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Maybe he needed to seriously rethink this whole family thing.
In any case, having blown it with Veronica, now he could move on. And so could she.
Second best was out there somewhere. For both of them.
Chapter Fourteen
Finn powered through his inventory list. If he was quick about it, he’d be able to leave early and go home to drink and brood, which is what he’d been doing for the past three days.
“I was told I could find you here.” Mark’s voice carried to the back of the storeroom.
Without turning around, Finn acknowledged him while continuing to go through the list. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to talk to Penn.”
At his blatant lie, Finn turned around. “You already know she works out of Bistro. You’re a little far from your destination.”
“So, maybe I thought I would stop by here first and—” Mark lowered his gaze. “Hell, I’m sorry I freaked out on you the other day.”
Finn sighed and held his clipboard to his chest. “I appreciate the apology, but you had every right to be angry.”
“I saw red. The thought of you and—” Mark shivered. “I just really can’t think about it.”
Finn didn’t really blame him. There was a time when he’d thought of Veronica just as Mark did—as a little sister. But that perception had disappeared long ago.
“I was wrong about Veronica,” Mark admitted. “And Cal. The last few days have been rough. We haven’t spoken to each other since the wedding.”
“Why don’t you go home, then? Out west, I mean,” Finn suggested evenly. He knew Cal would love that. Although Finn would much rather they work out their differences first.
“This is my home.” Mark’s sad eyes cut him deeply. “That job out there was only a means to an end. If I could go back in time, if I knew then how much damage my leaving would cause, I wouldn’t have taken the damn job. But at the time, I thought it was the best thing I could do for Ali and Cal. We were going to need a lot more money than I could make here. And I didn’t mind leaving, knowing I was investing in their future. But it all went horribly wrong.”
Mark walked farther into the storeroom and Finn just allowed him to talk.
“Cal thinks I abandoned him. And she might not say it out loud, but I know I left Veronica with a lot of responsibility to handle all on her own.”
“Cal knows why you left.”
Mark shook his head wearily. “If he does, he doesn’t act like it. And what about Veronica?”
“You’re right…she’d never say it out loud.”
Silence fell between them. Finn didn’t know what to say about his part in it all. Where to start. If he should even say anything. The man standing in front of him had been his best friend for many years, but the shell of the man staring back at him was a stranger.
“Do you love her?” Mark asked.
He should have seen that one coming. But how to answer?
“It doesn’t really matter if I love her or not. Our feelings aren’t the issue.”
Mark finally made eye contact. “So, you do love her.”
There was no point in lying. Hiding his true feelings was part of the reason why everything in his life had fallen apart. He nodded. “Yeah.”
Mark cursed under his breath. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Not a damn thing.” He pushed past his friend and set his clipboard on the desk. “It was fun, but we both knew from the start it was only temporary.”
“Veronica has spent her entire adult life as a substitute mother. She sees that as a negative now, but she’s done a fantastic job raising those kids. She deserves a family, one of her own. Kids of her own. She just doesn’t know it yet. You have to show her.”
