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Ignoring the uncomfortable pinch in my chest, I smile. “Good to hear. So, what cases have you been working on lately? Anything interesting?”
We chat for a while about what we each have going on at work. I’m not a family law specialist, nor is he a contract specialist, but sometimes it helps to hear someone else’s ideas from outside of our specialty. Oftentimes, I find when you’re deep in it, you can overcomplicate matters, whereas someone on the outside sees things in simpler terms that are sometimes helpful.
After that, we chat about football, or soccer as he calls it. Back in law school, I managed to get him interested in the sport and we’d always take time away from studying to go to a pub on either Saturday or Sunday morning to watch a game.
We order another round of drinks, and after the waiter drops them off at our table, Finn lifts his toward me. He has a strange expression on his face that I can’t quite read. “I’d like to do another toast.”
“What for?”
“I plan to propose to her on Thanksgiving.” His grin would be infectious if he wasn’t talking about proposing.
“That’s… that’s great, man.” I sip my drink to push down the lump forming in my throat.
We clink glasses again and sip our drinks.
“There’s one other thing…” The way he trails off makes me think I might not like whatever he plans to say next. “I plan to propose to her at Thanksgiving and I know that you Brits don’t do the Thanksgiving thing, but I wanted to see if you’d come over and celebrate with us. I want everyone I care about there to mark the occasion.”
My stomach sours further, but I force a smile. “Yeah, sure. Of course, I’ll be there.”
“Awesome. You were my last ask. This is going to be perfect.”
“Who else will be joining us?”
“My parents will be in town, and my sister is going to be there too.”
When he mentions Kenzie, I realize this is my opening to tell him that I’ve not only met his sister, but gone on a date with her, will be pseudoworking with her, and have found myself agreeing to spend even more time with her so she can attempt the impossible task of making me like Christmas. Has really that much happened between Kenzie and me in this short of time?
I open my mouth to say something, but for whatever reason, the words die on my lips. I think it’s the guilt of whacking off to his sister’s image in my head more than a few times. I’m afraid he’ll see through me and see that even though his sister is my complete opposite in every way, something draws me to her.
So rather than confessing my sins, I say, “Sounds good.”
“You can’t say anything to anyone though. I want it to be a complete surprise to Zahra.”
I nod and take another sip of my drink to hide how uncomfortable I am.
“Who would you tell though, right? It’s not like you’ll be chatting with my parents or Mac before then.” He chuckles, and I join in with a fake one of my own.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I lean back and pull it from my pocket to see Kenzie’s name on my screen with a notification that she’s texted me, which only makes me feel like a bigger ass than I already do for hiding something from my best friend.
“Everything okay?” Finn asks.
I shove the phone back in my pocket. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You just look kinda pale?”
I shake my head. “Just work stress. Nothing I can’t handle.”
We move on to other topics, but Kenzie continues to invade my mind. Sooner or later, I’ll have to come clean to Finn.
ChapterEleven
Kenzie
On Friday night, I texted Andrew to see if he wanted to meet up to go over some things for the party that I need his help with. Since my meeting with him and Bethaney, I’ve spent some time figuring out everything that needs to be addressed and assigning each task in order of priority.
We arranged to meet at a café because it’s the midpoint between our homes. I figured a café on a Sunday afternoon was safe. It definitely didn’t give off date or romance vibes.
At least for me.
