Francesca rarely halted in mid-paragraph. Typically she found nothing more interesting than the words coming out of her mouth. This had to be good. I followed the trajectory of her gaze to find Finn at the other end, standing there in a snug-fitting black t-shirt and black denim jeans with no holes and no grease. His hair was a pile of reckless bends and waves, and that smile… both Frannie and I gulped back ourappreciation.
“Sweet mother of god. Emma, do you seehimtoo?”
Finn immediately arrived at my side, wrapped an arm around my waist, and kissed mycheek.
“And that answers my question,” Frannie said, turning her buggedeyesaway.
“Francesca, this is um…my…” How did I present him? Who was he to me exactly? We’d only just begun whatever it was we had going on. It was too early, and reckless, to call him myboyfriend, but certainly, with our nightly romps front and center in our emerging relationship, Finn was far from best budmaterial.
“Hi, I’m Finn, Emma’s mancrush.”
Well, that was one way to describe us… and really just perfectlyarticulated.
“I certainlyhopeso.”
Frannie nudged me in the side, a nonverbal complaint filed against me for not sharing this very special secretwithher.
“It’s nice to meet you, Finn. Emma failed tomentionyou.”
“Oh, really?” He grinned that dimpled smile. How this man was not booking movie roles right and left was beyond me. “Apparently I didn’t make the impression I’dhoped.”
“No, no. You more than impressed. I’m just still in the processing stages of all thatisFinn.”
“That’s what I liketohear.”
“So this is the lady you’ve been waiting for?” A nurse and her friend walked up to our little group, startling me. I wasn’t used to friendly voices anywhere near Frannie and me. Of course the adoring looks on their faces were directed squarely toward my man crush. Apparently, while I’d been all hands on deck in a urethral catheterization, Finn had been chatting up the locals and raking in more friends in one hour than I’d made in fouryears.
“Yes, it is. Didn’t I tell you she wasbeautiful?”
I blushed, unaccustomed to such displays of affection. He nuzzled my neck enough to let the others know that whether they agreed or not with his assessment of my physical appearance, he expected an affirmative answer. And the nurses obliged, celebrating my ‘beauty’. Then, surprisingly, they stuck their hands out and introduced themselves, confessing that they were so happy to finally meet me. Okay, what in the world washappeninghere?
“This one’s a keeper,” my new best friend said, gesturing to Finn. “And he’s got it bad for you. You’re aluckylady.”
I looked to him for confirmation, and he nodded as if his infatuation with me were common knowledge. And really, that was what it became. Finn’s charm traveled at lightning speed through the female-fueled rumor mill. He must have dropped information about his profession, as he was routinely referred to as ‘the stuntman’ in conversations around the hospital. And even though only .01 percent of the nurses had met him, boy, did they love him. Strangely enough, the goodwill projected toward Finn reflected positively on me, and for the first time since starting at the hospital, I wasn’t feeling like such anoutsider.
While my co-workers continued to sing his praises, I was busy trying to fight him off with everything I had; but damned if Finn wasn’t an expert at pulling the very best out of me. When I was with him, gone was the uptight perfectionist and in her place was an open, ridiculously happy young woman without a care in the world. It didn’t take much on Finn’s part. No grand gestures were needed. In fact, it was the smallest acts of kindness that chipped away at my heart thefastest.
A prime example of such sweet moments was the night he wanted to have dinner with me, but I was too tired to go out. Finn offered to pick us up something to eat and asked what I wanted. My reply was a simple, “Surpriseme.”
And, of course, he did. It wasn’t so much what he brought me that impressed so much but the enormous amount of thought he’d put into hischoice.
Upon opening the door to find my man holding a familiar looking white bag, I asked in amusement, “You brought me In & OutBurger?”
“Okay, so hear me out before you judge my choice as cheap andimmature.”
“I would neverdothat.”
“Uh huh, right. So remember when you said to surprise you? Well, I actually gave it a lot of thought. I figured you’re the type of girl who tries to eat healthy – not necessarily because you want to but because you think it’s what you should do. So if I brought you a salad, you wouldn’t be surprised. Then I thought what about bringing you something expensive, like steak or lobster, but then I was like, you might expect that because you’d think I was trying to impress you… and naturally, if that were the case, you wouldn’t be surprised. So then I started thinking, what would Emma not get for herself? If you had to pick up dinner on your way home, what place would be the most unlikely for you to stop at? And then I remembered how much you hated waiting in line – and what restaurant always has the longest drive thru line? That’s right, In & Out Burger. So I took a chance, and here you go.Surprise!”
And like an idiot, my lips trembled as my eyes misted over. Finn’s smile immediately faded as he took in my emotionalresponse.
“Oh, shit! You don’t like it? I’msorry.”
Shaking my head, I stepped into him, draping my arms over his shoulders and kissing his thoughtful lips. The minute we connected, I felt the familiar excitement of our bodies pressed against each other, and my physical hunger was replaced by something more primal. Pushing him against the wall, my hands went to his waistband and into his jeans. Still clutching the fast food bag in his hand for dear life, Finn gasped in surprise as I showed him just how much I appreciated hisefforts.
* * *
Love was an entity unto itself.I knew how it felt in the platonic sense, having loved my family all my life. And I knew what it felt like to love the inanimate – a particular piece of music or a book or a pair of shoes. But nothing could have prepared me for love in the romantic sense. As so many others had discovered before me, this type of love could not be described in words. It was a feeling… a look, a touch. I think I knew for sure the night we were sitting peacefully together on my couch, fingers entwined, with smiles on our contented faces. I remembered thinking there was nothing more I needed in the world – just he and I sitting quietly beside each other forever. That’s when I knew I loved Finn, and that I would do anything to ensure his happiness – even if it meant sacrificingmyown.
