“You’re perfect for me by being enough for you.”
Teddy’s breath caught at the sentiment. His father had never followed that philosophy, but Finn took him as he was.
“There you go again with that undue wisdom,” Teddy said.
“Well, one of us has to have some.” Finn grinned cheekily, pulling away to escape the car rather than steal a kiss like Teddy expected. “Come on. We have a million things to do yet, and I’m looking forward to getting you home.”
Home. They defaulted to Teddy’s house most nights if one of them was staying over, which was happening more and more frequently lately. Nora could go anywhere, but Smudge was more confined to his space, so it made sense to end up at Teddy’s.
And since it had been the location of their first date, it was fitting tonight.
Heading into the garage was Teddy’s daily reminder that he was in the smallest town imaginable, since everywhere they went, he saw someone that he, Finn, or both knew.
Ronnie at the auto shop, who helped Finn replace his wipers for the rainy season and invited them over for dinner sometime soon on behalf of him and Meagan.
Blaise at the bakery when they stopped to pick up cupcakes for dessert—even though they’d gotten Frankie’s cake from there earlier.
“I didn’t think of it then,” Finn defended.
“We had cake.”
“A snack and dessert are two separate things.”
Finn was bad for Teddy’s self-control, not that he hadn’t known that from day one. He’d been good lately, though, getting into a solid routine that left him maybe five pounds heavier than his choreographer days, but he could live with that.
Naturally, Rose arrived at the bakery before they could leave.
“Happy coincidence running into you two.”
“You forget your husband’s motto,” Teddy said. “There are no coincidences. Though I think I’ll be taking my small miracles to go.” He held up the cupcake box but didn’t hide that he also meant Finn.
“And how are you two celebrating tonight?”
“The usual.”
“Dinner,” Finn supplied, “bad action movie—”
“Debauchery,” Teddy said.
“Sounds inspiring.” Rose chuckled, turning with a wink to Blaise, whose pale complexion darkened behind the counter. “Happy anniversary.”
They almost made it home without another incident but stopped for a bottle of wine at the grocery store and ran into Carlos and Erina shopping for their own date night.
Erina was on break between spring and winter ballet seasons—and hadn’t stayed with Teddy a single night.
“Meet at the bakery for breakfast?” she suggested.
“Coffee. Maybe,” Teddy said. “I’m about to be Small Miracled out.”
Home should have been the one place they could be safe.
“Hey, Teddy!” Rick called from the beach as Teddy opened the sliding glass doors to let in the evening air.
Rick and Dan were walking the beach, having rented Mrs. Thompkins’s house next door for autumn. Dan had a few jobs intown, though he still traveled back to the city often, and Rick had set up shop earlier to finish the play.
Interpretive Heartsstarted casting next week.
Teddy thought the title a little cheesy, but he bowed to Rick’s experience.
