I shrug and feign disinterest. “I don’t care what they see. I tell them everything anyway.”
“Fine with me. But, the rules only go into effect when they are written on the Official Rule Paper. So, if you really want that to be a rule, I suggest you write it down. Either that, or lock your door. Until then, anything’s fair game,” he says, walking to the door and pushing it open. “Ready?” he asks, grabbing my purse.
No, I’m not ready for any of this. But, thanks to that mind-numbing orgasm, I just don’t have any fight in me this morning.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Just sit there and look pretty,” Finn tells me from the opposite side of the island. He’s wrapping up plates and glasses and I’m checking out all of his pots and pans scattered on the counter. His kitchen stuff is so much nicer than mine. I don’t cook, but he obviously does, or he wouldn’t have top of the line kitchen equipment.
“What are you doing with all of this?”
“Whatever I’m not taking is going into storage,” he says, steadily wrapping dishes and placing them carefully in boxes.
“I hope you’re taking everything with you,” I tell him, nodding towards the boxes he’s packing. “Have you seen the stuff in my kitchen? It’s probably from like 1975 and complete crap. We can use yours instead.”
“You gonna cook for me, Magpie?” he asks. He puts the plate he was wrapping in the box and moving towards me. Actually, prowling would be a more fitting word for how he’s moving.
“I don’t know how to cook, Finn.”
He places his hands on either side of my face, tilting it up to his. “I’ll teach you. How will you take care of our children if you don’t know how to cook?”
“You can just cook for us.”
He smiles. “That’ll work. I’ll do all the cooking, and you’ll be forced to keep me around forever. If not, you’ll all starve.” He leans in closer. “Of course, you’ll have to think of some pretty creative ways to pay me back for all the cooking I’ll be doing.”
I roll my eyes, and his lips hit mine. Fire shoots straight down to my core. I pull away, and Finn chuckles.
“Those eye rolls of yours are just as bad as that sassy mouth. One of these days you’ll learn how to control both of them.”
“You sure do know how to piss me off, Irish,” I practically spit at him.
“I know how to do all sorts of things to you, Magpie. You just have to let me do them.”
And then, the smug son of a bitch goes back to packing boxes like he didn’t just melt my panties off my body with that one statement.
Chapter Twelve
It’s Brennan Family Dinner with Finn, Take Two. We are on our way to Momma’s, but this time we are breaking the news about our new living arrangements and the twins. I haven’t even told Lucy yet. I was hoping for Mom and Ava as a buffer.
Finn and I have been busy for the last several days, merging our two apartments into one and getting him all settled in. I took the time off from work to get caught up on some assignments for school. It was the perfect excuse to lock myself away in my room or escape next door with Troy and Landon, distancing myself from my new roommate. He hasn’t tried anything else since the coffee incident, but he’s been a little too flirty. It’s unnerving. I like it a lot, actually look forward to it, so I just avoid him whenever I can. It’s better that way.
Finn grabs my hand as we walk up the path to the front door, tracing a familiar pattern into my palm.
“Ready?” he asks.
I nod and squeeze his hand. I’m not nervous about telling them about the twins, but about Finn moving in. Momma is oblivious to our past, but Lucy and Bennett know every vulgar detail. They are not going to be happy about it. I haven’t really been talking to them about this new and improved Finn, so they only know the more gory details about our tumultuous relationship. Last they heard, Finn was screwing his clients in the back of Ink Addiction. God, with everything else that’s been going on, that seems like a lifetime ago.
Before we can make it all the way up the gravel path, Ava comes barreling out of the door, throwing herself at me.
“Maggie, look at your belly! It’s getting soooo big,” she tells me, placing her chubby hands on it.
I squat down and give her a loud smack of a kiss on her cheek. “I know. And guess what?” I whisper loudly. “It’s only going to keep getting bigger.”
