Page 69 of Can't Help Falling

“Well, then, allow me to show off a little.” Fin cocked her head to one side and looked at Tyler, really looked. She observed the play of his own energy off of itself, the busy rush in some places, the calm swirl in others. She pushed her bongo heart to the back of her mind and really tried to understand the topic at hand.

“You’re not worrying about Lorraine as much as you’re worrying that she’ll be able to get back into Kylie’s life.”

Tyler shifted uncomfortably. “Uh. Yeah. Makes me feel like an absolute asshole for saying it out loud. But pretty much the second I realized the way Kylie had been living I thought to myself, God, I hope that Lorraine stays gone.” He gave her a wry look that she knew was covering up a deeper feeling. “You know I never wanted to be responsible for a kid. Not my style. But yeah, Kylie wasn’t just some kid. And I figured that even as unprepared as I was, I could give Ky a better life than Lorraine could.”

“I don’t think you should feel like an asshole for that,” she said quietly, internally wincing over the memory of the ball game. Her harsh words. Was he admitting that they’d been, at least at that point, partially true?

“The kicker is that Lorraine isn’t gone. She’s fighting legal battles to keep her ass out of jail. And honestly, I’m not really rooting for her to succeed. Shouldn’t I be hoping for the kid to work things out with her mom?”

“Trust me, moms aren’t always the safest place for a kid to be.”

“Oh. Right. You, ah, came to live up here with your aunt, is that right?”

“Yeah. And she ended up raising me in all the ways that counted. All the ways that my own mother couldn’t.”

He paused for a second, his navy blue eyes on hers, a quiet expression on his face. “Is your mother alive?”

“I...don’t know,” she answered with a naked honesty that shocked her. “I haven’t heard from her since I was fourteen.” Fin popped her chin onto her hand and looked vaguely out one of her windows. “She was into drugs so it’s possible she’s gone. But she’s also one of those people who lands on her feet. I guess I wouldn’t be surprised either way.” And just like that, she’d told Tyler more about her life than anyone besides Via knew. How had he done that? Gotten the truth from her like that? Fin cleared her throat, avoiding his eyes and steering the conversation into safer waters. “Trust me, if Kylie is anything like me, which she is, she stopped hoping for her mom to transform into mother of the year a long time ago. I think for better or worse, Kylie has accepted the reality of who her mother is. Whether or not she’s accepted the reality of who you are, I’m not sure yet.” She made a face. “Sorry. You didn’t ask for a session. I’ll stop now.”

“No, it’s interesting. I like watching you work.”

A moment of silence passed between them and Fin was aware that they were no longer eating, and their coffee cups were empty. Tyler had run out of reasons to be in her house. He seemed to realize the exact same thing at the exact same moment.

If she knew him at all, he was going to hurry himself out the door, not wanting to seem like he was pushing into her space.

“Uh, all right, well. I guess I’ll get going then.” He stood and picked up all the plates. “Bagels are yours, obviously. Hope you enjoy them. And thanks again for taking care of Kylie last night. It was a lifesaver for me, because it ended up being a late work night. So...okay.” He reappeared from her kitchen, where he’d set the dishes. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

He strode over to his loafers and toed into them, pulling his stylish coat on and flipping the collar out.

Fin had never been particularly susceptible to men and their wiles. She’d rolled her eyes at shirtless ad campaigns and merely smirked at pretty-boy Instagram accounts. But, yeah, it was also true that a weakness of Fin’s was watching a man adjust his clothes. She couldn’t exactly explain it. But there was something about the tying of shoes, or the buttoning of pants, or the side-to-side adjustment of a tie that just oofed her. And watching Tyler fiddle around with the collar of his coat was no exception.

To her horror, Fin felt a blush rising in her cheeks. Get ahold of yourself! It’s not like you’re watching him undress! It’s a winter coat, for god sakes.

And then, he was all dressed with nowhere to go but out of Fin’s house. She found that, as much as she hadn’t wanted him to invade her space, now she didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want him to leave at all. He was getting dangerously close to her front door and there was that familiar voice, the one she almost always listened to, that was speaking so clearly inside of her. Stay, Tyler, the voice said. Stay here.

“Tyler.”

He stopped and turned. And now, standing there, trying to see him, she felt as if she were squinting through yards of gloomy muck. There, at the bottom of the muck, was that golden energy she couldn’t ignore anymore.

Stay, Tyler.

How could she get him to stay?

The thought struck her blindingly clearly, like a flash in the dark. She almost blinked against the intensity of it.

Her bathtub! The forgotten ask. How many times had she meant to ask her superintendent to swing by and fix it? And how many times had she forgotten? And now she knew exactly why her brain had let that information slip away time and time again. Because the superintendent wasn’t the person who was supposed to fix the leak in her tub.

Tyler was.

She cleared her throat. He still waited there, patiently. Apparently he’d become accustomed to these long pauses in which she balanced her psychic life with her physical one.

“Do you know anything about bathtubs?”

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