Page 122 of Better Luck Next Time

“It was an accident,” Finn added, and Jack nodded and handed him the bag of peas.

“I’m going to bring the escape artist here home. Give you two some time to talk.”

“No, you can leave him here,” Finn said, then glanced at Adalia. “If you’re okay with that.”

Something glimmered in her eyes—could he dare to hope it was affection for him and not just the dog?—and she nodded.

“See you later,” Jack said, nodding to them, and he took off, his pace unhurried now.

They both watched him for a moment. Then Adalia took the bag of peas from Finn’s hand and gently pressed it to his eye. Her touch sent a wave of warmth through him. It didn’t even matter that there was apparently a tear in the bag of peas, and the cold pellets started tumbling down the collar of his shirt.

“Hit you by accident, huh?”

“Let’s just say you don’t want to sneak up on that guy.” He paused, still thrown off his game. Unsure of what to do next, he found himself asking, “Why are you here?”

“Because I realized something.” She paused, lowering the rapidly emptying bag of peas. She gestured to him and Tyrion, peas flying out of the bag as she did. Then she noticed the leak and snorted as she lowered the bag to the ground.

He laughed with her, and dared to reach out and touch her hand. Weaving their fingers together, he squeezed her hand. “What is it you realized?”

“‘The only thing that matters right now is the people in this room.’”

It was a weird way of putting it, what with the fact that they were outside, plus she’d said it with emphasis, as if the words were supposed to mean something special.

“You can’t imagine how happy I am to hear you say that,” he said. And because he couldn’t avoid the temptation to tease her a little, he added, “Even if we’re technically outside.”

“It’s fromFast Five,” she said. “I needed to feel close to you… I’ve watched it at least five times.”

He started laughing uncontrollably then, and the file slipped from his fingers, papers spilling onto the sidewalk. “Adalia. I’ve never seen it. I was messing with you. My favorite movie isThe Goonies.”

“Oh, you asshole,” she said, but she was already laughing too, her eyes sparkling with it. “I kept trying to find all the good things in it because you said you loved it. It was a real struggle the first two times, but after that I kind of got to like it. You will always be the man who made me likeFast Five.”

There were so many things he had to say, some of them scattered beneath their feet, but he pulled her to him and kissed her. It was gentle at first, but it turned fierce in an instant, Adalia pressing closer, slipping a hand under his shirt, laughing a little in her throat when a frozen pea tumbled against her hand. He slid a hand around to cup her butt, and she moaned in a way that made him want to forget all the things they’d left unsaid and carry her upstairs. They could talk later.

But then a car pulled into the driveway next door, and his octogenarian neighbors got out.

He pulled away, panting, and the woman, Phyllis, raised a hand in a wave.

“Hello, Finn,” she said, acting for all the world like she’d caught him gardening instead of making out.

“Hi, Phyllis,” he said.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it? Ben and I just had dinner and dessert at that new restaurant downtown. What is it called, Ben?”

“I can’t remember,” he said, scratching his head. “Gumbo. Jumbo? One of those newfangled names.”

“Amazing dessert,” Phyllis gushed. “Out of this world. The dinner?” She lifted a palm out and shook it from side to side. “So-so.”

“Well, goodnight, kids,” Ben said with a wink, making Finn feel like they were teenagers caught necking in the park. “Have fun.”

“Goodnight!” Adalia called out. “Thanks for the recommendation.” Then she glanced back at Finn, giving him a wicked look. “‘You know I like my dessert first.’”

Before he could comment, or maybe break it to her that there was no restaurant downtown named Gumbo or Jumbo and they had a needle-in-a-haystack chance of finding Phyllis’s dessert, she said, “You wouldn’t get it.Fast Fivereference.”

“That’s going to be happening a lot, isn’t it?” he said, laughing.

A little breeze picked up, and some of the papers flew around. “What is all of this, anyway?” Adalia asked. She stooped to pick one up, then stared at him with big eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing yet,” he said quickly, silently thanking Maisie. “I…it didn’t sit easily with me, knowing that he might get away with what he did to you. I had a feeling you weren’t the only one, so I looked into it. He’s sexually harassed or stolen from at least six other people at the Lanier School, and the school did their part in covering it up.

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