The woman at the center island looked up from her chopping, her gaze moving from Hannah to Brie to Hannah again. Brie hadn’t met the woman before, but there was something familiar about her, something Brie couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“Mom, this is Brie. Brie, this is my mother-in-law, Faye.”
Mother-in-law…meaning Hannah’s husband’s mom…meaning Hannah’s husband’s brother’s mom. Oh good God, Brie was currently standing ten feet away from Finn’s mother. No wonder she looked vaguely familiar.
Shiiiiiiit.
“Nice to meet you.” Faye wiped her hands on a towel before crossing the space. She held a now dried hand out to Brie, smiling.
Something caught in Brie’s chest…she had the same smile as her son. A smile that went all the way to her eyes. The blue was different…Faye’s more of a sky to Finn’s sapphire.
“You as well,” she somehow managed to get out as she grabbed the woman’s hand and shook it.
“And this is Delilah.” Faye let go of Brie’s hand and indicated the woman who’d stepped away from the stove.
“Hello.” Delilah smiled warmly, also extending her hand.
This woman looked familiar to Brie, too, but it was another face that she couldn’t quite place. It was something about the shape of her eyes.
Brie got her answer to the familiarity of the second woman almost immediately. The kitchen door swung open and Harper walked through, her black hair pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head and a box of cans in her hands. There was no doubt in Brie’s mind, Delilah was Harper’s mother.
Same hair, same full lips, same cheekbones, and those same almond-shaped eyes.
Speaking of eyes, Harper’s violet ones widened in surprise when they landed on Brie. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Brie.” But she didn’t sound disappointed at finding Brie in the kitchen. On the contrary, she was pleased by the new development.
“You guys have met?” Hannah asked, looking between the women.
“Yesterday,” Harper answered as she slid the box of cans onto an empty space on the counter. “At the spa.”
“So what brings you to Mirabelle?” Faye asked.
“I…” Brie hesitated for just a second. What did it matter anymore? People were already learning the reason, so there was no need for her to hedge around it. Besides, she was going to be in Mirabelle for a while, might as well face the music.
“Bethelda Grimshaw left me her house. Actually, she left me everything, so I’m down here dealing with it.”
The looks on Faye’s and Delilah’s faces went from open curiosity to shock.
“I didn’t know Bethelda had any living family, in or out of Mirabelle,” Faye said, tilting her head to the side as her eyes moved over Brie, like she was trying to figure out the connection.
Well, Brie might as well go for broke at this point. And really, it would be better for people to just hear the truth from the horse’s mouth as opposed to coming up with other theories. For whatever reason, this felt like the best place to enlighten them. Maybe because Hannah already knew, and Harper hadn’t turned on her yesterday.
“Bethelda was my biological mother. She gave me up for adoption.”
“Holy. Shit.” The two words came out of Harper’s mouth on a whisper.
“Harper!” Delilah scolded her daughter.
“Sorry,” Harper apologized. “I just, I hadn’t expected that.”
“I don’t think anyone has expected that.” Brie shook her head.
“Well, I’m sorry for your loss.” Faye took a step closer to Brie, her body language open…receptive. It was totally different from anything she’d expected in that moment.
“I was under the impression there was no love lost between Bethelda and most of the people in this town.”
“There wasn’t.” The honesty in those two words from Harper wasn’t as harsh as it probably should’ve been. Actually, it wasn’t harsh at all. It just was.
“I didn’t know her.” Brie gave a slight shrug of the shoulders.
“Doesn’t mean you didn’t lose something,” Hannah said softly.
Brie’s mouth fell open on an inhale, but no words came out. Instead her throat started to constrict, and there was that prickling sensation at the corner of her eyes.
“Thank you.” Her voice broke on the last syllable and she forced herself to push the emotion back, clearing her throat before she could speak again. “Anyway, I’ve started to clean out the house. Bethelda had a lot of things. Way too many things. Things that no normal person would need in that amount.”
“Which actually brings us to why we came in here,” Hannah said. “Is Nate’s truck still around back? Brie has a MINI Cooper and it makes absolutely no sense for her to make a bunch of trips.”
“No, he went to go get a sofa that’s being donated. But the boys should be here any minute now. I’m sure Finn could go over with his truck.”
Finn? Finn? No, he was absolutely the last person she wanted helping her do anything. She’d make a thousand trips hauling stuff in her car before she asked that man for help.
“That won’t be nec—”
But before Brie could even finish turning down the offer, the door swung open again and the man in question walked into the kitchen.
The second Finn’s eyes landed on Brie he halted in his tracks. The door swung out and in again, hitting him from behind.
Chapter Ten
Making Up Is Hard to Do
(Making Out, on the Other Hand,
Is Not Hard to Do)
Why, why was Brie everywhere that Finn went? First it had been his office, then yesterday it had been the store, and today it was the CCC.
This was why he didn’t sleep with locals.
