Page 141 of Finn Rhodes Forever

His eyes pinned me. “For stargazing?”

I nodded. “Every night before we fall asleep.”

The corner of his mouth hitched, but his eyes melted with longing. Again, I thought about the words I wanted to say.

“Thanks for being patient with me,” I whispered.

He sighed, smiling back at me. “I’d wait forever for you, Morgan.”

In my memory, I heard the word Finn said months ago. He hadn’t said it since.

Soulmate.

I peered up at the sky and hoped it was true.

53

Finn

The next day,I sat on a blanket at the park, buried under a small mountain of stuffy toys. Cora babbled to me while she balanced each toy on top of me, and I reached over to adjust her hat. Hannah had been worried about her getting a sunburn when I picked her up an hour ago.

On wobbly legs, Cora picked up another stuffy and placed it on my chest.

“Thanks,” I told her.

She garbled something at me, grinning.

Damn, this kid was cute.

“Okay.” I watched as she reached down for another toy before putting it on my foot. “You need help?”

“Ellen,” she said, stooping to eat a goldfish cracker.

While Cora played, my mind wandered to the last family dinner. We had stayed up on the roof until the stars came out and we were yawning, and I swore, the way she looked at me, she had wanted to say it.

An impatient sliver of me wished she did say it. Why couldn’t she? It had felt so right with her there at dinner.

She had always been so stubborn, and now it felt like she was holding out for some reason.

Maybe she was waiting for me to fuck up again. My stomach sank at the thought.

“Ellen,” Cora squealed, clapping.

“Yeah, Ellen,” I repeated, frowning.

When my parents brought out the cake for Liv, emotion had risen in her eyes like she was going to cry. She felt it, too, Iknewshe did. If only she could summon the courage to tell me how she felt, instead of relying on me to read the signs.

This worry was like a sharp kernel in my chest, poking me.I’m yours, she had said when we were together at the ski lodge. I wanted her to be able to say it when she was half asleep. When we were out for dinner. At the grocery store.

After all of this, after most of the summer with me basically on my knees, begging her, she still couldn’t give an inch?

My phone buzzed and I glanced over.

My dissertation is booked the first week in September,she had texted.

I tapped out a response.That’s great.

Typing dots appeared on the screen before her message popped up.We should stay the weekend in Vancouver.

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