She giggles, and it’s like music to my ears. She’s so happy here. She’s thriving in the care of my mother, both physically and emotionally. I just wish that Daddy was here for her, too. I can’t imagine me and Lucy not having him every day growing up. I know the circumstances are much different, and that she only knew him for a little while, but she still deserves to have him as a father. I feel Finn at my back and realize that I’ve started to cry. I quickly wipe away the tears and notice Ava looking at me, confused.
“What’s wrong, Maggie. Are you sad?”
“No sweetheart, I’m fine.” I pull her into a hug, hold her tightly, and feel a few more stray tears fall into her black hair. When I let her go, I stand up and Finn holds the back of my neck, giving it a gentle squeeze. He has no idea what I’m so upset about, but he’s comforting me anyway. I clear my throat so I can speak.
“Ava, this is Finn. Finn, this is my sister Ava.”
He leans down and shakes her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ava. Tell me, are you ready to be an aunt?”
She looks at him, her beautiful blue eyes wide with surprise. “An aunt?”
“Yes. When the baby is born, you’ll be an aunt. The baby can call you Aunt Ava.”
She screams and runs in the house to share the news with Momma.
“You just made her night,” I tell Finn, smiling.
“Wait until she hears there’s two of them.” His look gets serious and he turns me so that my body is facing his. “What happened a minute ago? You spaced out and then started crying. Ava looked a little freaked.” He runs his hand up and down my arm while he talks to me. Coupled with the soothing tone of his voice, I can feel some of the sadness from moments earlier leaving my body.
I look down to the ground, moving my foot around in the gravel. “I’m fine. I’ll tell you about it when we get home.”
“OK. Now take me inside so I can meet your mother.”
As soon as we step through the door, Momma is in the foyer to greet us. She’s all smiles, but there is an undercurrent of sadness. I don’t call any attention to it. I know exactly what she’s thinking. I have the same thought in my mind right now. She’s wishing Daddy were here with her to meet Finn. It would be totally awkward and uncomfortable for everyone, but Finn would charm Daddy, just like he does with everyone, and all would be forgiven. Daddy still wouldn’t hesitate to give him hell, and would probably continue to do it well after these kids were born.
Momma pulls me into a hug, her signature scent surrounding her. “Maggie, you look wonderful. You’re glowing.” She pulls back, holding me at arm’s length, and shakes her head, her eyes glassy. “Look at you.”
“Momma, please. I’m getting huge. I’ll be waddling soon. This is gonna be absurd.”
“I agree with you, Mrs. Brennan,” Finn says, stepping out from beside me and removing his arm from my waist. “She’s stunning.” He puts his hand out, but when Momma takes it he leans in and kisses her cheek. “I’m Finn O’Leary. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
“Call me Claire, Finn,” she says as she pulls away from him. As we walk into the living room, she starts with the questioning.
“Tell me Finn, how did you meet my daughter?”
“Seriously, Momma?”
“Well, you don’t tell me anything anymore. I have to get my information somewhere. Maybe Finn can fill in some of the blanks.”
Mom gestures for us to sit on the couch.
He laughs. “We work together at The Red Magnolia. I’ve known Maggie since she started working there.”
“How long have the
two of you been seeing each other?”
“Please stop.” I can feel the heat flooding my face. I’m sure I look like my sister, who turns red at the slightest hint of embarrassment.
“Maggie and I dated on and off for a bit when she started working at the pub.”
I’m not sure ‘dating’ is quite the term to use, but it is probably the safest. I wouldn’t want Momma having a stroke before dinner.
“What are your intentions with my daughter, Finn?”
I am mortified. Maybe if I fake going into labor she will shut up. I close my eyes and let my head thump against the back of the couch. I wish it would open up and swallow me whole.
“Well, I tried to get her to marry me, but she turned me down. So, for now, we are going to live together and raise our baby. We’ll have to revisit the marriage thing a little later. Maybe after the baby’s born. I don’t think Magpie’s quite ready for that.”
