Page 62 of Protecting Jess

The question was, should Finn tell her the reason he’d pulled back? When he explained everything, she wouldn’t be happy with the way he’d treated Jess. She’d be angry on Jess’s behalf.

However, his mom deserved to know the truth, and he was willing to face her disappointment. “You’re not wrong in saying I was avoiding Jess. I was in New York at a Naval Ball four years ago, and a couple of friends and I hit a club. Jess was there with her dancer friends. She was just twenty-one, about to embark on her career with Baxter.” The memory of that night slammed into him, and he couldn’t stop the words even if he tried. “Mom, I saw her, and I forgot to breathe. She was so beautiful and carefree. Really happy. She was a little tipsy, but not so much that she didn’t know what she was doing. I couldn’t stay away from her, and we danced. I kissed her in the middle of the dance floor. When I pulled back, I stared at her, and I saw something in her eyes that freaked me out. I pushed her away and said that it could never happen again. I avoided her calls and messages. And, as you know, avoided any opportunity to be near her.”

“Oh, Finn, why? Just hearing you relay what happened, I can tell that you care deeply for her.”

“I do, Mom, and I guess that’s what I saw in her eyes, too, and it scared me. I was thinking about becoming a SEAL, and I needed my focus on that. And Jess, well, she was about to experience life. I thought it best if I put as much distance between us as possible.”

“Didn’t work for you, did it? You couldn’t stop thinking about her, could you?”

Finn chuckled, shaking his head at the same time. “No, to both those things. When I agreed to go on that double date with Oak and his ex, I never expected to see Jess, even though I was thinking about her because we were going to see a dance performance. I walked in and saw her face on that poster, after learning that my ‘date’ had bailed on me, and I stopped, not believing what I was seeing. I almost walked out, but I stayed, and it was amazing. She’s such a beautiful dancer.”

“She really is.” His mom smiled.

“I knew then I had to see her, but she blew me off when I went backstage.”

“I don’t blame her. I would, too, if you treated me the way you treated her.”

He deserved his mom’s censure. “Yeah, it wasn’t a surprise, even though I hoped for a different outcome.”

“Well, seeing as you’re together, I’m guessing you did get the outcome you wanted.”

Finn nodded. “I did, but the circumstances of how it came about weren’t ideal.”

“So, what now? You’re based here. She’s in New York. How are you going to make it work?”

“I’m going to put in for a transfer to another team, one based in Virginia. There will still be distance between us, but a shorter plane ride than if I were here.”

Mom sat back, studying him. Her gaze didn’t give anything away. Her eyelids sparkled with her glitter eyeliner, and he smiled.

Perhaps there was something to her saying that glitter brightened up everyone’s day. Not that he’d start wearing glitter eyeliner, but maybe he could persuade Jess to. She was a dancer, after all, and she was bound to have some glittery eye shadow in her makeup collection.

“Is that what you really want?” his mom asked after a few beats of silence.

“I mean, I’ll be sad to leave my team, because they’re a great bunch of guys. But I love Jess. I don’t want the whole country between us.”

Mom’s eyes widened at his declaration, and he silently cursed himself. Jess should’ve been the first one to hear he loved her, not his mom, but he couldn’t snatch the words back.

“Then you do what you have to do. You know Dad and I will support you, no matter what you want to do. I know between the two of you, you’ll work everything out. It’s not going to be easy, though,” she cautioned. “Once she’s recovered, she’s going to be traveling a lot, and you will, too. When you do spend time together, you need to make sure that you put one-hundred-percent effort in. No more ghosting.”

“I promise, no more ghosting. Now that I have her, I’m not letting her go. And I love being a SEAL and serving my country, but I know it’s not the easiest of occupations for my family to deal with. I won’t be doing it forever.”

Mom took his hand again. “Whatever you decide, it will be the right thing. You know you always have a place at the ranch and, with your skills, you could easily get a job as a paramedic, too, if that is what you want.”

“Or be a volunteer firefighter,” he said, a nod to his dad’s volunteering and how his parents had met.

“That, too.” She glanced at her watch. “Now I think it’s time we headed back to the room to make sure Primrose hasn’t escaped.”

Finn laughed. “I’ve been watching the foyer; I haven’t seen her.”

“You think you haven’t, but that girl...she’s wily.”

He stood up and pulled his mom’s chair out. The second she stood, he tugged her into a tight hug. “Thanks, Mom. I miss you. And I love you.”

Her arms tightened around him, and even though he stood a good foot taller, he managed to feel like he was that six-year-old who’d first met Cerise Spelling. “I love you, too. And I think your Aunt Poppy is going to be so happy about you and Jess.”

“I hope so. Slick, on the other hand, I may have to win over.”

Mom pulled out of his embrace and patted his chest. “He knows the type of person you are. I just wouldn’t mention that everyone at the hospital believes you and Jess are already engaged.”

---