Page 144 of Finn Rhodes Forever

Pain thrashed in my chest, angry and resentful and full of regret.

My phone buzzed and I glanced at it. In the group chat with Hannah, Avery, and Sadie, messages were flying.

Hannah:does anyone know where Finn is?

Avery:no… he was babysitting last night, right?

Hannah:Yeah. Liya said something happened at the park with Cora, that she ran across the street to pet Evelyn.

Understanding dawned on me. My mom would have been there. I could picture her face, so disapproving and totally unsurprised. Fuck. Lying there in bed, I felt sick thinking of how Finn must have felt.

Sadie:shit. That’s scary.

Hannah:Yeah. I just want to talk to him. He looked so stressed and upset when he left last night.

Avery:Emmett doesn’t know

Sadie:neither does Holden

Hannah:Olivia?Is he with you?

Hannah:If you see him, can you just let him know we’re not mad? We know it was an accident.

An unwelcome thought hit me.

If I had told Finn how I felt—how Ireallyfelt, those three important words—maybe he wouldn’t have taken off. A headache formed behind my eyes. This whole time, Finn had said he wasn’t going anywhere so I didn’t move an inch. I didn’t say the words he needed to hear, the words I felt.

I loved Finn. I had always loved Finn, and it was such an integral part of me that I couldn’t believe I had tried to ignore it.

A scalding tear rolled down my face. Fuck. My chest ached and I wiped the tear away.

“Stupid, stupid Olivia,” I whispered to myself.

* * *

I wokeup at noon to my phone buzzing on my night table. My head felt fuzzy from too much sleep, and yet I couldn’t will myself to get out of bed. I reached for the phone, saw that it was an unknown number, and ignored it.

A minute later, it started buzzing again.

“What?” I snapped.

There was a pause on the other end before a man said, “Hi… Is this Olivia?”

It was the same raspy, low voice I had heard in his voicemail. My heart caught in my throat.

“Yeah,” I said, sitting up in bed, clearing the sleep from my eyes. “That’s me. I’m Olivia.”

“Uh,” he started, and he sounded nervous. “This is probably too short notice, but I’m, uh, here.” He cleared his throat. “In Queen’s Cove.”

I blinked, staring at nothing in front of me. “In town?” I repeated. “Now?”

He made a noise in his throat like regret. “I should have called but I was worried I was going to change my mind and turn around.”

In my chest, something pulsed, sad and regretful and weirdly empathetic for the fucking asshole who ditched me.

“You’re busy,” he said suddenly. “It’s okay. I should have known.”

“No,” I blurted. “I’m not. I have time.” I glanced in the mirror across my room. My hair was messy and my eyes were puffy. “Give me half an hour.”

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