She shot him a cranky look. Partly for the Pinocchio impersonation, partly because damn it, why did he have to suddenly be so freaking virile?
‘I don’t think I’m going to be here that long, though,’ she said to Mai, pulling her gaze off Fin and her head back into the conversation.
‘Maybe not,’ Mai chirped, ‘but I’m going to be keeping my fingers crossed anyway. Now.’ Her voice turned brisk. ‘I really should go. All these messages aren’t going to answer themselves!’
After a quick goodbye, the phone went dead and Sweeney navigated to her Insta again to avoid looking at Fin. She noticed her DMs had also blown up and gave them a quick scan. There were the standard messages from friends and acquaintances about the actual photograph, the usual flurry of weirdos that ranged from requests for money to proposals of marriage or various sex acts, and those enquiring whether she’d consider photographing their wedding. For free.
This time, though, there was a surprising amount inquiring about the #kingofthekids and his relationship status.
‘Viral, huh? Go you.’
Sweeney flicked her gaze up, waving the compliment away. ‘I think that might have more to do with the subject matter.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘There’s a lot of people sliding into my DMs wanting the lowdown onyou.’
Fin laughed then, when he realised she wasn’t joking, he straightened.‘Really?’
Smiling at his incredulity, she started to read them out loud. ‘Damn, Sweeney, he can coach me any day.’ She scrolled to the next one. ‘Does Coach Fin have a significant other? If he doesn’t, tell him I’m interested in the position. And then—’ Her thumbs worked the screen to find it. ‘There’s this one—Girlfriend, that man befiiiine. If you ain’t doing him a) you need to check yourself in for a brain scan and b) do you mind if I do?’
For a moment, Fin stared in disbelief, then he burst out laughing. He had such a great laugh—deep and rich. Add incredulous into the mix and Sweeney couldn’t help but join him.
‘Oh my god,’ he said through his laughter. ‘Is it just me or do you feel like we’re living in a completely alternate universe right now?’
‘The one where you’re hot and in demand?’
He gestured up and down his body in a dramatic sweep. ‘That goes without saying.’
It was impossible not to smile at his level of confidence—or to recognise how much it cranked up his attractiveness. All those years as kids when she’d assured him he would grow into his head and that teenage girls could be idiots and one day they would swoon over him had finally come true. Coach Fin Murphy, king of the kids, had arrived.
She was both proud and also a teensy bit … jealous? Of all the women fawning over him now, whenshe’ dbeen in his corner all along.
‘I meant,’ he continued, ‘the one where we’re fully grown independent adults completely in charge of our lives, yet are somehow stuck back in our home town, in our’—he waved his hand in the air—‘childhood bedrooms, guilted into a fake engagement by our mothers, who told us our entire lives that lying never got anyone anywhere but, despite that, are later today going to the bakery for a cake tasting?’
‘Oh, that one.’ Sweeney laughed. Rhonda and Connie, who were supposed to be helping them keep everything on the down low, had not informed them of that little titbit. Mai had innocently spilled it at training yesterday afternoon. But the volcano situation had taken precedence over parents who had suddenly taken leave of their senses.
‘They’ll have us registered for a gift service next.’
‘It does feel a little surreal,’ she admitted.
‘Surreal? Please, we’re living in a Dali painting right now.’
‘The one with the spindly elephants?’
‘The one with the melting clocks.’
She laughed again. Oh yes, more appropriate given how warped time had become. She was in Fin’s old bedroom, for crying out loud. ‘Well, surreal or not, it’s our reality right now.’
He pushed off the door jamb and straightened. ‘Tea? Or gin?’
Sweeney grinned. ‘Tea.’ Although gin was pretty damn tempting. Who knew being fake engaged would turn them into alcoholics?
Eleven
Fin spent the day doing yard work. The lawn needed mowing and the back hedge was getting a little unruly. Between all the male Murphy cousins in Ballyshannon, his mother had never had to do these jobs herself. She took care of the smaller stuff, keeping her garden neat and ordered as she always had, but Fin was exceptionally grateful that the Murphy clan had stepped up in his father’s absence.
When he was finally done, he’d gone inside to find Sweeney on the phone again, talking with Veronica, keeping abreast of the situation. From what he could make out, they didn’t want to reassign her just yet with the situation in such flux, but they hoped to know in the next day or so. Even though she’d seemed cool with the delays last night, Fin could tell she was antsy about her schedule being upended.
A lot of people he knew would happily take a few unexpected days of R&R, but Sweeney was on the phone pressing her boss for another job. If they’d been together for real, he’d be wondering about her motives for wanting to leave when given the opportunity to chill for a bit. But he guessed it wasbecauseof their situation that she wasn’t too keen to hang around.
Leaving her to it, he had a shower then fixed some lunch for them both. Sitting to eat at the dining table, he scrolled to his Instagram account to confront the many requests he’d had via his Instagram for new followers—most of them women.
