Page 9 of Persuaded

“What happened?” Joshua asked, looking around in dismay.

“The damn drain backed up,” Lexa growled. “And the dishwasher flooded all over the floor.”

Joshua winced, although it didn’t look too bad—not like a water pipe broke or anything. “You get the drain unblocked okay?”

“No, that’s our next fun job. Just our crappy luck.”

“I’m sure it’ll be okay. Looks like the floor will survive and if your mom is insured...” Lexa and Ali stared at him like he was the stupidest person on the planet. Maybe they had a point. “What?” he said, uncertain.

“I don’t care about the damndrain,” Lexa snapped. “We’re stuck here, hauling this crap about, when we should be at the Rock House with Finn fucking Callaghan!”

“Language!” Dee hollered from outside.

Lexa glowered.

And Joshua saw his opportunity. “I don’t mind cleaning up,” he said, heart rate accelerating—partly in hope, partly at the audacity of his escape, and partly in perverse regret. Christ, he was confused.

Ali and Lexa stared at him. “Really?” Ali said. “You don’t mind?”

“Sure.” He stepped into the coffee shop. “I can get this cleaned up in a couple hours. It’s no problem.”

“Mom!” Lexa yelled. “Newt says he’ll clean up!”

Dee poked her head around the door. “What? No. Newt, you don’t need to—”

“It’s fine,” he said. “The Rock House isn’t really my thing anyway. I’m happy to mop up and unblock the drain. Really.”

“Please, Mom...” Lexa begged. “I swear, we’ll get up early and help set up tomorrow.”

Dee looked uncertain.

“It’s not every day Hollywood comes to town,” Joshua reminded her, and he even managed a convincing smile. “I really don’t mind.”

It was enough; Dee relented. “But you girls both owe Newt abigfavor. And don’t you forget it.”

They disappeared in a cloud of excitement and after another hour of cleaning and mopping, Joshua persuaded Dee to join them while he finished up and locked the coffee shop for the night. Despite the cool air, he felt hot and sweaty by the time he finished unblocking the drain, so he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and sat on the hood of his crappy car listening to the distant thump of music from the Rock House.

Was Finn there right now? What was he doing, what was he thinking? Was he laughing, throwing back his head the way he used to when he really let go? Was he singing—getting up alongside the band and grabbing the mic? Perhaps he couldn’t do that sort of thing now that he was a semifamous actor? Orperhaps fame gave him license to do more? Joshua didn’t know; he didn’t know Finn anymore. And that hurt a lot more than it should after eight years.

It occurred to him then that Finn might have been dreading this meeting too. Perhaps, like him, he’d wanted to get it over with tonight. Perhaps he was irritated that Joshua hadn’t shown up. Perhaps he was disappointed.

“Or perhaps he doesn’t even remember you.”

He said it out loud to make it sound more plausible, but deep down he knew it couldn’t be true. Those two months they’d been together, wrapped up entirely in each other, had been intense. Their connection had been profound and that wasn’t something you forgot.

Sitting in the dark, listening to the low beat from the Rock House and the distant wash of the ocean against the shore, Joshua sent a silent prayer into the night. He had no right to expect anything from Finn, but he let himself dream of this one thing.

Forgiveness. He prayed that they could meet as friends.

* * *

The next morning Joshua got up early, as usual, and headed down to the coffee shop. He flung open all the doors and windows to air out the lingering damp and set the tables down onto the almost-dry floor.

Lexa and Ali showed up later, hungover and brimful of talk about Finn Callaghan.

“Oh my God, Newt, he’s sobeautiful,” Ali sighed as she half-heartedly wiped down the counter.

“And funny,” Lexa added, almost grudgingly. “I mean, mostly you think actors are pretty dumb in real life, right? But he’s actually really sharp.”

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