ducked, and Joe’s fist connected with the wall, taking a chunk out of the plaster. Finn pushed against the wall and slammed his shoulder into Joe’s gut, sending them both flying. They bounced off the desk and onto the floor, where Finn scrambled to the top and got in one more punch across the chin. Joe’s face went to the left, and he started to recover when he suddenly froze and looked back to the left.

  “Guess we’re done now, huh?” Finn said.

  “I think we are,” Joe said. His voice was quiet. Finn looked to where the flashlight’s beam illuminated a manila folder with tape on the sides, as if it had just been ripped from a hiding place.

  Like, perhaps, under the desk.

  Finn scrambled off Joe and grabbed the folder, pulling it open. Inside were about ten Polaroids of Vickie’s charred office, along with a clipping from the Lucy’s Lake Weekly. It was a page dated ten days ago, with one classified ad circled: M. I know what you did. V.

  “Think we’ve found our smoking gun,” Finn said, handing the pictures and the ad to Joe. Joe picked up the flashlight and scanned over the items.

  “Jesus,” he said. He looked up at Finn, all animosity gone from his face. “What do we do now?”

  Finn glanced around the office.

  “We put this place together as best we can, and get back to Tessa.”

  Joe nodded, stood up, then held his hand out to Finn. Finn took it and let his brother pull him up, feeling a sharp pain in his knee as he got to his feet.

  “I think it’s safe to say,” Finn said, wincing as they pushed the desk back, “that we are officially too old for this shit.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Tessa looked back and forth from Vickie to Margie, then finally to Izzy, who was gnawing on her lower lip.

  “So, what are you saying?” Tessa said. “Matt Tarpey’s been setting all these fires?”

  Vickie nodded. “The signs point that way.”

  Tessa sat back in the rocking chair and let out a sigh. “But we still don’t have any evidence solid enough to take to the police.”

  Vickie shot a look at Margie. “We would if someone hadn’t fallen asleep.”

  Margie flipped Vickie off. “Bite me, lady. Next time you do the stakeout and we’ll see how well you do.” Vickie stuck her tongue out at Margie. Margie chuckled and took a sip of her drink.

  Tessa laughed. “So I guess this is what happens when best friends are best friends for too long, huh?”

  Both Vickie and Margie looked at her blankly. “What?” Margie asked.

  “Nothing.” Tessa stood up, put her hands on the small of her back, and stretched from her shoulders, trying to clear her head.

  Matt Tarpey. Jesus. All these years, she’d been giving her mother’s killer free coffee and had no idea.

  “So,” Izzy said, “what do we do now?”

  “We wait for Finn and Joe to get back,” Tessa said. “See if they found anything in Tarpey’s office.”

  She released a breath and glanced at the clock. It was almost seven o’clock. Where were they? What if Tarpey found them? What if...?

  At that moment, the front door opened. Tessa ran to the foyer as Finn and Joe walked in, looking like they’d been in a damn train wreck. Without thinking, Tessa threw herself into Finn’s arms.

  “Oh, my God.” She pulled back and put her hands on his face, his shoulders, feeling for damage. “Are you okay? What happened? Did he catch you?”

  Finn took her hands and squeezed them gently. “We’re fine.”

  Tessa looked over at Joe. Whatever happened, he’d taken the worst of it; his chin was bruising up and his lip was bleeding.

  “What the hell happened to you guys?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Finn said. “We found something. Maybe you should sit down.”

  “Yeah, it’s Tarpey. We know.” She touched Joe’s bruising chin and he winced. “What happened to Joe?”

  Finn touched her arm. “You know? About Tarpey? How do you know?” Vickie and Margie stepped out of the living room into the foyer and Finn let out a big rush of air. “Hey, Vickie,” Finn said, not missing a beat. “How was Bimini?”

  “Oh, my God.” Tessa held up Joe’s hand and inspected his bruised and bleeding knuckles. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “Wall,” Joe said.

  “The wall? Tarpey threw you into the wall?” Tessa ducked down and grabbed the first-aid kit from under the half-moon table by the door. “Go sit on the sofa, and then you guys can tell me what happened.”

  “He’s what happened,” Joe said, jerking his thumb toward Finn.

  Tessa straightened and turned glaring eyes on Finn “What?”

  Finn’s eyes widened, and he pointed at Joe. “He started it.”

  Tessa blinked, able to believe what she was hearing but still a bit stunned by the sheer stupidity of it. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that I sent you guys to get evidence and you ended up in a fight?”

  Joe and Finn exchanged guilty glances. Tessa tucked the first-aid box under her arm and grabbed them both by the elbows, leading them into the living room.

