Page 103 of The One With the Mountain Man

I really hoped Maeve wasn't secretly the serial killer her murder book club was obsessed with.

"Put it on my tab, Annie! We've got to run!" She called over her shoulder as she yanked me out of the cafe, down the sidewalk, and across the street to the roaring river. "I know you think I'm nuts and I don't care, this is important."

"I wouldn't say nuts."

"Listen." She snapped and I jerked to attention like I'd just been yelled at by my mother. She peeked up at the sidewalk and across to the parking lot before leaning in, her voice just loud enough to be heard over the water. "I will never understand how such wonderful children could come from such ugly parents, but by and large the Finn children are good kids. Jackson first amongst them."

My heart squeezed at her use of his real name.

She went on. "Nora is a different story for another day, but Ollie is as sweet and generous as they come. He's an amazing father already and Karis is a wonderful mother and a great teacher. Eve is a handful, but she has a bigger heart than anyone. Logan and Thomas are hell on wheels but are good and kind. Colin just wants to be like Jackson, which says a lot. And Minna's the baby but she's growing into a quiet, brilliant young woman."

It was the best rundown of the Finn Fam I'd gotten aside from Eve's little nuggets of information and Willow's advice. "Why are you telling me this?" Maeve should be a writer. She laid out the breadcrumbs all while building the suspense. I could practically see the shoe that was about to drop on me.

"There is nothing good or kind about their parents, Marley. Nothing. They're casually cruel to everyone and very intentionally vicious to Jackson. I've never met a boy as brave and bold as he is. He has a very strong sense of right and wrong and protected his siblings with everything he had until he had no more to give. But it was enough, Marley. It was just enough. The rest of the kids? They've never known what their parents are truly capable of because Jackson made sure of it. Then he left."

I wanted him here beside me so I could wrap my arms around him. Hold him and tell him I'd love him twice as much as they didn't. Then I'd love him some more. I batted away a tear. Or two.

Maeve smiled, pointing at the moisture. "That's what I'm talking about. To get rid of this block you have to let that love out, and I need you to start with Jackson. He deserves all of it. And maybe then you'll see all the ways you deserve it too. The block will get washed away and you'll wonder how you ever lived on such a small flow."

I stood there staring at her as I took all this in. Jackson was out there now, doing what he loved, and I could picture the smile that was surely on his face at this very moment. How could the two people who were supposed to love him most take that smile away?

Maeve squeezed my arm. "I'm not sorry I dumped all that on you. You needed to know why Jackson is the way he is and why you're the way you are. Now protect each other, love each other. And come join me for breakfast more often."

She left me standing there and it was as if someone had come and smashed down all my castle walls. There were no defenses, no moats or gates. Just me alone and vulnerable to attack.

But I wasn't afraid. For so long I'd been trying to hide my soft belly, the spot where, if someone got through, they could destroy me. I spent so much time in protection mode that I forgot I could fight back.

Thirty-Two

Marley

Don't cry for me, love muffin

"It's a trulyexcruciating experience to get hate mail in ten different languages. Maybe I should stop selling my translation rights. That way I'll only get hate mail in five different languages."

Charley clutched her belly laughing at me. "Babes, stop opening that shit. And just so you don't feel left out, I get hate mail in at least two languages, sometimes three or four. You're not special."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "I only open what my assistant leaves for me to see. I'm not reading the bad ones. She dutifully deletes those for me. But she does give me a report and it's ugly out there."

Charley squinted, pulling the phone closer to her face. "You're looking and sounding better. Lighter. Dammit. That stupid town is giving you what you need."

"It's not stupid. You're going to love it."

She pulled the phone back. "So I have some news."

That sounded likebadnews.

"Seth's super security dudes don't think it's a good idea for me to come visit."

"Dudettes." I joked, but my heart hurt. I needed my friend.

"Fine, the excellent super spies of both the dude and dudette varieties, and some other combos of which I do not know how to fashion into some version of the word dude, have only come up with one plan they find viable, and they don't like it. They want me to hold off on visiting until they can track this lowlife down."

"That really, truly sucks." Seth was our friend and Annalise Ryan’s husband. When she got into some trouble with an ex during the filming of the first season ofTaking Tampa,he got deeply involved with his security team. Charley had been using that connection to plan her trip here.

"But it's made me realize I don't want to play the whole season. I've decided to move retirement up to August."

I was so surprised I couldn't even speak.

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