“Fine. Whatever,” he grumbled, grabbing his chair and sitting back down. He reached for his burger and figured if nothing else, he got a free dinner for this round of aggravation. “Go on.”
Dave’s sigh of annoyance was the only response, but when Finn glared at him, he continued. “I’m not proud of my behavior, okay? We drove all that way to Carson City, and we had a lot of fun, but…dammit, man, you just kept riding my ass about every little thing about my life.” When Finn went to interrupt, Dave held up his hand to stop him. “And it pissed me off because you were right!”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, happy now?” he asked snidely and then immediately apologized. “No one likes being confronted with the unflattering truth about their lives, Finn. This can’t be news to you.”
Rather than say anything, he simply shrugged and took another bite of his burger.
“Believe me, if I could go back and change what I did, I would. We both know that’s not possible. It was incredibly mean and immature and…I’m really sorry. You may not believe me, but it’s the truth.” He paused. “But here’s the thing–you really did me a favor.”
Finn stopped mid-chew and looked at Dave in surprise. “How?”
“By calling me out on all my bullshit. When you got back, and your girlfriend kicked me in the face…”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Finn said defensively.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” Dave murmured. “Here’s the thing, all the times we’ve fought with each other, I knew exactly how you were going to react. Like, I knew when you caught up with me in Vegas, you were going to try to reason with me before you got really angry and started to yell. That’s the way you do things. And I know if those security guards hadn’t gotten called away, you all would have escorted me up to my room…”
“That you paid for with my card!”
Again, Dave held up a hand to stop him. “You would have escorted me up to my room and taken the keys, and I still would have been able to talk you into forgiving me and driving home with me.” He paused and shook his head. “Probably could have gotten you to give me gambling money at some point too.”
“Yeah, great. I’m a sucker. Great talk, Dave,” Finn said sarcastically. Finishing his burger, he reached for the other even as he felt a little self-loathing at what a pushover he clearly was. Next, he dumped out the container of fries and stuffed a few of them in his mouth so he couldn’t comment.
“When I left the Park MGM, I had no idea what to do! It wasn’t supposed to go like that! I purposely stayed in Vegas because I knew you’d find me there! Hell, it’s what I had baited you with the night before.”
Shrugging, he took a bite of his burger.
“Anyway, when I got back home, I figured you’d be right behind me.” Then he paused and studied Finn. “I was looking over my shoulder for the entire trip expecting to see you driving up behind me at any minute. You’re a stickler for schedules, and even with a couple of casino detours, I figured we’d get here at the same time or that you might even get home first. What took you so long?”
I wanted as much time as possible with an incredibly difficult blonde who turned my life upside down…
Yeah. There was no way he was going to say that.
Without looking up, he said, “It just worked out that way. You must have been speeding.”
Dave chuckled. “No doubt, but still…I really expected you home sooner.”
“Sorry I ruined your plans,” he deadpanned.
“So here I was, waiting for you, and then I had to wait a couple of extra days, and I got worried–like what if something happened to you? Then it would totally be my fault, and I started to panic. I felt so guilty and shitty and tried to figure out how I would possibly explain to
Mom and Dad what I did.” He shook his head. “Then I went the other direction–to try to make myself feel better–and figured you were just trying to mess with me. And when you pulled up finally with your girlfriend?”
“I told you, Grace is not my girlfriend!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever. When you pulled up and you just…I don’t know…you came out yelling and it put me on the defensive for some reason. I swear it wasn’t how I planned on things going! I taunted you because I wanted you to let me have it like you always do. I was almost desperate for you to do it! And then Grace kicked me in the face and…” He paused and looked at Finn, shaking his head again. “Dude, you really blew that. Big time.”
“Excuse me?”
“Grace? Yeah, you totally blew that.”
Finn put the burger down and got up to grab another bottle of water from the refrigerator. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I disagree,” Dave said mildly.
Turning, he faced his brother and fought the urge to shake him. “There was nothing to blow there, Dave. Grace and I…” He growled in frustration. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” It was a lame comeback, but it was all he had.
“I’m talking about the fact that you are clearly into her! I have never seen you like that with a woman–and that’s including what’s-her-face who you dated all those years and then never married. Sure, the two of you were affectionate and all, but I can’t ever remember you looking so damn…I don’t know…smitten before. I mean…I know it wasn’t the best timing, and for a little while there I was seeing double, but still.”
“Yeah, you were seeing things,” Finn said, hating how surly he sounded.
“Oh, please. Don’t even try that. You were into her, and you’re a moron for letting her leave.”
“Dave, just…shut up.” Normally, that was enough to get his brother to change the subject.
Not tonight.
“At any other time, I would be thinking good riddance. After all, who wants a chick who can kick like that?” He gingerly touched his nose and then let out a low laugh. “Jeez…I screw up everything and even I know you should have stopped her. You don’t let a girl like her get away.”
