Page 24 of Sometimes You Stay

With a shrug, he chuckled. “Give or take. Joe Jr. is pushing one sixty, and he was the runt of his litter.”

Cretia looked like she’d swallowed her tongue. “He’sthe runt? But he rescued me like I was nothing. And you...” Her gaze dipped, shadowed by her full eyelashes.

He remembered. Plunging his arm into the water and pulling her out. He’d had to do it more than once with dogs that refused to leave the harbor during their training. At least she hadn’t fought him like they sometimes did. But he said only, “There was a lot of adrenaline in the moment.”

“Well, like I said before, thank you.”

“I’m happy to help for as long as you’re here.”

The muscles in her neck contracted around a swallow as Ringo pounced on her leg. “So could I borrow your computer for a few minutes?”

“Marie sent you down here for that?” He couldn’t contain a snort at the irony. Marie had to be up to something. Notthat Finn wasn’t happy to offer his setup and eager to make up for his misstep the day before, but there were a dozen other places Marie could have sent Cretia. Even Brooke in the front office of the church would have been happy to share her sleek new laptop.

“Was she wrong? I can go somewhere else if there’s a public library or something. I don’t mean to be a bother.”

He reached to pat her knee, but Joe Jr.’s head snapped up and a low growl came from somewhere deep in his body. It wasn’t threatening, just a caution. Slowly pulling his hand back, Finn tilted his head at the dog. Joe had clearly decided that Cretia was his person—his to protect, his to save.

Only Finn didn’t know who or what she needed to be protected from.

He shook off the questions rolling through his mind and caught her gaze. “You’re not a bother. It’s just that ... Never mind. I’m happy to help.”

Her mouth pinched slightly, lines appearing around it. “Do you have time now?”

With a glance toward the barn, he said, “I just need to feed the kids really fast. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

Her face twisted in confusion, her lips pursing to the side as the wrinkles between her eyebrows returned. “Aren’t they at school?”

“School?”

“Yeah. Marie went to an awards ceremony or something for Jack today. Do they go to the same school?”

“Do they go to the same school?” He tried to stop himself from repeating her words. He just couldn’t figure out another way to make sense of what she said.

Cretia nodded slowly. “Yes. The same school. Or arethey older?” She shook her head. “No, you’re younger than Marie, aren’t you? I mean, you look younger. Not that she looks old. It’s the beard. Your beard is throwing me off. But maybe you had kids really young.” She sucked in a sharp breath and blinked twice. Slowly. Decisively. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “That should have been inside processing.”

“Inside processing?” Again with the parroting. He could bite his tongue off.

The prettiest shade of pink bloomed in her cheeks, and he couldn’t look away, even as George gnawed on his wrist.

“I...” She looked toward the hayfield on the other side of the corral fence and tucked her dark hair behind her ear. “I spend a lot of time alone, but I do better when I can verbally process things. It’s no big deal when I’m on my own. A little more awkward when it spills out in front of other people—or worse, the person I’m talking about.”

A chuckle bubbled deep in his chest. He tried and failed to cover it with his hand.

The color in her cheeks deepened, stretching toward her neck, and she pressed her fingers to her throat. “I swear, I’m better in front of the camera.”

“I don’t think it’s possible you could be more charming.”

Her eyes flew to meet his, her gaze tangible. The skin on his arms tingled under the weight. It wasn’t like the touch of the sun on a cool day. It was like a welcome fire, rushing through him. Unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

His own neck began to burn, and he swallowed hard against the lump there. “You’re right, processing that inside would have been less awkward.” Tacking on a grin, he added, “But no less true.”

“Okay.” Her nostrils flared and her lips twitched. “So you need to feed your kids? And then you can help me?”

“Indeed. Maybe you want to helpme?”

She gulped audibly. “You want me to meet your kids?”

Pushing himself off the ground—to the clear dismay of George, whose green collar jangled as he wiggled and jumped, begging for more attention—Finn winked at her. “I think you’ll like them. They’re pretty friendly.”

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