He means this in the nicest possible way, but I balk. He comes from a wealthy family, pillars of the community, and he cannot possibly understand my winding road here. It’s also another way I don’t fit with the Ryans—Finn or May or… well, obviously, not with Grant. We’re just not in the same stratosphere, something I learned the hard way in LA just doesn’t work. “Not much to tell. Just starting over here in your charming small town.”
My phone buzzes and I pull it from my pocket. I mightnot normally, but the discomfort of telling Finn nothing after he’s let me in on his family feels awful and I need the excuse to shift my attention away.
It’s that same number and because I’m on autopilot, avoiding Finn’s sharp eye, I answer. “Hello?”
No answer, so I try again. “Hello? Who’s there?”
I can feel Finn’s eyes on me, but my heart rate ticks up when I hear a gust of breath through the speaker.
“You think you can just disappear?”
I freeze when I hear that voice and shock shakes through every cell in my body.
“I miss you, Samantha. I don’t understand why you left.”
The line goes dead before I even think of responding, and my hand slowly lowers from my ear.
I’ve dreaded hearing from Andrew. It’s been a few months without contact in person or over the phone, but obviously, I left without telling him where I was going. I didn’t owe him that, and I still don’t. But I’ve worried about something like this happening. In my gut, I knew those calls couldn’t be anything good, but he shouldn’t have this number. And honestly, he shouldn’t care. We separated and he never looked back—at least not after he made sure I had overwhelming legal fees and hardly enough money to pay them.
And also, how does my leaving have anything to do with him, after everything he put me through? Does he really believe him saying he misses me will do anything at all to erase what he’s done to me?
“Sam. Hey. What was that?” Finn crouches in front of me and takes my hands in his. “What can I do?”
I realize he must’ve been saying something and couldn’t get my attention. Not a surprise considering that call justthrew me for a loop, to say the least. And now this sweet guy is ready to help. I can’t feel relief or anything, because everything in me is locked up tight, the shock of Andrew’s voice in my ear so unexpectedly taking over. I feel like I can’t breathe. Finn’s concern kicks me out of logical response mode and into panic.
This can’t happen. He’s not welcome. Not here. Not even by phone. This is my new life, my new start, and?—
“Come here. Come here.” He pulls me to standing and wraps his arms around me. “Breathe in slow. Come on. Whatever just happened sucked, but your brain needs oxygen, my friend. There you go. In for one, two, three, four, then out for one, two, three, four. Good job.”
He goes on like this, coaching me through breaths until my shoulders relax and I’m doing it on my own. He must feel me easing up because he pulls back and surveys me.
“Okay?”
I nod. “Yes. Sorry. It’s not that big of a deal.”
One of his dark brows raises. “Sure. Yeah. You going white as a sheet and disappearing off to wherever you just went in your head was nothing.”
I loose a sigh and rub one of my temples. “I hear you, and yes. Strong reaction. It’s ultimately just a shock, nothing major. So please…” I hate asking this, and I don’t know what he can infer based on what just happened, but I need this to go away. I don’t want everyone and their mother asking me about my past when I just want to be here, now, and live this fresh, new, shiny version of a life I’m building here. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
Please don’t tell Grant.
He looks pained, but before he can respond, a shadow falls over the table and we see an older man peering into the window, blocking some of the sun’s rays.
“Oh, perfect timing.” Finn cringes, then scrubs a hand over his face. “I’m preemptively sorry.”
“For what?” Somehow, I feel his energy shift, and it lets mine do the same.
“That’s Gerald Wakefield. He’s part of the vets group in town. Awesome old dudes who are all veterans of different wars, and they get together at The Pizza Shop and chat a few mornings a week. They are currently obsessed with the idea that me and my brothers need to find, and I quote, ‘good women and settle down.’ And I fear he’s going to assume I’m doing so with you.”
The misery in his expression makes me chuckle, which is a welcome miracle. It helps me shift back into the positive space I’m choosing to occupy again.
“Sorry you’re getting paired with me, then.” I wink at him.
His face falls and he shakes his head. “I would be freakingthrilledto be paired with you, Sam. But I have a feeling, if there’s a Ryan brother for you, it’s not me.”
My stomach drops and I swallow hard at the expression on his face.
For all his jaunty charm and cheery chattiness, this guy is astute.
