He tugged her hand away from her eyes, and she pointed at the jukebox. “How bad is it?”
He shrugged and gave her a wicked grin. “Wait and see.”
The Spice Girls broke into song over the speakers and Molly hung her head. “That kinda night, eh?”
Joe appeared tableside and slid their shakes in front of them. The sweet, thick liquid never fitted up the straws right away, but that didn’t stop Molly and Finn trying. Just like old times. “You guys want any food?”
Finn nodded and patted his stomach. “It’s game night, Joe. Gimme the works.”
“Rings and loaded fries?”
Finn nodded.
“Wings and fully loaded cheeseburger?”
Molly’s stomach lurched. She was starving, but the idea of eating when this… thing… hung between them made her queasy.
“What about you Miss Molly?”
She shook her head. “I’ll steal some of Finny’s. Thanks Joe.”
Finn reached out and grabbed Joe’s forearm, stopping him from leaving. “She’ll have her usual, Joe.”
Once Joe had left, Finn lowered his voice. “I love you, Molly Morrison. But not share-my-food-on-game-night love, you hear me?” His stomach growled as if to punctuate his sentence.
Her skin tingled like he’d brushed a feather along her whole body. How could he throw the L-word about so blasé like they’d been together for fifty years and this was their weekly routine of dining out?
She refused to look at him, but felt his eyes on her, burning with the intensity that radiated from him despite his laidback attitude. He nudged her knee with his, forcing her head up.
“Hey.” His soft features made her want to cry and jump him all at the same time.
“Hey yourself.” She played with the straw in her glass, pushing it through the softened ice cream.
The door opened, the overhead bell rang, but she didn’t know the couple who walked in and took up a table at the opposite end of the restaurant.
“Take a breath, MoMo.”
She gave a smile, but her fingers trembled around the straw, and her knee knocked on the table again as her foot jumped. She searched his face but found no trace of humor.
“Talk to me. What are you thinking?”
She bent the straw over the rim of the tall glass. What was she thinking? She was sitting contemplating doing the deed with her brother’s best friend.
She shuddered. When her ex had cheated on her all those years ago, she’d resolved to be done with long-term deals.
So why was she sitting across the table from Finn hot-AF O’Brien contemplating carving her heart out of her chest and handing it to him on a plate?
Because Finn wasn’t Justin, and she wasn’t the Molly from back then, either. Because if she couldn’t have Finn, she couldn’t have anyone. Except now she had a shot – a real chance – to see if something real was between them. Could she find it inside herself to take it? Could she really have Finn?
He’d already told her he loved her, could she get her shit-for-brains together enough to ever say it back?
“Talk to me, Doll.” His forehead crinkled as he frowned. Picking up her hand from her glass, he cupped it between both of his, and her heart spluttered in her chest.
She pulled her eyes from their clasped hands to the counter, Joe and Susan were nowhere to be seen.
Tucking a knuckle under her chin, Finn turned her head so she faced him. “Stop freaking out.”
She snorted. “Right. You know what has a 100% failure rate? Telling someone to stop freaking out when they’re freaking out. What if he comes here?” The door opened and a family of five ushered in from the cold.