But Brie wasn’t a local, she wasn’t staying in Mirabelle. Well, at least not for forever. She was just here for the foreseeable future. Though as she hadn’t given him an end date, he had no earthly idea how much longer he was going to have to deal with running into her everywhere. Had no idea how much longer he was going to have to deal with that jarring jolt that hit him like a sledgehammer to the gut.
Or like a heavy door slamming him in the ass. And that was another thing, why was it that running into her meant getting run into? He was forced to take a step forward from the momentum of the door, moving farther into the kitchen and closer to Brie. And closer to Brie was the exact opposite direction he wanted to go.
It wasn’t like he could just turn around and hightail it out of there. Retreat wasn’t an option, not with the rest of the audience in the kitchen. And what an audience it was, four women who knew him better than most.
Delilah Laurence was the wife of his boss/mentor, Paul Laurence. Once Finn had started volunteering at the shelter at the age of sixteen, and then working summers there in between college, he’d become a pretty regular fixture at the Laurence household. He’d probably sat at Delilah’s dinner table just as much as his mother’s in those years.
Then there was Harper, who though only a year younger than him, had always been like his little sister. Speaking of sisters, Hannah was there. Since she knew the finer points of his time with Brie, she was pretty much the last person he wanted to witness that moment. Well, second to last. His ever-observant mother was actually the last person.
Just don’t react, he told himself. Act like everything is fine.
Except it wasn’t fine, for either him or Brie. It was apparent from the frown now pulling her mouth down that she was less than thrilled to be in the same room as him, too.
“Just the person we needed,” his mother said. “Finn, this is Brie. Brie, this is my son Finn.” She waved a hand between the two in an introduction. “Brie needs help getting some donations down here. She has a small vehicle so we need a truck to get it all. Would you mind helping her?”
This was one of those situations where he saw absolutely no way to get out of it. Saying no really wasn’t an option, especially not to his mother. That would’ve gone over like a to
n of bricks.
Before Finn had a chance to respond, Brie was the one speaking, a forced smile turning up her lips as she looked at him. “We’ve met before, actually.”
It was such a different smile to when it was genuine. This one was cold, even with the flush taking over her cheeks. But that warmth under her skin didn’t reach her eyes, didn’t thaw the look she was giving him. He was close enough to see that there was barely a glint of gold in those eyes, and he wondered what it would take to get them golden again.
“Oh?” His mother’s eyebrows rose high as her focus went solely on Finn. She wasn’t the only one, either. Harper’s eyes had narrowed on him, too. He could feel her stare drilling into the side of his head.
“At the Sheep. Brie came in for a drink,” Finn answered.
“I sure did.” Brie’s tone was icy.
Faye looked between the two of them, clearly trying to figure out why the room was now filled with a rather uncomfortable tension.
Brie pulled her gaze from Finn, and the second her focus left him some of the coldness left her face. “I really do appreciate the offer for help, but I’ll figure out how to get everything here. There’s a lot of stuff that I need to get rid of, and not just today, either. The more I clean, the more I’m going to need to bring down. I’d hate to put anyone out, or force them to do something they really don’t want to do.”
There was an edge to her words with that last sentence, and Finn couldn’t keep the sharpness out of his voice when he spoke, either.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you, Brie.”
Her shoulders went rigid before she looked back to him. “Yes, Finn, but what I’m saying is, I don’t want your help.”
Her words were a slap and it took everything in him not to flinch from the sting.
She turned away from him again, like that brief moment of looking at him was too much. “Faye, Delilah,” she said to the women in turn, “it was nice meeting you. Harper and Hannah, it was good seeing you guys again.” She gave a small nod. “Thank you for everything. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
And with that she walked around him and left the kitchen, pushing through the swinging door and disappearing from view.
“What did you do?” His mother rounded on him within an instant.
“What makes you think I did something?” His back went up immediately at her tone.
Her eyebrows rose high and she glared at him. “What makes me know you did something is because that girl”—she gestured to the door—“was perfectly lovely before you walked in here and brought the Arctic Circle with you.”
So he hadn’t been the only one to feel the chill.
“Look, you don’t know the full story—” Finn started but he didn’t get to finish.
“The full story being that she’s the daughter Bethelda gave up twenty something years ago?” his mother asked.
“How do you know that?”
“She told us, idiot.” This answer was from Harper, and when Finn turned to look at her, it was to find her glaring at him. “You’re one of the assholes who was terrible to her, aren’t you? One of the people who turned on her when they learned the truth?”
Delilah’s eyes went wide at the harshness in her daughter’s voice, but then her gaze settled into disappointment that was directed at Finn. He didn’t know where to look, so his eyes landed on the only other woman in the kitchen.
Hannah folded her arms across her chest. “You already know how I feel about it all, Finn. I think you’re taking an entirely wrong stance on Brie. I also think you should pull your head out of your ass.”
“Pull my head out of my ass? Did I not say I’d help her out?”
“Actually you didn’t.” Delilah shook her head. “What you said was that you didn’t say you wouldn’t help her. Which is not the same thing.”
Good God, his head was spinning. All he’d done was come in the kitchen for a sandwich and a bowl of soup before he started moving furniture around upstairs. But apparently he wasn’t going to get either, not that he had much of an appetite anymore.