My head pops up and I slap Finn’s arm. “There you go again. I thought we talked about this. Quit blurting shit out, Finn.”
“Your mom asked me a question. I was simply giving her an answer. What did you want me to do? Lie?”
“No, I don’t want you lying to my mom. But maybe I was gonna tell her about it later. You just love to beat me to it, don’t you?”
Momma’s head is moving back and forth between the two of us, like she’s watching a tennis match.
“Are the two of you sure this is a good idea?” she asks, clearly put off by the bickering.
“I’m beginning to rethink my decision,” I mumble.
“This is the best decision you’ve ever made,” Finn tells me, winking.
“What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?” asks Lucy.
Of course this is when they get here. I look behind me, and there’s Lucy and Bennett. I guess we missed their entrance with all the fussing. I decide just to blurt it all out as fast as possible. Band-Aid.
“Finn moved into the apartment a few days ago. You and Miller moved out and I wanted to stay living on my own. Finn thought the best option would be for him to move in.”
Lucy is looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. Bennett is grinning from ear to ear, that sexy dimple of his on display.
“This should be interesting,” he mumbles into the crown of Lucy’s hair.
A timer dings in the kitchen, so Momma excuses herself to go check on dinner. As soon as she’s out of earshot, Lucy tears into me.
“Are you out of your mind? Do you not recall that scene outside just a few weeks ago? Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t the two of you fighting because he slept with someone else? And just like that,” she says, snapping her fingers, “all is forgiven and now you’re shacked up.” She’s shaking that finger at me and getting all worked up. “We talked about this, Maggie. This isn’t just about you. Think about your child.”
I shoot off the couch and Finn’s right behind me, standing at my back. “First of all, quit wagging that finger around. You need to chill out. Second, I am thinking about my child. Finn and I aren’t ‘shacked up’. He’s living at the apartment so we can both be there to help. It’s not what you think. We’re just friends. And the whole thing a few weeks ago was just a misunderstanding.”
Lucy takes in a deep breath, ready for another part of her lecture, but Ava comes running in. “Time to eat,” she says, cutting off Lucy’s tirade.
“We will finish this later,” she tells me. She and Bennett walk ahead of me and Finn. He pulls me in for a hug.
“Well, that’s one piece of news down. This next one will be much easier, I promise.” He takes hold of my hand and we walk into the kitchen. Lucy is giving us evil eyes as we take our seats opposite Momma and Ava. Her eyes are honed in on our clutched hands.
“You do that with all your friends?” she mumbles as I sit down next to her.
“Don’t you? You and Miller used to hold hands all the time,” I respond, using the bitchiest tone I can muster.
Lucy’s head snaps back like I hit her. She pushes back from the table and heads out to the back porch.
“That was a low blow, Mags, even for you,” Bennett says.
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“I shouldn’t be the one getting your apology.”
I excuse myself from the table and head out to the back patio. Lucy is sitting on the swing, staring off into the yard and wiping at her face. I sit down on the swing next to her. This was always Daddy’s seat.
“It’s weird sitting out here without Daddy to talk some sense into us.”
“He would kick your ass for that comment in there,” she tells me, finally looking at me. Her voice drops to a whisper I can barely hear. It’s like she’s scared to say the words she’s been thinking out loud.
“You know it kills me that he left. I’m having a really hard time without him here.” She pauses for a minute and then continues. “I called him the other night.”
“And…”
“He told me not to do it again,” she cries, hardly able to speak the words.
I give my sister’s leg a gentle squeeze. I know she misses her best friend. I miss him, too. Seeing her and Bennett together was just too much for him to handle. He had to leave. I don’t blame him. I’m beginning to see how that could tear a person in two. Just hearing about Finn and his whore was too much for me. I can’t imagine having it in my face every day. And Miller’s feelings for Lucy are so much stronger than my feelings for Finn.
Aren’t they?
The thought jolts me for a minute, scaring me a bit. I’ll tuck that away and ponder it later.
