Page 16 of Finding Finn
“Sorry, that was… I shouldn’t have asked that.”
“It’s fine. I date… sometimes. But so far, I haven’t found someone who gives me that spark.”
“Spark? I get that.”
“You had a bad breakup. When was that?”
“About four years ago. It was pretty shitty, and ever since, I haven’t really wanted to date. I was trying to focus on my career.”
“Now?”
“I’m trying to learn my career,” I chuckled. “But I’m not against falling in love. It just hasn’t happened again. We’re here.”
“I heard it’s fairly… grandma inside.”
“I’m trying to avoid the desire to knit. It’s pretty bad. Sorry, that I haven’t… My shit is still in boxes for the most part.” I unlocked the door and walked inside. He came in behind me.
“That?” He pointed to the small stack of cardboard boxes that held my stuff inside.
“Yeah. I had a small apartment in New York and hadn’t really accumulated too much in my life, I guess. It was depressing to know that I had so little once I packed it up. I have more clothes than anything else. Stay here and I’ll go change really quickly.”
I ran upstairs and quickly pulled my clothes off. I grabbed a tank top and a pair of blue shorts before changing into my tennis shoes. I glanced at myself in the mirror and threw on a baseball cap before heading back downstairs.
“I could fix this, you know. I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind if we did a little work in here. Those curtains, man… How can you live like this?” He laughed heartily.
“Really? I could call and see what they’d think.”
“I got it. Let me deal with them. I’ve known the family forever. I'm sure they wouldn’t mind me painting and getting rid of the wallpaper. Shouldn’t take me more than a few days.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Well, you’re one of us now, aren’t you?” His smile made my feet tingle.
We locked up my house and walked around town, where he showed me all the businesses and gave me the lowdown on which ones donated to the theatre. Most of them did. But at least I knew where to go when I needed something. It was nice, and the way he talked about Foggy Basin made me happy to live here.
Honestly, I watched him more than I looked at the town. I could feel myself slipping more and more with every step and glance at him. It wasn’t just that he was beautiful, and he was very, very gorgeous. It was something else. He was so real and open – it was inspiring.
I had to be careful or I could fuck this all up.
“So you want to join us?”
“I’m sorry, I was… looking over there at those… plates.” We stood in front of a small shop that had a tea set in the window. “What were you saying?”
“The gym. We’re going tonight and you could meet a couple of my friends. One of them is in charge of the resort. You really need to meet him.”
“Oh! The gym… Sure. What time?”
“Five. Do you want me to come get you, or do you remember where it is?”
“A block behind us. I remember. Sure, I will meet you there.”
We went back to the theatre and spent an hour going over the incredibly full schedule that shook me to my core. This was going to be a harder job than I imagined.
At the end of the day, I noticed how Buffy glanced between us and smiled. “Have fun, boys.”
I walked home with thoughts of Jim James running through my stupid head.
6
