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“Even better than your sister, Miss Lawson?” Brody laughs.
I bring my forefinger to my lips. “Shh, don’t tell Miss Kate that when she stops by next.”
I glance at Finn, and he is staring in shock at me.
Finn continues to talk about his job for a few more minutes with the class holding every student’s attention. There isn’t much these days that aren’t Beyblades, Pokémon, or fairies that catch a seven-year-old’s attention, but he has. I watch in awe at him with them, and their eyes trained on him.
“Okay, class, why don’t we thank Mr. Reynolds for taking the time to talk to us, and maybe he can come back soon.”
The light in his eyes matches mine as he nods and tells the class he would love to come back. Can he feel this comfortableness between us?
Finn grabs the bag from our lunch, and the entire class says goodbye to him. He waves as I escort him to the door.
“Thank you for bringing me lunch,” I softly say, turning my body away from my students as he exits the classroom.
“Thank you for letting me.”
I give him a quick hug before I allow myself to get lost in the moment and possibly say something stupid.
“I’d be open to doing it again. You know, if you wanted.” Something stupid like that.
“Yeah, me too,” he responds, unsure if he means both the lunch and the classroom visit. I surprise myself by meaning both. “Enjoy the rest of the day, Miss Lawson.”
“Bye, Finn.” I give a small wave and turn back to my students as laughter and “oohs and aahs” have taken over. “Okay, class, quiet down.”
At the end of the day, as the kids are leaving, I pull my phone out of my purse and see text messages from Finn around the time he left.
Finn: Thank you for today.
Finn: I hope whatever you wished for comes true.
I stare at my phone and wonder that he might be right.
“You know I could have driven myself, right?” Kate says, closing the car door and settling into the passenger seat of my car.
“Yeah, I know, but I just want to spend some time with my sister.”
Kate rolls her eyes as I back out of the driveway. “I don’t see why Mom didn’t want to go out for her birthday. Who wants to cook on their birthday?”
“Because it’s Mom’s day and she gets to do whatever she wants, and we have to go along with it. She wants all her kids back under one roof and to cook a big meal, so that’s what we do.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kate salutes, laughing.
Sitting at a red light, Kate messes with the music while I get lost in thought, staring out the window.
Since our lunch, Finn and I have continuously texted. It’s usually talking about our days and things my students said or more cute photos of his nephew, but other times we talk just to talk. Finn said he wanted to get to know the person I’ve become, and that’s what we’re doing. He learned that cookies-and-cream milkshakes got me through grad school studying, I saw Inside Out twice in theaters and cried like a baby both times, and that I picked up baking tips from spending time with my sister-in-law, who is a beast in the kitchen.
The biggest thing that has changed about Finn is that he now likes sushi, which makes me laugh since he would gag every time we went to an Asian restaurant and I would order it.
While some things have changed, he is still the same old Finn in a lot of ways—one who can eat an entire meat-lover’s pizza on his own in one sitting, listens to country music 24/7, and can put a smile on my face, even when I don’t want to. I’m quickly falling down the “Finn Reynolds Rabbit Hole,” and I’m not sure I can stop this.
My lips curve upward as I remember our conversation just before I left to pick up Kate, where he was telling me that he spilled coffee all over his khakis this morning and had to walk around with stained pants throughout the day.
“Hey, what’s up with you?” My sister pokes me in the side, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Huh?” My head snaps to her.
She points in front of her toward the streetlight. “It’s green.”