“I never should have said that about Miller, even if you were being a bitch to me and Finn. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not sure that you calling me a bitch in your apology is necessary, but I accept. I probably shouldn’t have laid into you like that. I’m just worried about you. Hormones make people crazy, Maggie, and you might have made a decision without thinking it through. Can you honestly handle living with Finn? The only time I’ve ever seen you get upset over a boy was because of him.”
Can I handle it? Probably not, but I’m determined to try.
“Finn has really changed. He’s like a different person these days, Goose. I know it hasn’t been long, but I see it every day. I think this will be a good thing. This is how we are going to raise our family. It’s important to us.”
“But just friends? Is that even possible? What happens when one of you meets somebody else and wants to date?”
Now it’s my face that snaps back like I’ve been hit. That possibility never even occurred to me when I agreed to our little arrangement.
“It’s not so cut and dry now, is it Mags?” she says, her tone compassionate, her small hand rubbing my belly. “I know you’re trying to do the right thing here, but I just don’t think this is it. For your sake, though, I hope I’m wrong.”
“I hope you’re wrong, too, Lucy,” Finn says from behind us. We both crane our necks to look into the doorway. Finn and Bennett are standing at the back entrance of the house. I guess they are making sure there was no bloodshed.
“Dinner’s getting cold, sweet girl,” Bennett says, coming around the swing to pull Lucy up.
She kisses my cheek and goes back inside. Finn takes her place on the swing.
“Everything alright between you two?”
“Yeah. I should have never said what I did, but she shouldn’t have started in on me either.” I think about her comment about one of us wanting to date. If I had to guess, that will be an issue that Finn will have, not me. I can’t imagine being with anyone else. “She’s just worried about us living together.”
“Like I told her, Maggie, she’s wrong to worry. We will make this work. This might not be a conventional situation, but look at the two of us. We don’t exactly scream ‘conventional’.”
I break away from his gaze and start picking at my cuticles. He stills my hands with his.
“What else is bothering you?”
“
Luce brought up something I haven’t thought of.” I take a few breaths, trying to figure out what I want to say, but don’t really know how to bring it up. Maybe he will get what I’m trying to say. “Finn, have you thought of this past the short term? Past when the babies get here?” Now my foot is bouncing up and down, causing the swing to rock back and forth. He throws his leg over mine, stopping my movements.
“Where are you going with this?”
“What happens when you want to date, Finn? You gonna bring your women back to the apartment you share with your baby mama and two children? ‘Hey, baby, we have to be quiet while we have sex so we don’t wake my family’.”
I can feel my throat getting tight and my eyes starting to burn. I’ll be damned if I let him see me getting upset over this.
He looks pissed, but he reels it in quickly. Grabbing my face, he stares right into my eyes. His gaze is intense. I want to look away, but I can’t pull my eyes from his.
“Maggie, do you really think that I want anyone else? Everything I need will be at home for me. We’ve been through this. I don’t know what it will take for me to convince you.”
I manage to pull my eyes away and get off the swing. “Come on, let’s go eat.” I don’t want to have this conversation. I wish Lucy would have never brought it up.
Before we walk through the door, he takes hold of my hands and places a gentle kiss on my forehead, leaving his lips there for several seconds. It’s a tender gesture, and I feel a warmth travel through my body.
His lips are hovering over my skin when he speaks. “I promise you, Magpie, we will be fine. Our family will be fine. I told you before, I won’t lie to you.”
When we get back to the table, everyone is talking quietly. Plates are served, but no one is really eating. I guess they were waiting for us to come back inside. As we walk past Bennett and Lucy to sit down, I give them each a shoulder squeeze. This was not the first time Goose and I have argued over decisions I’ve made. I’m pretty confident it won’t be the last. It’s what we do.
I look across the table at Ava. She’s holding one of her baby dolls, feeding it a bottle.
More of You: The Home Series, Book Two Page 9
