Page 138 of Finn Rhodes Forever

Wyatt shot Emmett a lazy grin. “Heard you had a bit of a scare at town hall the other day.”

Emmett huffed, glaring at me and Finn. “Yeah, and I’m still mad about that.”

Finn and I tried to stifle our laughter without success. I covered my mouth with my hand but my shaking shoulders gave us away. Around the table, everyone was grinning. Elizabeth rolled her mouth to hide her smile.

“It’s not funny,” Emmett told everyone. “At the next town hall, I’m putting forward a proposed ban on turtles in Queen’s Cove.”

“It was an accident,” Finn said through his laughter. “We promise.”

Emmett stared at him, shaking his head. “You two always get into trouble together.”

Finn’s hands flew up. “This one wasn’t even my fault.” He whirled his finger between me and him. “It was equally both of our faults.”

“That’s true,” I admitted.

Emmett rubbed the bridge of his nose. “No more school trips to town hall.”

“Next time, honey,” Avery said with her hand on his arm in comfort, “barricade your door from the evil children.”

He sighed. “I’ll just ask Div to bodyguard for me.”

Sadie cleared her throat. “I heard you peed your pants.”

Emmett threw his fork down and pointed at me. “Olivia peed, not me!”

My mouth fell open. “I did not!”

Cora waved a chubby hand at Emmett. “Pee.”

The table burst out laughing and Cora giggled.

“No one peed,” Finn intervened. “But Emmett did almost pull the fire alarm for some reason.”

“I was panicking,” Emmett said solemnly, and Avery rubbed his arm again.

“Never a dull moment in this town,” Elizabeth said, smiling to herself. She glanced at Sam. “Shall we?”

He nodded and they got up from the table, returning moments later with a cake. It readCongratulations, Olivia!Pink icing flowers decorated it.

The backs of my eyes burned. Oh god. I was going to cry right here in front of everyone. I blinked fast to clear the tears.

“Veena made it special,” Elizabeth added, setting it down on the table. “Chocolate cherry.”

My favorite. My gaze met Elizabeth’s, and she winked.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and she gave my shoulder a squeeze.

As the cake was cut and dished out, and the conversation and wine flowed, a thought struck me. I had so much to lose now. If things with Finn went south, all of this—this second family, these women I had grown to love, these people who knew me so well and had special cakes made to celebrate my achievements—would disappear.

Across the table, Holden frowned. “We’re doing the flooring on Friday,” he said in response to whatever Hannah had asked.

Sadie nodded, wincing. “I don’t know if it’s safe for Cora to be there. There’s a lot of dust in the air when they’re sanding.”

“Sam and I are doing a late afternoon round of golf with the Singhs,” Elizabeth said. She thought about it. “We could reschedule.”

“Don’t reschedule.” Wyatt shook his head. “We’ll find someone to watch her.”

Finn cleared his throat. “I’ll do it.” He smiled at Cora and stuck his tongue out. She smiled her goofy smile at him.

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