Page 32 of Persuaded

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“Hey,” Sean said, turning away from the counter at Dee’s, “we should call in on Joshua on the way home.”

“Really? Why?” Finn doubted Josh would want them there,gloating.

Sean waved the envelope in his hand. “I want to give him the invite in person, so he knows I mean it.” He made a face. “I still think he feels weird about the house. I don’t want him thinking we’re only being polite.”

“Thing is, you gotta give the guy a chance to say no, okay?” Finn scratched a hand through his hair, trying to find the right words. “He might—I dunno, he likes his own space. He might not want to spend Christmas with half the town.”With me.

Sean gave him a blank look. “Finn, no one wants to spend Christmas alone.”

So said the incorrigible extrovert and there was no point in arguing. They ran through the rain to the car with their coffees, and an extra for Josh.

By the time they turned onto Sandy Lane, Finn’s fingertips were tingling in anxious anticipation. In daylight, he recognized the street better—a familiar row of beach cottages, mostly shut up for the winter. At the end of it rose the dunes and beyond them lay the bay and the ocean. Mostly hidden by the misty rain now, he could imagine it in summer. Not that he needed to imagine; he could remember.

“Which one is it?”

Finn squinted through the rain and saw light from one of the cottages. “That one, I think.” He recognized the elegant tree out front. “Yeah, it’s that one.”

“Wow.” Sean pulled the car up outside and killed the engine. The rain grew louder, hammering on the roof. “It’s small.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like—reallysmall.”

Finn cut him a look. “Don’t say anything, okay? Last time, he thought I was gloating.”

“Gloating? Why would you gloat?”

“Uh, I dunno. I wouldn’t.” He glared out the passenger window, feeling Sean’s curious gaze settling on him. “I just mean he’s sensitive about it.”

Sean tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I guess,” he said thoughtfully. “I mean, it’s a long fall from Hanworth Hall to this.”

Or maybe it wasn’t a fall but a climb? Maybe it was an act of defiance.Something stirred in Finn’s chest at the thought, something hopeful and terrifying.

Something like pride in Josh.

“C’mon,” Sean said, grabbing his coffee and opening the door. “We look like a couple of creeps sitting out here.”

Finn followed Sean up the short path to the cottage. The tree out front dripped heavily and the porch was barely large enough for one. Finn crammed in behind Sean, shielding the coffees from the rain while Sean knocked on the door.

After a short wait, it opened. Josh looked, predictably, horrified to see them.

“Hey!” Sean bulldozed through the discomfort. “Hope we’re not disturbing your Sunday?”

“Um...” Blatant alarm filled Josh’s eyes, which were as wide and grey as the rainy sky. “No, of course not. Come in.”

He stepped back, quite obviously changing gear. “I wasn’t expecting—I mean, of course you’re welcome, Sean.”

Sean.

Finn hustled in behind him and closed the door, shaking off the rain. The front door opened into a square of hallway behind which he could see the living room and kitchen. The whole place would fit into one room of Sean’s house—Josh’s former home.

“We brought coffee,” Sean said with a smile.

“Well, uh, thanks. Leave your coats here and come on through.”

Two hooks sat behind the door and Finn felt odd hanging his jacket over Josh’s coat, as if it were somehow too intimate. He pushed the thought aside and followed Sean into the living room.

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