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He nodded because he always went. He, Chase, and Levi were at all the town occasions since they were all believers in supporting the town however they could.
Movie night had, in fact, been Levi’s idea, and surprisingly, for a suggestion from someone who hadn’t grown up here, everyone had taken to it wholeheartedly.
But Finn felt bad that she’d had to ask him if he’d be there. It would be her first movie night here, since they hadn’t had one for a couple of months, and he knew she’d love it. Yet he hadn’t talked to her about it, hadn’t mentioned even going together.
Sheri liked movie night too.
“Are you going to come with me?” he asked far, far too late. “I’m sorry, I should have mentioned it to you earlier.”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’s fine. Izzy told me about it. I’m meeting her and Indigo down there.”
So she’d assumed she wouldn’t be going with him and maybe not even sitting with him.
You didn’t even talk to her about it so are you really surprised?
He shouldn’t be, yet irritation caught at him that she’d be with her friends instead of with him, even though he knew he had no right to be annoyed. Not when he’d put her at arm’s length and kept her there.
Beth’s gaze met his briefly before she glanced away. She pushed back some more hair that was blowing over her face. “Well, Indigo has made me some tea so I might go and—”
“Beth, wait,” Finn said before he could stop himself, not liking the guarded expression on her face.
She looked back at him. “Yes?”
He came over to the stall gate, opened it, and stepped outside. “I’m sorry about movie night. I should have said something to you. It’s a fun evening and I think you’ll enjoy it.”
Beth smiled, though it wasn’t the radiant one she’d give him when he’d revealed the treat he’d brought along for her, which made regret sit like a stone inside him. And she didn’t come over, put a hand on his chest, and rise up on her toes to kiss him the way she sometimes did.
“Yeah, it does sound fun,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
She stayed where she was, not far from him, yet suddenly it felt as if there was a giant gulf between them, a chasm miles deep.
A chasm you put there.
Oh, he knew. He’d done it deliberately. And not just with her, with everyone, and he’d never felt the need to bridge it.
Yet he did now. He wanted to close that distance, grab her and haul her into his arms because the ache in his soul, the hunger for her that wouldn’t leave him alone, felt too much to bear.
Except that would be a bad move. He couldn’t put that on her. The distance had to remain.
“Okay.” He thrust his hands in his pockets to keep them to himself. “I’ll see you down there then.”
She nodded. “Then we’ll talk after.”
“Yeah, we will.” He extended a hand for her helmet. “I’ll deal with that for you if you like.”
Beth held it out to him, and he didn’t miss that she carefully avoided brushing his fingers. And when she murmured a thank-you and turned back to the farmhouse, she didn’t look behind her.
He didn’t want that to feel as if someone had wrapped their fingers around his heart and was squeezing it hard, but for some reason it did.
And they kept on squeezing as she walked into the farmhouse and closed the door behind her.
Chapter 16
Movie night was just as adorable as Beth thought it would be.
Deck chairs, old armchairs, stools, pub chairs, dining chairs—just about any chair you could think of—had been hauled onto the grassy bank by the lake, all of them facing a giant projector screen on a stand. Long extension cords powered the projector and DVD player that had also been brought out, the cords running directly across the main street and into HQ, which was the closest building with a power outlet.
People sat chatting as the long, late-summer twilight lay over the town, the air still warm, the sky still a deep blue but now tinged with the pinks and oranges of what looked to be a truly beautiful sunset.
