Page 68 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

“So my court-mandated therapist told me.” He winked, and some of his regular humor came back. I was hit with the realization of just how strong this guy in front of me was. How much he’d gone through and come back from.

He glanced down at his watch and sat up straighter. “Crap, we’re going to be late.” He pointed at my food. “Want to take any to go?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t fit a single mini M&M in my stomach at this point. Not even the delicious peanut butter ones. But I feel bad that all of this will go to waste.” I looked around at the remaining containers, some barely touched.

He waved his hand as he stood. “Trish has two kids and a tank of a husband. They’ll take care of it.”

Suddenly, Finn’s friendship with the studio owner seemed much brighter.

He reached out his hand. “Come on.” Something in his expression sparkled with barely restrained excitement.

I took his hand, and we went out the way we came. Finn called a thank you to Trish and opened my door for me as usual.

“Where are we going?” I asked when he started up the car, though I didn’t really expect him to answer.

“Boat ride,” he said, grinning over at me.

Chapter 20

Lies and Mistakes

Finn

Iwasenjoyingtheplay of emotions across Lucy’s face, but eventually had to go back to watching the road. I’d shot off a quick text on our way out from dinner, but the docks didn’t have great service so it may not have gone through. Wes had offered use of his boat for the evening, but I’d lost track of time at dinner and now we were going to be fifteen minutes late to meet him at the dock.

It was a twenty-minute ride, and we talked on lighter topics than we had at dinner. Favorite board games. Her cousins. My college friends. Whether we liked spearmint or wintergreen mints more. Since she’d gotten over her annoyance with me that first day, she’d always been easy to talk to, but it was even more obvious tonight. Time was just slipping by like water through my fingers.

Would I be able to get her out on a second date?

We pulled up to the docks, and I jogged around the van to grab her door handle and let her out. She grabbed my offered hand, letting me pull her to her feet. The sun was setting, and the warm light made her eyes sparkle like the ocean’s surface. They drew me close—tempted me to dive into their depths.

“Finn!”

I looked over my shoulder to see Wes striding up the path from the dock. I turned, holding Lucy’s hand tight in mine. “Hey man, sorry I’m late.”

“No worries, just glad you got here.” He handed off the keys, pointed down the row to his boat, and slapped me on the shoulder with a glance Lucy’s way. I knew I’d be hearing from him later, though, once he put two and two together and realized why I’d never agreed to be his wingman.

I got us out into the water without much trouble, remembering yet again how I should look into getting a boat. They had a lot of nuisances attached to them, like docking fees, but man, they were the best sort of recreation.

I sailed us out a safe distance, then along the shoreline rather than into deeper water. The boating itself was fun, but it wasn’t the end goal tonight.

The sun dipped below the horizon as I found the little inlet I’d been heading for. I steered us in, setting anchor a good distance from shore, then stood and walked to the front of the boat on slightly unsteady legs courtesy of the rocking waves.

Lucy had been sitting at the front of the boat, her head tipped back as she let the air run through her hair and droplets of water spray up on her.

It had been pretty distracting while I was trying to drive, honestly.

She opened her eyes as I approached, smiling up at me.

That smile got me. Really got me. Like a punch to the gut, but the kind you want over and over again.

Obviously, I wasn’t great at similes.

“It’s beautiful out here,” she said.

With a smile of agreement, I lifted the bench of seats across from her and pulled out several blankets Wes had stowed for me there earlier that day. I flicked one out, laying it on the open space between the controls and the bow of the boat, then I put another down as a barrier to any moisture that might have been on the floor. Then I rolled one up like a burrito and laid it across the top. I gestured with my head at it as I sat.

Her eyeswere wary, but it was a mark of growing trust that she followed me to the makeshift bed, laying her head back on my burrito blanket. I mimicked her movements, lying back and looking at the sky as it grew dark.

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