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He laughs and takes the plate from my hand. “Oh, come on, you know you made that just for me.”
“I actually made it for dinner later. Now I have to make another,” I say, giving him my best angry face, knowing damn well I have no such thing. At least not when it comes to him.
Finn tugs on his necklace, his big green eyes rounding in curiosity. “You having what’s his face over again? I thought you two would have broken up by now.”
I huff. “No. He has to work late tonight, and why would you assume that?” Isaac has been working long hours a lot lately and hardly has any free time to stay over. It’s what he tells me anyway. Maybe he’s growing bored of me already.
“I want to have fun on my weekends off but all you want to do is stay home all the time. You’ve gotten so lazy and don’t even try anymore, so why should I?”
I shake away Austin’s words, placing my attention back on Finn when he shrugs. “I dunno. You haven’t dated anyone for this long in a while is all.”
He’s right, and normally six months wouldn’t be considered a long-term relationship, but I haven’t had the best luck in the dating area after walking away from a man I once thought loved me. Learning to trust again was a hard thing to do. It didn’t matter the amount of therapy or how much time had passed. I still have plenty of healing to do on my own and nobody said it would be easy.
I won’t slow down my life because of it though. Austin doesn’t get to keep ripping away my chances at being happy. “Well, who knows, this guy could be the one.” I cut a slice of bread with the spatula and place it on Finn’s plate. “And if you must know, your mom invited me over for pozole tonight and I wasn’t going to say no to taking a break from cooking.” It’s never easy cooking for one person. I often make too much food and have way too many leftovers. Good thing Finn is usually happy to come over and help me with my little problem.
“It’s also hard to say no to Mom’s pozole,” he says, digging his fingers into his food.
He has a point. His mom is probably the best cook I know, and it’s one of the perks of living next door. At first I was hesitant when my brother told me he bought the house next to mine, but it’s nice having family so close by when living in a large house all alone. “Do I need to remind you where the silverware is too?”
He flicks a crumb my way. “Why you like giving yourself more dishes to wash, I’ll never understand.”
My eyes drop to the mess he made on the floor. “It’s not like you’re saving me from any extra cleaning by spilling your food everywhere. You better sweep that up on your way out,” I say pointedly.
He smiles around his last bite of food and quickly swallows it while handing me his plate. “Or I can save myself some time and do it tomorrow after I enjoy eating the lunch you’re going to cook for me. See you tonight.” He shoots me a wink while heading for the front door.
“I don’t know, you might have convinced me to stay home after all,” I joke.
His middle finger goes up in the air as he walks out the door and I toss my head back, laughing. He really can be a pain in the ass sometimes but the older he gets, the less I see him as the lanky awkward eighteen-year-old who knocked my plant off my front porch the very first day we met. His presence grows more comforting and our conversations always have me feeling less strained from my daily stresses. Over the last year he’s gone from the bratty, irritating nephew type to a really good friend.
The vibration of my phone captures my attention and I tug it from my pocket, skimming over the message.
Finn: Turns out mom needs to borrow flour after all.
Chuckling, I make a beeline for the pantry and grab the flour, accidentally knocking down a box of cake mix. As I’m standing back up, I walk backwards, crashing into something hard.
With widened eyes, I turn around and Finn and I are practically nose to nose. A smile plays on his face and he wraps his fingers around the white bag in my hand. “And here I thought I was the clumsy one.”
“You are,” I retort, moving my hand from his. “You know I hate when you sneak up behind me.” Turning only partly around, I place the box of cake mix back on the shelf where it belongs.
“Stop making it so easy then,” he says, pursing his lips. “Thanks for saving me a trip to the grocery store.” Reaching around me, his arm rubs over mine, leaving behind goose bumps on my skin. He snatches his hand back and his fingers are wrapped around a red Dr. Pepper can. I don’t drink soda but I keep it on hand for whenever Finn is thirsty during his visits. Every time I go to the store, I automatically toss his favorite foods and beverages in the cart as if he lives here. He practically does.
“Of course. I seem to be your one-stop shop lately.” I nudge my head at the can he manages to open one-handed.
“Not yet.” He winks. “But you’re right. Eventually, I won’t have to go anywhere for anything else again.”
Parting my lips, my dry tongue sticks to the bottom of my mouth making it hard for me to speak. What the hell is he talking about? Something about his darkening eyes reminds me of the same look Isaac gives me whenever we’re alone in the bedroom and… No. I’m obviously seeing things. Probably due to the lack of sleep last night. We are family. He wouldn’t be looking at me the way a lover would, and he shouldn’t be.
By the time I’m finally able to speak, Finn is already halfway to the front door, carrying flour under one arm and the can of soda in the other. “Hasta luego,Tio.”
The last word he says hangs in the air. Yeah, I was definitely way off. Relief sinks in as I lean against the pantry’s doorframe. Finn is probably the easiest person to read while also being the hardest. I wish I could make sense of how, but nothing with Finn is ever that simple. He’s a contradictory paradox, the same way as the saying “spending money to save it” is.
He wouldn’t be him any other way though, and life needs people like Finn to prevent it from being boring by occasionally throwing it off course. Glancing around the dim room, everything seems so gloomy standing in my kitchen alone, almost as if Finn took all the light and sparkle with him when he walked out the door.
Three
Finn
Laying out all the plates, I help my mom finish setting the table. “You going out tonight?” she asks, straightening out the napkins.
