Page 73 of Your Two Lips
“Honey, give him the chance to decide for himself how he sees you. Do it now before he falls even more.”
“Dad … Finn is not in love with me.”
“Wanna bet?”
I smiled.
“That dinner on the boat, he tried to not touch you, probably out of respect for me. He couldn’t do it. He touched you like he wanted to make sure you were real and that he was with you. I’ve seen that look in my own eyes, Emily. He was falling in love with you. By now, he is already there, even if he doesn’t know it.”
I needed to tell Finn about my surgery. He would be kind, but it would take some of the magic away, knowing we didn’t have a future. One more day. Then I’d tell him.
45
FINN
“I’m fucked.”
Lucas looked up from his morning coffee. He was heading back to the city today. “Your probably right. Why do you think so?”
“Don’t be a dick. Emily. And the dinner last night, everyone talking and laughing. It messed with my head.” I took a breath. “I’m in love with her.”
He lowered his phone and sat up in his chair, his interest in me more sincere now. My brother could be an ass, but deep down, he was good.
“Isn’t that a good thing? Wasn’t that the idea with the woman hiatus and then all the time with Emily? Finding the right one and having something real.”
“Yeah, the problem is, she’s not interested in real with me.”
“She came to dinner last night. That seems like interest in getting a little serious. At least to me.” Lucas leaned back in his chair. “What makes you think she doesn’t want to get serious?”
“She doesn’t want to talk about moving forward. I asked her if she wanted to leave some stuff here to make it easier when she spends the night. She shut that down. Didn’t even consider it like it was a joke. I wasn’t asking her to move in with me.”
“What was that about?”
“No fucking clue. That’s why I’m talking to you. I am that desperate.”
His gaze was stern as he lifted his chin. “Take a guess.”
“Money.”
“What? Why money? She has tons of it. She doesn’t need yours.”
Was he kidding? “Lucas, I am not you. I didn’t make a gazillion dollars on an app.”
“It was a platform and it wasn’t a gazillion. Close, but not a gazillion.”
“Focus, jackass. She has money. I don’t. That’s the problem. I’m a farmer. And soon, a bike resort owner. I’m just getting started on my lucrative investment portfolio.” I smirked. “I can’t give her all the flash, and she knows it. Why would she even consider making a life here with me? Beautiful, wealthy women are not for me. My life is this land, and hers is something else. She wanted fun, and I was here.”
“You don’t really believe that. Not everyone who has money is bad. Case in point, me.”
I gave him a look. “I don’t know what to believe. I thought I knew her, that she was different. We’ve spent all this time together.”
“I’ve heard you.”
“In and out of bed. But last night at dinner, she was visibly uncomfortable when Mom and Dad were talking about the farm's history and what our kids would be like. It was clear she wanted no part of that. She even talked about her house and how she may not live in Perry Harbor year-round. That was news to me. Then, when I mentioned taking a small step forward, she put on the brakes. This is not my first rodeo, man. I know whatsee ya aroundlooks like. I used to be a master at it.”
Lucas was no help.I was probably beyond help. I had been grumpy since Sunday night. Now it was Wednesday, and Emily was coming for a bike ride we had arranged before everything in my head went to shit.
I heard the crunch of her tires, and I steeled myself for the coming onslaught of beauty and life and love that was Emily. I resented her for it now because it hurt me. She was everything I ever imagined, and I couldn’t have her. I would rather have known she didn’t exist than to know she was out there with someone else.
