Page 54 of Best Friends, Tennessee

The light from Finn’s windows glowed in the humid night air, casting pools of light onto the front lawn.

That meant Finn was still awake. Usually he was never awake this late, around eleven o’clock on a work night.

I hadn’t beenavoidingFinn by going to hang out with Thomas tonight, but I’d been…

Letting things cool off.

Letting us take a breather, maybe, after our kiss in the bar.

Maybe I was the one who needed it most.

Usually when Finn showed any amount of emotion, he regretted it and got embarrassed afterward. He’d certainly gotten embarrassed after our night outside, and I knew I had to give him a moment to himself afterward before we could joke about him being the “Cumshot King.”

Today was no different.

We’d had our space, now. Finn would bro out with me, the same as he always did, now that we’d gotten some time and space.

I hoped, at least.

Because I didn’t even know ifIcould handle the emotion that had come out of nowhere at the bar.

I plodded across the grass, where the mud had finally hardened into something more walkable. The sound of crickets was louder than ever. Finn’s house looked like it was straight from a set:Tennessee bachelor fixes up a small bungalow.

I opened the door and walked into… country music.

Loud country music.

Some song about being lonesome, which I swore was the topic of half the country songs I heard.

Finn definitely wasn’t asleep. He had a pretty good set of speakers in the living room, and the whole house was filled with the music. I kicked off my shoes and rounded the corner of the entryway.

I found him in the living room, his figure framed by the low glow of the table lamp. He had a glass of whiskey in one hand, singing along to the song like he was doing home karaoke.

He looked like the star of an old movie, his tan skin radiant in the light.

“Past your bedtime,” I said.

When he turned to me, I could already tell he’d been drinking for a while.

The front of his shirt was completely unbuttoned. I glanced over his muscled torso, the V-shape at the bottom that led down to his belted blue jeans.

“Welcome back,” Finn said, his voice low. Even he had a bit more of a drawl when he’d been drinking, and it was out in full force.

“Bad day at work?” I asked, pulling off my jacket.

“Wasn’t a great one,” he said, his eyes fixed on mine. He brought the glass of whiskey to his lips, sipping a much larger amount than he probably needed right now. “How about you? Did you have some drinks tonight, too?”

“Not tonight,” I said, squinting at him. “What is up with you?”

Since he’d kissed me at the bar, I’d been dreading a night like this.

When Finn’s life didn’t go as planned, sometimes he would self-sabotage a little. He was usually pretty good at regulating his life, but when something bothered him, it could come out in weird ways.

He shrugged, then finished the short glass of whiskey and put it down on the coffee table. He sang another few lines of the country song, then sighed, putting his hands behind his head and stretching.

The way the unbuttoned shirt draped around him only served to make his chest look broader than usual.

He’d grown into a man while I’d been gone. A man with a house, a career, and a whole life ahead of him, at only twenty-four years old.

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