Sitting back down, Finn took a long drink before replying. “You just said having a chick who can kick like that was a bad thing, and then you say not to let one like her get away! Which is it, Dave?” But he didn’t wait for a response. “Grace had a flight to catch. She was always going to leave. We said it was going to be a clean break.” He wanted to take the words back as soon as he said them. What happened between them was no one else’s business–least of all his brother’s. Talking about her out loud like this hurt too damn much. One look at his brother, however, and he knew it would be pointless to play dumb. “Besides, having to deal with you and getting you to the emergency room was just delaying the inevitable.”
“You sure about that?”
Nodding, Finn picked up the last bit of his burger. “Positive.”
Dave leaned back, crossing his arms across his chest and gave a casual shrug. “She said she didn’t have a flight at that point. She planned to hang out here in Atlanta for the night, but…” He shrugged.
Tossing his food back down, Finn leaned in menacingly. “What the hell are you talking about? When did you even talk to Grace?”
“The day after she left, she called to make sure I was okay.” He shrugged. “She offered to pay for my visit to the ER again.”
Unbelievable, he thought, leaning back in his seat irritably. “And let me guess, you let her.”
But surprisingly, Dave shook his head. “Nope. I told her it wasn’t necessary, and my nose wasn’t broken. She argued how I should go for a second opinion because she’s a fierce kicker and her kick should have broken my nose, but I assured her I was fine.” Then he chuckled. “I think she was more than a little offended that she didn’t cause more damage.”
Finn had to hold in a laugh. Leave it to Grace to argue about something like that. Then he remembered what Dave had said. “And what do you mean she didn’t have a flight? She told me she did!”
Another shrug. “Dude, don’t ask me. I guess she lied to you.�
�
And for some reason, that really bothered him. Why would she lie?
She planned to hang out here in Atlanta for the night…
“Anyway, she seemed pretty upset about the way things went down, but I got the impression it had more to do with you than the shoe-to-the-face thing,” Dave went on, oblivious to the fact that Finn felt like he was going to be sick. “If I had to take a guess, I’d say she was hoping you’d ask her to stay a little longer.”
They had talked about her leaving after dropping him off. A clean break. No long goodbyes. At the time, he thought it was for the best.
Just add it to the list of all the other things you’ve been wrong about…
“I can ask her about it when I talk to her tomorrow, if you want,” Dave said with a small smirk.
“Tomorrow?” Finn asked incredulously. Seriously, what was going on here? “Why are you talking to Grace tomorrow? Or for that matter, why are you still talking to her at all?”
Straightening, Dave stood and walked over to get himself a bottle of water. “Did you know that Grace is a career counselor?”
Finn nodded.
“Yeah, well, we got to talking after we cleared up the kick thing, and she gave me some advice on finding a job and…I don’t know…she really got me thinking.”
This he had to hear. For years, Finn and his parents had been giving Dave career advice and nothing clicked. One phone conversation with Grace and suddenly his brother had some direction? Doubtful.
“About what?” he asked, trying hard to tone down the sarcasm.
“For starters, she really helped me see that I have to stop comparing myself to you.” He nodded at Finn’s startled expression. “My whole life, everyone’s always compared us–you were the measuring stick for everything! I kept thinking I had to do the things you did and like the things you like, but Grace helped me see how that way of thinking was doing more harm than good.”
Seriously?
“So I did this online test thing–Grace sent it to me–and tomorrow we’re going to go over the results and figure out what I need to do or where I need to go to get started. Isn’t that great?”
Finn didn’t think, he just reacted. “Do you even hear yourself? Come on, Dave! It’s not possible for you to do this complete turnaround in three weeks after one conversation with Grace! It’s not! We’ve all been trying to help you for years!”
“No, you haven’t,” Dave replied calmly, sitting back down. “You and Mom and Dad have been telling me what I’m supposed to do. Grace is the first person to talk to me like an adult and ask me what it is that I want to do.” He took a sip of water. “I’m telling you, she’s really good.”
Raking a hand through his hair in frustration, Finn groaned. “To accomplish in one conversation what we’ve been trying to do for ten years, yeah. She must be good.”
“It wasn’t one conversation. We’ve talked about five times. And you should too. Talk to her, I mean. I think she’d like that.”
His heart began to race, and suddenly he couldn’t think about his brother’s problems; he needed to know more about Grace. “Why? Has she asked about me?”
Dave laughed softly. “Not really, not directly, but she does mention you a lot. Like seriously, a lot. I figured if you made that much of an impression on her after only five days, maybe she’s interested in you too. Now, sitting here watching your face as we talk about her, I know for sure you’re into her. That day in the parking lot, I thought something was there. But now?” He nodded and his smile grew. “Why not put both of you out of your misery and call her?”
Good question.
Or maybe he was afraid to find out it really had just been a proximity thing and he was the only one with lingering feelings. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle it if that were the case.
“She could have called me, you know. For all the times the two of you have talked, she could have just as easily made one call to me to see how I was doing or to let me know she was all right.”
