Page 67 of Persuaded

It was a beautiful house, all terracotta floors and pale stucco walls, although it had never felt very lived-in on Josh’s previous visits. He thought that would change now he was here, now they were making it their home. Strange, though, not to have any of his own belongings around him—what he’d wanted to keep from the cottage would arrive in a few days, but for now he felt like they were still on vacation.

His first stop was the bathroom—it had been a long drive from Vegas—and after that he found Finn in the kitchen, exploringhis well-stocked refrigerator. The joys of having a housekeeper! Finn turned with a smile when Joshua padded in barefoot on the cool tiles.

“We made it,” he said, offering him a bottle of beer.

They clinked their bottles together and drank deep, then eyed each other in the silence of the kitchen. Here they were, together—it was almost too much to believe after all this time. Joshua didn’t know what to do next.

“Come on.” Finn set his beer down on the counter and took Joshua’s hand. “Let me show you around.”

Joshua took another pull on his beer, then left it with Finn’s. “I’ve been here before,” he reminded him.

“Yeah, but I’ve made some changes.”

They started with the bedroom, where Finn had cleared out half the large walk-in closet for Joshua’s use. He laughed—he wouldn’t need even half so much space for his clothes!—but Finn’s excitement was so endearing he was obliged to stop and kiss him for quite some time, fully intending to make use of the newly cleared-out bedroom. But Finn had other ideas. “There’s more,” he said, and led Joshua to an empty room that could be his office and then downstairs to the back of the house where a long deck opened out onto the private beach. But they didn’t go outside. Instead, Finn led Joshua to the room he used for storing all kinds of beach junk.

“What in the world...?”

With a triumphant smile, Finn opened the door and gestured for Joshua to precede him inside. He did, and then stopped dead. “Oh my God.”

The room had been transformed. Golden sunlight streamed through the blinds on the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling in stripes across the warm terracotta tiles. Pale walls were decorated with several framed album covers—he noticedPhysical GraffitiandLed Zeppelin IVamong them—but theroom itself sat empty save the single object at its center: a piano. His mother’s piano.

“I always imagined you playing in here,” Finn said from behind him. “This room has great light and I thought you’d love the view over the ocean.”

“It’s...” Joshua shook his head, one hand pressed to his mouth in a vain attempt to keep his emotions in check. “Finn, it’s too much.”

“No. It’s yours, Josh. Always has been.”

“But...” He turned around, voice shaking. “What about the school?”

Finn’s lips quirked. “The school?”

“You gave the piano to the school, to Liz...”

He gave an awkward shrug. “Well, turns out you can get a very decent upright piano for a couple thousand bucks, so.... Josh”—Finn took both his hands, fixing him with a steady look—“I never bought your mom’s piano for the school. I bought it for you. Always you. I was just too damn stupid to admit it.”

With a catch in his throat, Joshua could do nothing but throw his arms around Finn and bury his face against his shoulder.

“It belongs here,” Finn whispered, his voice as shaky. “Just like you do.”

It took Joshua a while to recover from that, but eventually he pulled himself out of Finn’s arms and went to examine the piano. Far too emotional to play straightaway, he contented himself with running his fingers lovingly over the keys and trying to absorb the fact that this piece of his past wasn’t lost. That Finn had restored to him that which his father had taken away—and in so many ways more profound than this piano. It made his heart ache with happiness.

They were both hungry so they made sandwiches and took them onto the beach to watch the sunset. Unlike New Milton Bay, this was a featureless stretch of pale sand that rolledout into the distance on either side. There were no cliffs and no dunes, but the golden sun sank slowly below the horizon, splashing gilt across the water, and the hazy air hung heavy around them, charged with possibility. Although it seemed strange to watch the sun set instead of rise over the water, Joshua liked the difference. This was his new life, after all, his new world.

Finn had brought a blanket, so they spread it out and sat down side by side to eat. Since the beach was private, there was nobody there but themselves and, a little farther down, a couple of older ladies power-walking on the firm sand of the foreshore. Joshua envied them, realizing suddenly that he wanted to feel the Pacific on his toes before the sun set on his first day in California. “Let’s go down to the water,” he said, standing up and holding out a hand to Finn.

He grinned as Joshua pulled him to his feet. “Race you?”

Finn was off like a shot, but Joshua soon caught him up and overtook him as he went splashing into the warm water. “This is beautiful!” he said, laughing, spinning around in a circle. The breeze caught his hair, his T-shirt fluttering against his skin and he spread his arms wide, as if he could catch the wind and fly, closing his eyes and smiling into the setting sun.

Finn splashed up behind him, catching him around the waist, chin coming to rest on his shoulder. “You look like the king of the world,” he murmured softly, a smile in his voice.

Joshua laughed, covering Finn’s arms with his own, holding them around him. “You make me feel like I am.”

“You’re the king ofmyworld, dude.”

He laughed at the silly joke, but loved it anyway.

“Josh, can I ask you something?”

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