Page 139 of Steamy Ever After

“I’m sure. So, back to Jenn. Did you ever hook up with her?”

“Nah. She was hooked on Braydon.”

“Everyone was. If it wasn’t Braydon, it was Kelly. And if it wasn’t Kelly it was Luke.”

He eyed her curiously. “Which brings us back to you and Finn.”

Setting the empty bag of pretzels aside, she drew in a deep breath and leaned into the headboard. “Finn was…nice.”

Yeah, that was accurate. His cousin was one of the most thoughtful people he knew. Dependable. Always looking out for others.

“So why’d you leave him?”

Her tongue darted over her lower lip, licking a grain of salt away. She wasn’t looking at him, but rather, staring off in the distance as if looking back through time.

“He would have left me eventually. Being with him was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sometimes, the looming anticipation of him reaching the last straw was too painful to bear.”

He sat up, stretching his legs across the bed. “What do you mean? Finn’s the most level-headed guy I know. He’s not a quitter.”

She looked at him then, and something real flashed in her eyes. Something vulnerable, and he wanted her confession more than his next breath because everyone knew who Erin Montgomery was, but no one, aside from maybe Finn, actually knew her.

CHAPTER 8

He’s not a quitter… Giovanni’s words hung in the air.

Erin couldn’t escape her next thought. Then why does everyone eventually quit me?

Finn had eventually given up. No matter how much he tried to stay devoted, the moment Mallory showed up, like a beautiful distraction, there was no challenge. His heart was stolen.

Erin stared at the wood-paneled wall, thinking back to the end of her and Finn’s relationship, recalling how terrible she’d behaved. She sabotaged the best friendship she’d ever had, all because she couldn’t bear the thought of loving Finn and him eventually abandoning her like everyone else she cared about did.

Her voice was hollow, devoid of emotion, as she stared at the knots in the pine paneling on the wall and explained, “I never wanted to stay in Jasper Falls and Finn was never going to leave. Our end was inevitable.”

“Because of the lumberyard,” Giovanni said with intimate knowledge of his family’s obsession with that business.

“Exactly. Colin was going to become a priest, Braydon wanted to be an architect, Luke had football, and that left Finn.”

“And Ryan.”

“Right.”

The lumberyard was owned by all three families. Now that the older generation was retiring, the sons were running the show.

She frowned, wondering why Giovanni hadn’t collected his share. The lumberyard made decent money, especially at a partnership level. “Didn’t you ever want to?—”

“No,” he answered before she even finished the question. “Lumber doesn’t interest me—something my dad can’t seem to understand.”

Maybe that was why he wasn’t staying at home. “Do they support your dreams?”

Something uncertain flashed in his eyes as if he debated sharing anything personal with her. Anger bubbled inside of her as she considered everything she just shared.

“No, they don’t,” he confessed quietly. “My dad thinks I’m just wasting time. It’s like he’s literally waiting for me to run out of money or fail so I can come home and start my real life.”

“What about your mom?”

He shrugged. “She’s better than him, but neither of them sees comedy as a realistic career choice.”

Her head lowered. “I’m sorry I interrupted your show last night.”

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