Page 121 of Even Beneath the Stars

"Are you writing a song?"

I look up. Finn walks over to me, where I'm lounging on the couch in the upstairs sitting room. He's wearing my favorite Dino PJs. They're so classic Finn.

"Nah." I pause my strumming. "Just… messing around. Thinking."

"Oh." Finn climbs up beside me, nestling against my chest.

I keep strumming random chords on my guitar. "What are you up to, buddy?"

"Nothing." He burrows closer, thumb sliding into his mouth—something he barely does these days unless he's super tired or upset.

I shift the guitar slightly to accommodate him better. "You sad about something?"

His shoulders lift in a tiny shrug, thumb still firmly planted between his lips. Then he pulls it out with a wet popping sound. "I had a new nanny today."

My fingers freeze against the strings for a split second before I force myself to keep playing. "Not a new nanny," I clarify. "Just someone who was spending some time with you to see if maybe you guys get along."

He strokes his fingers along mine as I keep strumming a slow rhythm, then peers up at me. "How come?" he asks. "Why do the ladies keep coming to hang out and see if we get along?"

I pause my playing. "Because," I say, setting the guitar aside to give Finn my full attention, "Maggie is going to have to spend more time working on her cool dioramas and taking classes and stuff, so she can sell them to people who want to buy her art and put it in their homes, remember?" I brush his hair off his forehead, trying to catch his eyes. "And we want to make sure the new nanny is someone you really like hanging out with, right?"

Finn doesn't respond. His thumb slides back into his mouth, his other hand dropping limply into his lap. My chest tightens.

"But Maggie is still going to keep coming around," I add quickly. "She still wants to come and hang out with you sometimes, even when you have a different nanny. Because you're one of her favorite people."

Finn's thumb pops out with that same wet sound. When he speaks again, some of the sadness has lifted from his voice. "That's what she told me too. Maggie said I'm one of her favorite people in the whole wide world."

I can't help smiling. It's so typically Maggie—saying exactly what Finn needs to hear and meaning every word of it.

Finn runs his finger back and forth along the smooth curve of my guitar. "Is Maggie your girlfriend?"

I scratch the side of my neck, watching him for a second. "Yeah, buddy. Maggie's my girlfriend," I say finally, through a grin.

"Do you kiss her?"

"Sure. Sometimes."

Finn shifts his whole body and leans back to look up at me, his face scrunched, lips downturned. "Ewwww.Gross."

I laugh and poke his chest. "Agree to disagree."

He shakes his head firmly. "Diss-cuss-ting."

"You know what's disgusting?" I lean in.

"What?"

I scoop Finn up and flop him onto his back against the cushions. His eyes widen as I yank up his dinosaur pajama top.

"This!" I dive in and press a sloppy raspberry right into his belly.

The sound echoes through the sitting room as Finn squeals, his whole body convulsing with giggles.

"Xaaaave!" He squirms and writhes as I plant two more raspberries on his stomach, his laughter reaching a fever pitch.

When I finally free him, Finn sits up with an exaggerated sigh, pushing his messy curls off his forehead with his palm. I pull him back against me, wrapping my arms around his small frame. We sit in comfortable silence, the setting sun casting long shadows across the Turkish rug.

Finn's fingers find the fabric of my T-shirt, rubbing it back and forth between his thumb and index finger—a soothing gesture he's done since he was a baby. "Xave?" he asks after a while.

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