Page 80 of My Merry Mistake
He smirks. “Are we going, or do I have to go get you frozen waffles?”
“I’m pretty sure whatever you’re planning isn’t something I’ll want to do.”
He frowns. “What makes you say that?”
I gesture between us, like it’s obvious. After all, we’re very different.
“You misjudge me, Hart.” He shakes his head. “One of these days you’re going to realize I’m an actual grown-up now.” He holds a hand out toward the door again, and I stare at it like it belongs to an alien.
The comment takes me back to the first time I found him at my door—the day after he and his co-worker walked me home, saving me from making even more mistakes.
Drinking alcohol is not something I do. I don’t like to lose control. But when my entire life imploded in a single day seven years ago, Finn was there.
And he’s here, again, at another pivotal moment.
I hadn’t intended to spill all my secrets to Finn back then. I hadn’t planned to tell anyone that I’d messed up so badly I’d gotten fired. And the fact that I was mourning the engagement of my high school boyfriend? Pathetic.
That next morning, after the drinks and the dance floor and hazy bits I still can’t quite piece together, I woke up in a fog, hungover from two drinks and full of regret. I was trying to stitch the memories together when Finn showed up at my door with the credit card I’d left behind. He said he wanted to check on me. Make sure I was okay.
Not sure how ethical it was for the bartender to return a credit card to a patron at her home—but it didn’t take long to realize he had no ill intentions.
“It seemed like you had a terrible day,” he’d said, standing in my doorway. He brought me Advil and Gatorade and made me cinnamon toast, turning my apartment into a hangover recovery zone.
The flirty bartender with a heart of gold.
If I’m honest with myself, I liked him immediately. He was kind and funny, and he made me laugh. But more than that? He was agoodguy. The kind who would be nice to have in my life.
Then I remembered the almost kiss. The humiliation. The embarrassment. It all turned to absolute horror when I discovered that Finn was actually a twenty-two-year-old college senior who was heading to Montana forChristmas break.
I’d tried to kiss a college kid. And he’d pushed me away.
Even now, heat floods my body at the memory—not the kind that warms you from the inside, but the kind that breaks you out in a cold sweat.
How embarrassing.
Worse, I never thanked him for being such a stand-up guy that night. After all, he could’ve really taken advantage of the state I was in.
I look at him now. He looks more like Chris Pratt the superhero and less like Chris Pratt inParks and Rec, but Finn is still kind. Success didn’t steal his personality.
“You’re not going away, are you?” I ask, playing my part.
“Nope.” He wags his eyebrows.
I groan. “Fine. I’m going to go change.” I stand up, waiting for the dizziness or the light-headedness or the nausea but none comes. “Don’t go through my stuff while I’m gone.”
“Totally going to,” he calls after me as I walk upstairs to change into real clothes.
And I have absolutely no doubt that he will.
Chapter Twenty-One
Finn
“So, we’re going to Poppy’s, then where?” Raya walks over to the hooks by the door and grabs her coat.
“You’ll find out,” I say, aware that it’s going to drive her crazy not to be in charge.
She struggles with the sleeve of her coat, and I reach out to help her. Her face shifts like she’s not sure she wants to let me, but then, she softens. “Thanks.”