Dave stood again and clapped a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Brother, after the colossal way you screwed up, trust me. You need to be the one to make the call.”
“What do you think of this?”
Grace looked up from her computer and found her mother standing in the doorway. It was one of the days she worked from home, and ever since she had gotten back from her road trip, her mother had been stopping by with great regularity. Today’s excuse for being here seemed to be some sort of…um…
“What am I looking at, Mom?”
Sighing dramatically, Irene Mackie stepped into the office and posed–again–next to Grace’s desk. “Do you see it now?”
“Uh…”
With her hands dropping to her side, she yelled, “Well dang it, Grace! I got low-lights put in my hair and got myself this new denim jacket! It couldn’t be more obvious!”
Looking a little closer, Grace had to stifle a giggle. “I’m sorry, but…is that jacket…bedazzled?”
Smiling broadly, her mother nodded. “It is! Isn’t it fabulous? And you’ll never guess where I got it?”
“The thrift store?”
Smile gone, Irene frowned. “No, silly. There’s a fun new boutique downtown next to that Asian bistro you like so much. Next time we go there for lunch, we’ll have to shop.”
“Sounds good.” Glancing back at the computer screen, she re-read the email she was typing up and wondered if she needed to scrap it and call the client or if the information she was attaching was self-explanatory.
“Grace, you’re not even paying attention! Have you eaten today? You look like a mess.” Then she stepped in closer. “It’s obvious you haven’t showered yet. I understand you’re just working from home and not planning on seeing anyone, but really, you need to pay more attention to yourself and your appearance. What if the mailman or a delivery man knocked on the door? Would you really want them to see you like this?”
“Mom, I’m pretty sure no one would be scarred for life because I didn’t shower today.” She gave a small smile. “And they’ve seen me looking far worse.”
“Grace…”
“And I’m even wearing pants today! So really, everything’s good!”
Her mother arched one perfectly shaped brow at her. “It’s not polite to sass your mother. Now, why don’t you go shower and do your hair and put on some makeup while I make us some lunch?”
Ugh…why did she think being comforted by her family would be a good thing?
She started to scan the email again when her mother called out her name one more time–but with more snap and annoyance than concern. With a huff, Grace stood. “Okay, okay…I’m just going to send this email and then I’ll do it. Sheesh!”
Five minutes later, she had to admit it was a good idea. The shower felt great and some of the tension she was feeling earlier was finally starting to ebb.
“But I’m not telling her that. I refuse to let her know she was right,” she muttered, rinsing her hair. Yes, Grace loved her mother, and yes, she was incredibly lucky to have parents who cared so much. And really, it wasn’t her family she was irritated with. They just happened to be convenient targets. No, the real source of her annoyance was Finn.
Three weeks–three damn weeks–and he didn’t even try to reach out to her! No matter how many times she reminded herself of their clean break talk, she really thought he would have tossed it aside and called to check on her. Or just to say hello! But no. Any news she had on him, she had gotten from Dave, and that was another whole can of worms she wished she could put back.
Calling him the day after she got home was primarily about clearing her conscience. As she told Finn, she’d never put all her martial arts, kickboxing, and self-defense moves into practical use, so knowing she did the move just right and potentially broke a man’s nose, she knew she had to at least try to make it right.
Getting Dave’s number hadn’t been hard.
Getting Dave off the phone had.
Good Lor
d. From the moment he realized who she was and why she was calling, it was like someone had forbidden him from speaking for weeks and he’d finally been granted the right to talk again! It didn’t take long for her to realize just why he irked Finn so much. He was chatty and didn’t stay on any one topic for long and was basically hard to keep up with. On top of that, he was kind of a doofus.
Like a major doofus.
Half the stuff that came out of his mouth was nonsense and he had a huge ego. Knowing what she did about him, Grace cut him down pretty quickly, and once she did, she began to put her career skills to good use. It was obvious that underneath the incredibly annoying personality, there was a fairly intelligent man.
Someone just needed to help him focus.
And Grace nominated herself for the job.
Not only because it was what she did for a living and she loved it, but part of her was doing it for Finn. Maybe if he had one less thing to worry about in his life, he would be happier and a little more carefree.
At first, she thought her motives were wrong. By doing it for Finn, was she hoping he’d call and thank her? Okay, maybe. That had been her very first thought. But after a second phone call with Dave, she realized he posed a challenge to her that she hadn’t faced in a long time, and it almost excited her. Most of her clients were people who just needed a little help to get polished and maybe build up a little confidence. But Dave Kavanagh was a complete mess who needed to be built from the ground up. And once they started really working together, it became one hundred percent about Dave, and the only mentions of Finn came from Dave.
Although she had a feeling that sometimes he just threw stuff in there for her benefit.
And she appreciated it.
Secretly.
But she was still really annoyed with him–Finn, not Dave. How could he not call and check on her? Or how hard was it just send a quick text to let her know he was thinking of her? There had been many times when Grace picked up her phone and started to call him but always stopped herself. If he wanted a clean break, then he could have one.
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