“Trash cans. Probably raccoons,” he said.
Lainey blew out the breath she was holding and dropped back into her chair. “Tell them to knock next time.”
Finn didn’t laugh. His eyes were back on the drawing. “So … Luke?”
She paused. Her throat suddenly dry. Then quietly said, “My son.”
Finn’s expression didn’t change, not right away. When he nodded, it was slow and deliberate, like he was processing something he couldn’t quite name. It wasn’t anger or betrayal staring back. It was confusion.
She didn’t offer more. And he didn’t ask.
And that’s when it hit her.
He didn’t know.
Hereallydidn’t know.
Had he never received her letters?
A heavy silence stretched between them.
She could have said more. Given a name. An age. A story.
Could have told him how Luke loved building Legos. How he loved dragons and knights. How brave and strong he was. And way too smart for his own good.
How he looked so much like Finn that her heart ached.
She could’ve told him she had waited for him in that motel room for hours. Wrote him letters after he left, telling him how much she loved him and about their baby. And how she waited for a response that never came.
She could have said a lot of things.
But she didn’t.
Finn had walked away once.
And even if it wasn’t his fault, she wasn’t handing him her heart all over again.
CHAPTER 11
Finn stoodby Lainey’s desk feeling awkward as hell.
The fact that she had a son left him unsure how to respond. Anger? Shock? Or maybe some other reaction he couldn’t name?
His gut twisted at the thought that their night together ten years ago might not have meant anything to her.
Then he caught himself. That wasn’t fair. What was she supposed to do? He was the one who walked away. Joined the service, found purpose with the Brotherhood. He had moved on, just not when it came to her.
So why would she wait for a guy who never looked back? Did he really expect that she’d never meet someone? Get married or have a child? Build a life without him?
Still, it hurt.
Mostly that she had moved on, while he hadn’t, made Finn more than a little sad.
Sure, there had been women in his life. Some for a short time, some just the twenty-four-hour kind. But no one had ever made him feel the way Lainey did. Especially not the way she looked at him like he hung the moon and stars.
And now she had a kid. And a life that didn’t include him.
He wasn’t sure what hurt worse, the past he’d never gotten over or the feeling that he was too late to change it.
