“I don’t hate you.”
His father snorted. “Bullshit.”
They looked at each other, and Fin felt something ease inside him.
“I should have tried harder to get through to you, I see that now. But I hurt too, and then by the time I could think with any clarity, you were on a path to destruction.”
“I need to go,” Fin said. “I-I’ll come to the lodge later.”
“Mallory would like that.”
“She’s a good kid.”
“Who worships her big brother.”
“Not sure why she would when we barely know each other.”
“We told her about you.”
“And you told her only the good parts?” Fin raised a brow.
“Of course.”
He snorted. It was the longest conversation he’d had with his father since his mother had died. Longest, and maybe the most comfortable. He needed to think.
“I have to go.”
“Fin?”
He turned back.
“I never stopped loving you.”
The lump in his throat was the size of a large hailstone. Nodding, he turned and made for the trails.
Chapter32
Maggie woke when the front door closed. Throwing back the covers, she grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her naked body. Last night with Fin had been a revelation. They’d talked, and he’d opened up about his family. They’d also made love, and Maggie had to say she was reeling with the feelings running through her. Feelings that she thought were deep and true. She found Fin in the kitchen pouring coffee into a mug.
“Hey, you.”
The look on his face when he faced her was empty of emotion.
“What’s happened?”
“My father ambushed me on the trails this morning.”
“I’m sorry—”
“He told me you said I hiked in the mornings. Told him where he could get some alone time with me.”
“Fin, listen. I didn’t—”
“Do you know what it felt like to walk through the mist and be confronted with him, Maggie?”
She swallowed.
“I felt blindsided, and that you had done it to me made it worse.”
