“Ah, shit,” he says as he stands and finds his phone under the pillow. “I said to my therapist I’d go to a meeting tonight.”
“Do you think they help?”
Finn drags a hand through his hair as he stares down at me. “Yeah, I do. It also gives me something to do instead of overthinking, you know?”
My mouth suddenly turns very dry. “How have you been feeling?”
“Better than I was,” he says with a soft smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“You know you can talk to me, right?”
Finn’s chest rises and falls. “I don’t want to bring you down with my shit. You’ve got a lot on your plate as it is.”
I frown, standing from the sofa. “I want to be there to support you,” I say truthfully. “If it’ll help at all. I want you to be okay.”
He raises his hand and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. The gesture is so tender and familiar that I shudder as his fingerbrushes the curve of my neck. “I’m okay, Maya,” he murmurs. “I’ve got two beautiful girls in my life that I don’t want to let down, and I won’t. So I keep going.”
My chest tightens at the pain I know he’s been through.
“I’m just glad you’re talking about it with your therapist,” I whisper.
“Me too.” His phone buzzes, and he clears his throat. “I gotta go, is that okay?”
“Of course. Your meetings are important.”
“Yeah,” he says as his eyes roam my face. “Oh, and I made dinner. It’s in the oven.”
“Again?”
“Yeah.” He shrugs as if it’s nothing, but it’s not. It’s everything to me. “Hope you like it.”
My lips tremble as I admire the man who once stole my heart and looks like he could do it all over again. “Thank you.”
Finn doesn’t move for a long moment; he keeps his gaze on me. Then he steps forward and brushes a kiss over my forehead, and my eyes flutter closed at the sensations that burst through my body.
“I don’t want to wake Skye,” he murmurs into my skin. “Kiss her good night for me.”
When he pulls away, I instinctively want to reach out for him, but I don’t. He needs to focus on staying sober. We need to focus on being parents. As much as my heart cries for him, we have to get everything in check first before I can even think about rekindling our relationship. But he’s making it incredibly hard with his heartfelt gestures.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says as he approaches the door.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 23
MAYA BROOKE
On the weekend, Finn asks to spend time with us. I don’t usually do much on the weekends, I tend to stay in or go for a walk, depending on what Nina is doing. But now she’s not here, the house is a lot quieter and isolating.
Especially on a Saturday when people are going out and being productive.
When there is a knock at the front door, I quickly brush through the ends of my hair and hurry over to open it. Finn’s hand is resting on the arch of the door, and sunlight glows from behind him as his blond hair curls around his forehead.
Green eyes find mine, and he smiles so bright it almost blinds me. God, he’s devastatingly handsome after a full night’s sleep. I forget what I look like without these dark bags under my eyes. I’m starting to think this might just be me forever.
“Hey, sunshine,” he says softly.
“Hi.” I smile back, but my eyes are slightly achy from being up the majority of the night. “I think I should be the one calling you sunshine.”