“Also, you should stop treating every other woman like they are Rebecca two-point-oh,” Hannah added.
And that was when Finn’s temper flashed to beyond the boiling point. “Low blow.”
“Son, if you don’t like the truth, then maybe you should change it.”
“Mom—” he started, but again, his mother didn’t let him finish.
“You should know better, Finn. Kids aren’t always a by-product of their parents.”
Her eyes narrowed on him at that point, and if looks could kill, he’d be six feet under.
“How many of your friends had a parent walk out on them? Brendan”—she held a finger up in the air—“Grace”—she held up another finger—“Bennett”—she held up a third finger. “Then we get to Jax who would’ve been better off not knowing his mother or his father.”
“Not to mention me”—Hannah put her hand to her chest—“who had parents who were more concerned about raising the numbers in their bank account than actually raising their children.”
Oh, how easy it was to forget all of those facts, especially when Finn had been looking down at Brie from his own high horse. But he wasn’t going to get a chance to step down from it. Nope. His mother was going to push him off the damn thing.
“And finally we get to your grandmother who had a mother who walked away from her two kids and never looked back. Did you forget about that fact as well, Finn?” Her mouth went tight as she waited for him to answer.
Shame burned low in his gut, moving to his chest and then through his limbs. His answer was to not respond. What was he supposed to say?
“I didn’t raise you this way. Not even close. Fix it, Finn.” That last part wasn’t a request from his mother, but a demand.
* * *
Brie opened the front door of Bethelda’s bungalow and walked inside. The second the door closed behind her she leaned back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. Who would’ve thought that being in this house would be better for her sanity than being out of it?
No one, absolutely no one.
She was so freaking tired of running into Finn. So tired of him looking at her like she was the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his life. She’d had enough, didn’t need that shit from him or anyone, not on top of everything else she was dealing with. It was too much. Way too much.
But there was a little good to come out of the afternoon. There were some people who now knew the truth who didn’t despise her…people who didn’t hold her accountable for her biological mother. Interesting that two of those people just so happened to be related to Finn. Though that had all happened before he’d walked into the kitchen. There was no telling what their opinion was now that she’d walked out.
She’d had to get out of that room, though, had to get away from him. That man had way too much power to hurt her. And sure, some of it had to do with them having sex, but it wasn’t just that.
It couldn’t be. She’d been intimate with enough men to know that that kind of hold didn’t always translate over. With Finn it was something else…something else that she didn’t understand in the slightest.
He made her skin prickle, like it was being stretched too tight. Then there was the fact that her head would start to slowly spin, but maybe that was because around him she couldn’t take full breaths. The thing was, he’d done all of those things to her before he’d turned into an insufferable ass. It was just that before she’d been smiling. Now when she was around him there were no smiles to be found.
A car door slammed outside the house, echoing through the afternoon air. The closest neighbors to the bungalow were about a hundred yards on either side, and based on the closeness of the sound, she knew someone was outside that house.
A sinking sensation started to move down her body, settling low in her belly. She knew this wasn’t going to be good. Just knew it.
Pulling away from the wall she slowly walked the
few feet to the peephole only to find Finn was making his way up the paved path. Yup, nothing good. He didn’t look any more pleased to be there than she was at seeing him there. His mouth was turned down in a severe frown and those sapphire-blue eyes behind his glasses were filled with a slow burning anger.
Like he had any right to be angry with her about anything.
When he got to the door he hesitated for just a second, apparently gathering his nerve before he lifted his hand and pressed his finger to the doorbell.
It was the first time the doorbell had rung since Brie had been there, and she wasn’t exactly prepared when the house was filled with the chorus of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” But really, what George Michael super-fan wouldn’t have that as their doorbell ringer? Not a true super-fan, that was for damn sure.
Brie could ignore the bell, ignore him. Just stand there and not make a sound until George stopped singing and Finn turned around and left. But really, what would that accomplish? Clearly he’d shown up here to say something, and with the way they kept running into each other, maybe it would be better to hear it in private.
She closed her eyes for just a second, gently resting her forehead against the door as she took a deep, steadying breath. When her eyes opened, her hand moved to the handle. Twisting the knob, she pulled and took a step back, coming face-to-face with the man she apparently just couldn’t get away from.
He opened his mouth on an inhale, but no words came out. Instead he stood on the front porch still looking angry and more than slightly confused. Well, he wasn’t the only one who was confused.
“Really? Wham!?” Apparently his confusion was the doorbell and not what he was doing there.
Brie chose not to answer his question and asked one of her own. “What are you doing here, Finn?”
“I came here to take whatever it was you wanted to get rid of.” He shifted on his feet, moving closer.
He was already too close. Close enough to tower over her and make her feel small. And yes, she was obviously already smaller than him. It was hard not to be with all of his six-foot-two tallness, plus he was wearing boots. But it wasn’t just the vertical space he took up…there was the horizontal space, too. The man had broad shoulders, with muscles that her hands knew the feel of.
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