Page 50 of Sometimes You Stay

“Andthe bunnies? My, that’s asking a lot.” Tapping his chin with one finger, he stared up at Cretia, whose smile seemed to have grown. He’d done that. “I tell you what. The bunnies haven’t been fed yet. So if you’ll help me feed them, you can hold the little ones.”

Julia Mae nodded and tugged Cretia toward the barn.

He waved them on. “I’ll be there as soon as we unload this.”

Cretia looked over her shoulder one more time before following Julia Mae into the barn. Something was different about Finn this morning. His smile was staged, forced. And his step had lost its usual bounce.

He’d said the right things. Done the usual things. And he’dstolen her breath when he crouched to Julia Mae’s height and agreed to let her hold the bunnies.

Until that exact moment, she hadn’t known that a man getting down to a little girl’s level to talk about baby rabbits was so attractive. It wasn’t fair that that was all he had to do to make her insides go mad.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with him. She’d just have to wait until they were alone to ask him what. And she should wait until she accomplished what she’d come down for.

True to his word, he arrived a few minutes later, followed closely by Jack and Joe Jr. Finn pushed the slider closed with a creak before showing Julia Mae how to measure the rabbit food and check their water. When the rabbits were settled, he scooped up a brown ball of fluff and set it in the little girl’s embrace. Cretia was pretty sure there had never been a happier five-year-old.

Jack, however, had befriended Roberta, petting the white patch next to her brown eye.

Cretia frowned and shot Roberta a glare. Sure, the old girl liked kids but apparently not digital content creators. For that, she might as well make the cow internet famous.

Reaching for her pocket, she couldn’t hold back a smile as her fingers wrapped around the slim rectangle here. She didn’t have a case for it yet, and it wasn’t connecting to the internet for some reason. But she had a new phone. Delivered an hour ago.

When she’d heard the truck rumbling down the street, she had run for the door and met the driver on the porch—his eyes probably nearly as wild as her morning hair. Oh well. She wasn’t going to see him again.

That had pretty much become her motto over the years.

Made a fool of herself in front of a group of tourists? Oh well. She wasn’t going to see them again.

Spilled spaghetti all over her shirt in front of a cute waiter? Oh well. She wouldn’t see him again.

Too busy recording a video to notice the enormous Grecian column before walking right into it? Oh well. She wasn’t going to see anyone who had witnessed that mishap again.

It was an all-too-familiar sentiment. Except right now, she wanted to capture the moment. Because she did want to see these dear faces again.

Roberta looked up and mooed just as Cretia snapped a picture of the two friends. The image caught Roberta with her tongue out and Jack throwing his head back in laughter, and Cretia nearly hugged it to her chest. She’d send it to Marie later that night.

“You have a phone?”

She turned to Finn to show off the new arrival, but again, something was off. He looked like he’d bitten into a raw onion, and she couldn’t quite place the reason.

“Yep,” Julia Mae supplied for her. “It came this morning. Mr. Casper dropped it off and everything.”

“Good.” Finn’s face didn’t get the message, though he nodded emphatically. “That’s really good.”

He was either trying to convince her or himself. And neither seemed to be working.

“Finn? Are you—”

“And your computer? Did it arrive too?”

“Not yet. We came down here so Miss Cretia can use your computer to look for it.”

Cretia smiled at the little girl, whose gaze never waveredfrom the bunny in her arms. With Julia Mae around, Cretia didn’t have to do much talking. Except when Finn looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“My phone isn’t connecting to the internet yet. I called tech support, and it’s supposed to be fixed today. But I was hoping I could borrow your computer to track down my missing laptop.”

“Sure.” Finn tromped across the barn floor. “You kids don’t let the dogs out until I get back. Then we’ll play with the puppies.”

Cretia followed a few steps behind, her legs unable to eat up the distance like Finn’s did. Within steps she was huffing and puffing. “Finn?”

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