Page 59 of Sometimes You Stay

Chewing on her lip, she watched Finn lay the towel over his lap. He stretched the puppy out so its little head hung lower and gravity could help. Squeezing the blue bulb, he pressed the tip into its mouth, released the bulb, and then emptied the contents on the towel. He did it seven or eight times until the tool came back empty.

But the puppy still didn’t move.

“Come on, little guy.” Finn waited a beat and then lifted the puppy to his mouth. After breathing into its mouth and nose with three gentle blows, he paused again.

Suddenly the dog twitched then squirmed on its own, and a smile wider than the horizon broke across Finn’s face as he stood and put the puppy down beside its brothers and sisters.

Bella gave him what could only be a bark of gratitude, and he rubbed her ears. “You did so good, girl.”

Cretia wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her forehead against his shoulder and snuggling into the warmth of his fleece sweater—or maybe it was justhiswarmth. “That was incredible. How did you know how ...?”

“It wasn’t the first time. The vet taught me how to do it—I think so he wouldn’t keep getting calls in the middle of the night.”

“Will the vet come check on him at least?”

“Yeah. I’ll call him in the morning to take a look at all of them. For now, they just need some milk and rest. But it looks like they’re all eating.” And Bella was asleep with a smile on her face.

Cretia pulled back far enough to look into his face. “Do you wonder whose life you just saved?”

Crevices rolled across his forehead. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if that little guy grows up to rescue someone? Maybe someone who fell into a harbor. And he jumps in and rescues them. He wouldn’t have been around to do that if you hadn’t saved him.”

A tired smile crinkled the corners of his eyes as he pulled her in tighter for a hug. “I see your point, but just so you know—if Joe Jr. hadn’t been there that day, I would have jumped in to save you myself.”

She should leave. The farm. The town. The island.

This was getting dangerous for her heart. It wasn’t Bella or the puppies. It wasn’t Marie or Little Jack. It wasn’t even Joe Jr.’s snuggles.

Finn was the one who would leave her heartbroken.

Actually, she’d be the one to leave. And he’d likely have no idea.

Forcing herself to take a step away from his warmth and the security of his arms, she shoved her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie. “So, what are you going to name them?”

His lips pursed to the side, his eyebrows meeting over the bridge of his nose. “When I was a kid, my dad let me name a litter after Transformers.”

“Transformers? Like Megatron?”

Finn snorted. “No. He’s a Decepticon. They were Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and Cliffjumper and such.”

“And I’m weird because I watchedHandy Manny?” She gave his elbow a playful push but jerked back almost as soon as she touched him. She couldn’t seem to keep her hands to herself when he was around.

Or from fixating on how much she liked it.

Maybe she was simply starved for touch. She’d read once that the average adult needed four hugs a day just to survive. And until she’d wound up in Finn’s arms after her dunking in the harbor, she hadn’t been hugged in months. Maybe years. That day, he’d proven himself strong, stable, and kind.

That had to explain his magnetic pull.

But it didn’t mean she wasn’t going to fight it.

She took another step away.

“Is this litter going to get named after toys or cartoons? Strawberry Shortcake or something?”

He squinted at the squeaking puppies. “I was thinking potatoes.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

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