I nod and put my hands on the girls’ heads. “Thank you both so much for my pictures and flowers. I found them this morning, and they brightened my whole day.”
“You’re welcome,” Avery says.
“Will you wear your tie-dye like us?” Eloise asks. “I want to show Nonna and Nonno what we made.”
“I’d love to. We’ll be a tie-dye team, won’t we?”
The girls smile wide and nod before running into the living room to find Pepper. Finn steps closer, wrapping me in a hug that needed desperately.
Sage.
Strong arms.
Safety.
I bury my face into his soft shirt and breathe him in as he kisses the top of my head. “If you want to cancel, you can. We could come pick you up for the fun part later.”
“No, I want to go. I can’t be left out of this tie-dye team.”
When I lift my chin, concern etches his face. “I’m so sorry, Millie. Sorry I thought he was a good enough person to bring in for a second interview. And sorry I brought him back into your life. I never would’ve done that if I’d known. I hate myself for it.”
I press my fingers into the pinched crease between his brows and smooth it out. “I know you wouldn’t. I’m not upset with you at all. He tricked you like he tricks everyone else.”
His jaw tightens, but he nods. “Would you think less of me if I kind of want to kill him?”
A smile cracks over my tired face. “No. You’d be in line right behind me. And Lena.”
***
As he drives to his parents’, Finn sets his hand in my lap, a steady weight over my thigh. A grounding reminder that he’s right there if I need him.
The view outside the window changes to a neighborhood of extravagant houses. Colossal structures, each with its own design aesthetic, line the road, surrounded by perfectly maintained grass. Sprinklers click in the front yards, and a few women run down the road ahead of us in the workout gear of suburban royalty.
Finn pulls his car into the driveway of a three-story, Italian-style mansion, with stucco walls and a tiled roof. The house has an almost untouchable beauty, like it’s a little too perfect to be real.
We park next to a carved fountain that’s lit by the warm glow of spotlights. Dressed in our tie-dye armor, we exit the car, and the girls’ wide, unsure eyes stare at the building.
Finn’s expression softens when he notices their apprehension. He kneels in front of them and puts a hand on each of their shoulders.
“We can leave whenever you all are ready, okay?” They nod like they’ve gone through this conversation before. “I love you both so much.” He kisses their foreheads, and we hold hands as we make our way through the courtyard to the front door.
Finn pushes the doorbell, and it echoes through the house. A petite older woman answers the door, nodding to Finn and giving the girls a familiar smile. They offer a small grin back.
“How are you ladies this evening?” she asks in a kind voice.
“Good, Miss Sally,” Eloise answers.
A woman with long jet-black hair appears in the corridor behind Sally, her heels beating against the tile floor as she approaches. Her beauty gives a subtle hint of plastic surgery, and I know from Finn that it hides a nasty interior. Like a shiny candy coating over a raisin.
Her dark eyes assess all of us with her mouth set in a tense line. “You’re late. I told you to be on time.”
Wow.What a way to greet your son and granddaughters.
Finn’s hands slide around the girls’ shoulders, and he pulls them slightly toward his legs. I want a little of that protection, but he only has two hands, and the girls need it more.
“Yes, we’re a little late, but we’re here now,” Finn says firmly.
Eloise pulls the hem of her tie-dye shirt out and says, “Do you like the shirts we made, Nonna?”
