Page 92 of The Complication with the Best Man

I can’t help but chuckle. “My dad has eight siblings, and between them, there are twenty-six kids in total. And some of us are starting our own families now.” I lay my hands on my stomach.

Kathy’s mouth drops open. I think I’ve left her speechless, which, if I’m guessing right, seems like a hard thing to do.

“Wow. Finn wasn’t exaggerating.” Len shakes his head in disbelief.

“No, he wasn’t. Most of them live around here, so yeah.” I shrug and look around. “I’m actually surprised that no one from my family is here by chance.”

They chuckle, then Maci is beside the table, offering me a decaf coffee. I slide my cup to the edge of the table so she can pour, then she pulls a couple of creamers from the pocket of her apron and sets them on the table.

“Are you guys ready to order?” she asks.

“We’re actually expecting Finn, so we’ll probably just wait to order until he gets here.”

“Sounds good,” she says with a smile and turns to leave.

Kathy frowns at the watch on her wrist. “It’s not like him to be late.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I say, checking my phone.

He’s almost ten minutes late now, and he hasn’t texted. Unease settles in my stomach, but I push it away, instead deciding to use the time to get to know Finn’s parents a little better.

We chat for another fifteen minutes, but I can tell that all three of us are preoccupied with where Finn might be.

“Maybe I should call him,” I say when there’s a natural break in the conversation.

“Please do,” Kathy says, worriedly tapping her finger on the table.

I pull up his contact and call him, but the phone rings until it goes to voicemail.

I look at Kathy. “No answer. I’ll try him again to be sure. Maybe he just got hung up at a call right before his shift ended.”

But before I can dial him again, the bell over the door rings, and we all turn, expecting to see Finn. But it’s not Finn. It’s my uncle Kingston, and the way he’s searching the restaurant tells me he’s not here for breakfast.

I know immediately from the way he scans the place with a frown that something is wrong. When he spots me, he heads straight over. I’m standing beside the table before he arrives.

“What’s wrong?” I barely rasp the words out through my rapidly closing throat.

My uncle glances at the booth behind me.

I gesture with my hand. “These are Finn’s parents, Len and Kathy.” Then I turn to look at them and explain. “This is my uncle Kingston. He works for the Anchorage Fire Department, but he knows everyone at the station here in town.”

With that news, they’re both out of the booth too.

“Is it Finn?” Len asks.

My uncle sets his hands on his hips. “There was a call at the abandoned factory just outside of town. Finn was rescuing a teenager inside and had to carry her out of the building. The stairs he had to use gave way.”

Kathy and I gasp in stereo.

“Is he okay?” Tears fill my eyes.

“They’ve brought him to the hospital. I don’t know much more than that.”

Kathy cries out, and my knees wobble underneath my weight. My uncle must notice because he steadies me with a hand to my arm.

“I’m here to take you guys over there.”

I nod numbly, barely registering the sound of Kathy’s tears. It’s not as though I didn’t know Finn has a dangerous job. I guess I just didn’t think about what that meant. I didn’t think of all the what-ifs every time he walked out the door for a shift.

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