  “Izzy, go show Vickie and Margie your room,” she said.

  Izzy huffed. “What? Now we’re back to protecting my virgin eyes? I’ve seen blood before, you know.”

  “Not this much.” She pointed to the sofa and the boys sat down, both grumbling, then she turned to Izzy.

  “Izzy, please. I just need a few moments with the Hardy Boys here, okay?”

  Izzy shrugged and looked at Vickie and Margie. “I have a PlayStation.
”

  Margie’s face brightened. “Do you have Super Monkeyball?”

  Izzy laughed. “Yeah.”

  “Super Monkeyball it is, then.” Vickie grabbed her drink off the coffee table. “Lead the way, Princess.”

  Tessa waited for them to clear out before settling herself on the coffee table and staring down both Finn and Joe. Finn was mostly just dirty. His jeans were scuffed with dust, and his shirt had a small tear in the shoulder.

  Joe, on the other hand, looked like he’d been hit in the face with a frying pan. Tessa grumbled under her breath, ripped open an alcohol pad package with her teeth, and shot Finn a dirty look as she leaned over Joe.

  “I can’t believe you did this,” she said.

  “Me?” Finn said. “He was there, too. And why does he get the Florence Nightingale treatment?”

  “He’s bleeding!”

  “Oh, so what? He gets all the sympathy because he bruises easy?”

  Tessa ignored Finn and lightly dabbed the cuts on Joe’s knuckles with the alcohol pad.

  “What the hell happened?”

  Joe and Finn exchanged glances, but both of them remained quiet. Tessa sighed, balled up the alcohol pad, and pulled out a Band-Aid.

  “I don’t need a Band-Aid, Tessa,” Joe said. “I’m fine.”

  “Fine,” she said angrily, tossing it back into the box. “Be a big man about it, then.” She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. “What did you guys find?”

  Joe told her about the pictures and the classified ad, and she filled them in on what Vickie and Margie had told her.

  “Well,” she said when she finished, “I guess we have enough to interest the police now. Where is it?”

  “Taped back under his desk,” Finn said. “The police have to go in with a search warrant in order for anything to be admissible in court.”

  Tessa met Finn’s eyes. She knew what he wanted her to say, and she gave him a small smile.

  “So I guess next we go to the police and tell them everything.”

  Finn smiled back at her. “Except the part about us breaking into Tarpey’s office.”

  Tessa felt a rush of warmth fall over her, and it took a moment for her to pull her eyes away from his.

  “Okay,” she said, “with Vickie’s and Margie’s testimonies, that should give them enough to get a search warrant, right?”

  “God willing and the creek don’t rise,” Finn said. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence, and then Joe stood up.

  “I’m gonna get going,” he said, holding up his injured hand to Tessa. “Thanks for the ace medical care.”

  Tessa shot a look at Finn, who made no move to get up and talk to his brother. Big idiot. Tessa got up and hurried out to the foyer, stopping Joe at the door.

  “Hey,” she said. “You okay?”

  Joe shrugged and offered a weak smile. “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He looked confused. “For what?”

  “For dragging you into this,” she said. “I know Matt Tarpey is one of your good friends. I know you look up to him. I know you’re not the breaking-and-entering type, but I asked you to do all this and you did it.” She smiled up at him. “I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you’ve done. And I’m really sorry.”

  He met her eyes, and she knew they were both getting the subtext. Joe reached over, pulled her to him, and kissed her on the forehead.

  “I will never understand your taste in men,” he said quietly.

  She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I’m obviously insane.”

  They released each other. Joe gave a small chuckle and let himself out. Tessa shut the door and leaned her head against it, gathering her strength for what she knew was waiting behind her.

  Finn leaned against the columned open frame that separated the foyer from the living room, watching Tessa. He knew he had no right to be angry or jealous, but as fate would have it, he was both, and was also way too tired to fight off either emotion.

  “So,” he said after giving her a moment to gather herself, “what was that all about?”

  Tessa leaned back against the door, looking seriously unamused.

  “Knock it off, Finn,” Tessa said. “There’s only so much jealous brother crap I can take in one night.”

  “I’m not jealous,” Finn said. “I just want to know what the hell’s going on between you and Joe. It’s just garden-variety, wanna-kill-my-brother-with-a-pitchfork curiosity.”

  “You know what?” Tessa said, her voice tight with anger. “That was a big deal for Joe to do for us tonight. He’s not like you, Finn. He plays by the rules, and—”

  “Oh, so I suppose slamming me into a desk is ‘the rules’ now, huh?”

