My sister shakes her head. “Not really. I have a hard time understanding other people’s motivations. You know, like do they really like me or are they making fun of me. I’ve found it’s just simpler to stay away.”
“That’s how it is for me, too,” Finley says. “Although, I’ve recently become friends with a very nice teacher in town. Her parents are my best clients.”
“I’m your friend, too,” I hurry to interject. Finley shoots me a withering glance, making it clear the jury is still out on that one.
“And we’re friends,” Vivie tells her. At least Finley looks happy when she hears that.
“I hope we’ll see a lot more of you while we’re here,” my mom tells Finley, which is kind of surprising. She’s not a person who welcomes others into private family time.
“I work,” Finley says. But then she notices Vivie’s disappointed expression, and adds, “But I’m sure I can make time.”
“We’d love to come into your place and see what you do,” my dad says.
“Maybe I can take a nice family picture of you all,” Finley says with a smile. “My treat.”
“That’s a lovely offer,” my mom tells her. “We would like that very much.”
It’s too bad I still haven’t quite made up my mind about Elk Lake yet, because my family sure seems like they’d be on board with Finley as my girlfriend.
When the doorbell rings, Finley stands up to get it. I already paid over the phone, but I follow behind to help carry the bags. After opening the door, Finley greets, “Hey, Flip. You didn’t by any chance check the fortune cookies did you?”
The high-school-aged boy says, “Nope. I didn’t know the order was for you.”
I interject, “I asked for extra fortune cookies like you told me to.”
She turns to me. “How many did you ask for?”
“Just extra. I didn’t specify the number.”
Finley looks into the bag and counts them. “There are thirteen,” she says. Then she holds the open sack up to the delivery boy and tells him, “Take one out, please.” He follows orders without hesitation, which makes me wonder if this is a ritual between them.
I hand Flip a ten. After he walks away, I tell Finley again, “I’m really glad you’re here.”
Her only reply is, “I like your family.”
I can’t go on the rest of the night like this, so I ask, “What’s wrong? Are you mad that I didn’t call? I know I should have but I was really harried at work. I texted a couple of times and told you that.”
Finley’s gaze narrows until she looks like she wants to punch me. “Remember the day I texted about dropping off goodies at the hospital?”
I nod my head nervously. “I do.”
“I was texting youfromthe ER. They said you weren’t there and you weren’t on the schedule at all for that day.”
Uh-oh.I know I shouldn’t have lied to Finley, but I did it to protect her. Oh heck, who am I kidding? I did it to protect myself. I didn’t want her to give up on the possibility of us before I had a chance to decide if I was going to stay in town. I was being a selfish jerk and I’ve been found out.
“I can explain,” I tell her. But before I do, my father calls out, “What’s keeping you two? I’m starving in here!”
Finley doesn’t stay to hear me out. Instead, she walks right past me and into the living room. I trail after her.
My mom has cleared off the coffee table and put down some silverware and napkins. She says, “Let’s eat comfortably tonight.” Yet again, my mother is acting nothing like herself. If this were any other time, we would all be sitting properly in the dining room.
I start to open the bags and arrange the containers so everyone can grab their orders. Finley takes hers, along with a fork, and goes back to sit on her stuffed chair. My family does the same.
Once we’re all settled, Vivie suggests, “Maybe tomorrow we can go for a walk on the beach. Doesn’t that sound like fun, Finley?”
“No,” Finley tells her plainly. Then she explains, “I don’t like sand.”
For some reason, I feel the need to add, “She doesn’t like foil either.” Finley glares at me like this wasn’t my information to share.
