Page 9 of Cabin Fever With My First Flame

Chapter six

Finn

Bailey offers to makebreakfast while Micah and I go through an intense workout in the basement. Between lacrosse and being a junior firefighter, Micah is all about fitness and keeping his body in shape.

We’re halfway into our second set of bicep curls when Micah blurts out, “So, what’s the deal with you and Bailey? I can’t tellwhether you want to throw her out into the blizzard or kiss her until you both pass out from lack of oxygen.”

“I’m sorry, what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Micah grins like the Cheshire cat. “Yeah, sure you don’t! There is clearly a history between the two of you. I see the way you look at her when you think no one is looking. It’s a lot like this.” Micah looks off in the distance wistfully and sighs deeply.

I throw my towel at his head. “I do not stare at Bailey like that. We barely know each other.” Then, under my breath, I add, “anymore.”

Micah starts his last set of reps, huffing and puffing with every curl. “That’s not…what…Ella…said. She said…that you…were…high school…sweethearts.”

Micah blows out a breath as he replaces the dumbbells on the rack. “Is what Ella told me true?”

I use the bench to do my first set of dips, working the triceps and my core. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Micah, and you shouldn’t be gossiping.”

He comes over and joins me, but instead of doing dips, Micah sits on the floor and stretches out his legs. “You didn’t answer me, which is telling in and of itself. Is. It. True?”

“Why does it matter?” I ask.

“Why won’t you answer?” Micah snaps back. “Was she the one who got away? Was Bailey the woman that mom always referred to as ‘She who shall not be named?’”

I guess our workout is over, and it’s time for “guy talk.” I grab two bottles of water from the mini fridge and toss one to Micah before sitting down on the floor next to him. “Baileyisthe one who got away, but that’s because I let her go. She broke my heart and is the reason I didn’t return to Lake George.”

Micah furrows his eyebrows and stares at a small tear in the gym mat. “But Bailey is so tiny and cute. She seems so nice. What happened?”

“It’s really not important, Micah. It happened a long time ago, and we’ve both moved on.”

Micah laughs at that. “Have you? You’re a perpetual bachelor, Finn. Sure, you’ve gone on a few dates, but you don’t let anyone get close. It’s like you held those women to a standard you’ve set, knowing they’ll never measure up.”

“I don’t have any standards,” I retort.

Micah reaches for his toes, bringing his nose to his knees. In a muffled voice, he says, “That’s what every teenage boy wants to hear from their male role model.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I don’t hold women to any set standard, Micah. I let them be who they are. They just weren’t meant for me. It’s not some secret conspiracy I’ve concocted to stay single.”

“I need some cardio to burn off this energy from being cooped up in the house, not more weightlifting.” Micah walks over and hops on the elliptical, leaving me a choice between the treadmill and the stationary bike.

No sooner than I get on the bike and start pedaling, the teenager-turned-therapist picks up right where he left off. “You have to ask yourself why those women were never meant for you.”

“Okay, Dr. Ruth. That’s enough. Bailey and I didn’t work out. It’s not that complicated. Let’s leave it at that, okay?”

Micah bellows out a laugh. “First off, I have no idea who Dr. Ruth is. Secondly, I’m not leaving it at that. Those women you dated never worked out because you measured them against the ‘Bailey Bar’—a bar that was much too high for them to reach. Bailey is upstairs right now, and if anyone can reach that bar, it’s the person who set it in the first place. You have an opportunity for a second chance, Finn. Don’t waste it.”

I stop pedaling and get off the bike, no longer in the mood to continue exercising. Micah takes the hint and stops as well,waiting for me to say whatever it is I’m going to say. “Look, Micah. The truth is she cheated on me with my best friend.”

Micah’s eyes widen, and he looks toward the ceiling as if he can see through it. Pointing in the general direction of where the kitchen would be, he asks, “You caught Bailey cheating on you? No way!”

“Not exactly. My best friend, Daniel, came clean three months after I left. He told me everything,” I admit.

“And what did Bailey say when you confronted her about it?” Micah asks.

I shrug and look down at my shoes. “She never admitted the truth. I called her a few times over the next few months, but every time we talked, she carried on like nothing was amiss. Eventually, I stopped calling. I did write her a letter and told her I was moving to California, but she never wrote me back.”

Micah folds his arms across his chest and taps his foot. “Wait. Let me get this straight. You never confronted Bailey about the supposed cheating? You never got her side of the story, even if it was simply to get some closure? You just packed up and left? Man, I’m 16, and I know better than that.”

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