Page 82 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

Something on his shelf caught my eye. “Hey.” I pulled up short, staring at the bookshelf. At one book sitting there. “I have this same edition ofAnne of Green Gables. I’ve never seen another one. I got mine as a gift.” I grabbed it from the shelf, turning and lifting it up. “It was wrapped and on my porch two days after you’d gone and dog-eared all the pages in my last one.” I think my mom felt bad for me, or maybe it was one of my friends or cousins. I’d complained to all of them about the incident, but no one fessed up to getting me the fancy edition.

He just smiled at me. Like he knew something. Like—

“Wait.” I stared down at the book. “That wasn’t… You?”

He nodded. “I felt terrible.”

I blinked. Why was I continuously surprised by how much of a jerk hehadn’tbeen? “I love this edition. I honestly think I fell asleep with it several times. Still have it, obviously. You gave it to me?”

“Guilty.”

My lips turned down, and I registered Finn standing and walking toward me. When he was only a foot away, I looked up. “I had you so wrong.”

“No, I did everything wrong back then.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Maybe a bit of both. Do you think… if you’d stayed… would we have…”

“Dated?”

I nodded.

“I don’t know. Who knows how long it would have taken me to figure out that you didn’t find my teasing charming. I may never have been able to dig myself out of the hole I’d created.”

“And now you live in a different country.”

He swallowed. “Yeah. Now I live in a different country.”

I sighed. I really wanted to figure all of that out. Finn and I. But would I scare him away by asking?

I put the book back on the shelf. “Thank you so much for all of this. Seriously—this could be what gets me the job.”

“No, you’ll get the job because you’re perfect for it. This will just help them see it even more.”

“Thanks, Finn. You’re the best.” I went back to the table and started to pull my things together. I could hear him following behind me. Could feel him just behind me. With the buffer of the U-Pick and my presentation settled, another issue surfaced from where I’d been trying to ignore it. I wanted to spin and ask him what we were doing, what was this between us? But he had so much going on in his life already, I couldn’t pressure him with that. Besides, we now had two things to keep us in touch once I left. We could… we could figure this out when things calmed down a bit.

He walked me back to the main house. It was dark now and quiet except for our footsteps crunching on the gravel. Was he thinking about the same stuff as me? Probably not. Finn didn’t plan ahead like this.

“Thank you again, Finn,” I said as we approached the steps.

“Anytime. Let me know if you need more help.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, and I tightened my grip on my computer and papers, stepping up the first stair backwards.

“I will.”

“Any help,” he said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a slightly suggestive tone there.

It broke the tension building between us, whether for good or bad, and I laughed, taking another step backwards. “Okay, I will. And you let me know about your grandpa.”

“I will.”

He smiled. I smiled. And I disappeared into the house.

Finn: I know you have work to do, but I would like to formally request your presence on our final day of the tour.

Lucy: What a fancy invitation. Is it black tie?

Finn: This one time, I’ll let you wear your shorts.

Lucy: Okay, then I’ll be there. ??

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