  Tessa put her hand to her forehead, and Finn could see how much he was frustrating her. Still, he couldn’t help it. The idea of Tessa and Joe made him crazy, and his response was to pass the crazy on.

  “Look,” she said, “I’ve gotta think about what I’m going to do, what I’m going to tell the police, how I’m gonna keep all this from blowing up in my face, and I can’t deal with your crap right now. Good night.”

  She started toward the stairs, and he tried to let her go. He knew it was best to drop it, let her go on up to bed angry and thinking he was an asshole, but at the last minute he reached out and caught her by the arm. She stopped, but didn’t look up at him.

  “Tessa, I know I’m not very good at this.”

  “At what?” she said tightly. “You’re going to have to narrow the field for me a bit. There are so many things you’re not good at.”

  He smiled and released her arm. “You know what I mean.”

  “Oh, what?” she asked, her voice full of mock innocence. “Are you talking about how, not two hours ago, we stood right in this spot and I told you I love you and you gave me some line about tomatoes? Is that what you’re talking about?”

  “Yep.” He felt like a fucking idiot. “That’d be it.”

  There was a long moment of drawn-out silence, and Tessa made a move toward the stairs again.

  “Tessa—” he started.

  “What?” she snapped, stamping one foot. “What, what, what? Are you going to say something or are we going to dance around this all night? Because I’m too tired to dance anymore, Finn.”

  Why was it so hard for him to say the words? The verbal always came so easily to him, but when it really mattered...

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said finally. He raised his eyes to hers. “I could tell you everything, but there’s really no point.”

  “No point?” Her voice hit a weird, high pitch. That couldn’t be good. “No point? Did you just actually stand there and tell me there’s no point?'

  Finn went quiet. Based on the look on her face, it was probably his safest choice. She advanced on him, stopping when they were only inches apart.

  “Let me tell you something,” she said. “Even if you run off like a coward in the night, and even if this thing between us never goes further than this moment right now, there’s a point. The point is that I said it, and you didn’t. Take it from me, as the one who gets left behind, there’s a fucking point.”

  She turned her back on him and started toward the stairs again. Yep. She was pissed. Well, in for a penny...

  “What if I do say it?” he said. “What good is that gonna do you?”

  She stopped, but kept her back to him. Finn moved closer to her. He wanted to touch her, to pull her to him, but instead he tucked his hands in his pockets and spoke to the back of her head.

  “When I leave, the only thing you should be thinking is ‘good riddance,’ and if I tell you what being with you does to me, how the thought of leaving you tears me up inside, how is that gonna help you when I’m gone?”

  Tessa let out an angry laugh, then went silent. When she turned around, her face was filled with revelation.

  “That’s why you stole the Thing,” she said, a touch of amazement i
n her tone, although Finn didn’t know if it was at his wisdom or his stupidity. If he were a betting man, though, his money would go on stupid. “You took the Thing so I wouldn’t miss you? So I’d think I was better off without you? Am I getting this right?”

  Finn ran his fingers over his eyes but didn’t say anything. She stepped forward, closer to him, until he allowed his eyes to connect with hers. The amazement was gone, and he could see she’d doubled back to fury.

  “You arrogant son of a bitch.”

  He allowed a small smile. “Well, that’s another topic entirely—”

  “Don’t joke!” she said, giving his shoulder a rough shove. “Don’t you dare joke with me right now!”

  Finn threw up his hands in frustration. “Don’t joke? That’s what I do, Tessa. I don’t take things seriously, I don’t think about anyone other than myself, and I don’t have conversations like this.” He swallowed hard. “Which is why, when you think about it, you’ll realize you’re better off without me.”

  He could see her eyes brimming with tears and it killed him not to reach out to her, but he stayed put.

  “You’re so stupid.” She swiped angrily at her face. “You’re so stupid, and I love you, so what does that say about me?”

  There was a long moment of painful silence. Finn ran a hand over his face and laughed lightly. “You know, there are very few moments in life when I’d be relieved if someone came at me with a bayonet...”

  “I loved you.” Tessa’s voice was quiet, but sharp. Finn met her eyes, saw how much pain he was causing her, and felt his gut torque violently. “And here’s a news flash, Finnegan. You protected me from nothing. I spent ten years missing you, wondering what the hell I did wrong to make you do that to me.”

  “That’s crazy,” Finn said. “How could you possibly think it was your fault?”

  “I was an eighteen-year-old girl,” Tessa said. “I thought global warming was my fault. And even when I got over that, I still knew what I’d lost, Finn.”

  Finn took a step forward, leaning his face down close to hers so she was forced to look at him, to understand what he was saying.

  “What did you lose, Tess? Some stupid kid with no future who was gonna drag you down with him.”