Page 123 of Finn Rhodes Forever

I rubbed my jaw, thinking. “Div, were you the one who threw a hundred-dollar bill at me?”

He cleared his throat and Liv laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said lightly.

I grinned at him. “Well, the Queen’s Cove fire department thanks whoever made that donation. We gave all the proceeds to the food bank.”

Div shrugged, all innocence, before tilting his chin at the box we brought.

“What’s that?”

Liv set it on his desk. “We have a box for you from Miri.”

When he flipped it open, his eyes lit up and he gasped.

“Thank you, Miri,” he murmured, pulling out a platform orange shoe and inspecting it. “These are practically new.” He wiggled his eyebrows at us. “And my size.”

“Nice.” Liv perched on the edge of his desk as he kicked his dress shoes off and tried on the orange heels. “When’s your next show?”

Outside of being Emmett’s assistant at town hall, Div performed in drag shows at a bar in the next town. I’d gone to see a show with my brothers and my sisters-in-law. It was fun, and Div was an incredible singer. In drag, he let a totally different side of himself out.

“Two Saturdays from now,” he told us. “It’s tropical themed.”

Liv nudged me. “We should go.”

“Sure. I’d love to.”

Div pulled out his phone to send us the details, and we chatted for a few minutes about the drag show, town events, and the next reality TV show night he sometimes hosted with Liv, Hannah, Avery, and Sadie.

His email pinged, snagging his attention.

“We should head out,” Liv said, pulling me by the hand. “Bye, Div.”

He waved goodbye over his shoulder, already distracted by his screen, and we headed back to the lobby.

When we returned to the front desk, Anna was still consumed by her phone, swiping left at an impressive speed. I stepped behind the reception desk to grab the—

The box was gone.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

Liv saw my face and came to my side. Her jaw dropped when she saw the box was gone, and eyes wide, we stared at each other.

“Hey, Anna?” I asked.

Anna’s eyes were on her phone. “Mmm?”

“Where’d that box go?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, swiping left on a guy wearing a Santa hat.

Liv and I stared at each other before she snorted with laughter, covering her mouth.

I looked around wildly, scanning the lobby. “We have to find that box.”

“I know.” Liv shook with laughter.

“Miri is going to kill us.” I grabbed Liv’s hand and tried to seem casual as we surveyed the lobby. Where was it? Who would have taken it?

Beside me, Liv stiffened. Her gaze was on a group of school kids passing through the lobby and out the doors. They were young, seven or eight years old.

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