“I’m still not eating it,” he assures me and I accept the challenge. Laying out all the items on his desk, I open the containers of sauce and remove the chopsticks from the paper sleeve.
The cooked crab is my favorite, so it’s the first one I go for. Picking one up, I dip it in the Yum Yum sauce and tip my head back, popping the goodness into my mouth. When I start to chew I make eye contact with him once more and I notice him looking at my mouth.
“You are going to grow a third eye and an extra finger,” he says so seriously.
I snort and his eyes grow wide.
I continued to chew and then go for another one. Only this time I move around his desk and sit on the edge at his side.
“No way.” He shakes his head, backing away and I follow his movements.
“You push for me to stop being so leery and scared of things. You say I need to stop hiding out inside my own head, so why is that okay for me but not you?”
“This is different.” The way he wrinkles his nose makes me smile. So dramatic, and it’s hilarious.
“Big, bad, unaffected Finn.” I push out my lower lip. “Who knew behind all that there was a scared little boy.”
His eyes narrow at me.
“Do you need a tissue?”
Finn leans in, standing up from the chair and getting closer. I don’t back up, remaining where I am and holding out the sushi.He looks at the food like it’s somehow offended him but slowly opens his mouth and I move it closer.
When it’s in his mouth, he closes it and his nostrils flare as he chews it slowly. The entire time he says nothing. No sign of loving or hating it, still that same blank faced stare while continuing to eat it.
Then when he is done he closes the distance a little more, placing his hands onto the desk on either side of me. It’s my turn to react, as I freeze up and wait for his next move. I’m lost, not understanding how one thing led to the next.
Then just when I am about to respond he grabs the container of crab rolls and slides them closer, sitting down in the chair once more. Using his fingers he picks up another piece and pops it into his mouth.
“Excuse me?” I reach out and he turns his entire body, shielding the food.
He playfully tries to keep me away and somehow I end up half on his lap when the office door opens and there in the doorway stands Bennett and his cousin Aaron. Bennett is grinning, Aaron too, and I am mortified.
“Hey, boys.” Finn chuckles and I do the first and only thing I can think of. I stand up, grab my purse, and walk out of the office without one word or even a second glance back.
Not even when I hear one of the guys chuckle, and Finn telling them both to shut up.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Finn
“He won’t listen to me.”My mother sniffles as she tries to hide the fact that she has been crying. I step inside and hug her, feeling her let go for only a second and lean on me. Suddenly she is standing tall, squaring her shoulders and slipping back into the role of unaffected. “I have told him that he needs to be checked out. This isn’t a damn cold, and being on these treatments makes him more prone to infections and a small sniffle turning into pneumonia.”
“I’ll talk to him,” I tell her, slipping past her and walking toward the bedroom.
“Hell with talking to him, let’s just load him up. I don’t care if he kicks and screams like an unhappy toddler. He is going! I am done playing nice.” She hollers this as I walk down the hallway and pause outside the bedroom door. My father is already sitting up with his legs hanging off the bed.
He looks up at me and I can see in his eyes that he doesn’t feel well. I can also see that he’s decided to stop fighting my mother.
“We ready?” he asks, the corner of his mouth tipping up.
“You done pissed off Ma,” I tell him and he only nods. “I’m here to support her, so you’re on your own with this one. We both know when she reaches this stage, it’s better to be in her corner than in the corner of the one she’s targeting.”
“Smart man.” He pushes off the bed, and I ignore the ache in my chest seeing him in this state. “Maybe you should go first.”
“Nope.” I step aside waving him on. “Like I said I’m on her side.”
When he passes me he pushes on my shoulder and I chuckle.
