Page 92 of A Hard Fit

They stared at each other, recognizing they had made exactly zero progress. “I should send my notes to Markos,” Finn said, chest aching.

“Yup. And I should”—Rory waved a hand at the screen—“do all the things I said.”

Finn had to ask though. “Are you…are you going to come home with me tonight?”

Rory’s eyes watered with fresh tears. “If you want me to.”

“Of course, I do.” Never had four words felt so inadequate.Please or I’ll diewas more like it.

“Then yes.”

“Chinese andGodstrike?”

“Chinese andGodstrike.”

* * * *

Finn and Rory talked about not much of anything on their way home, but once they were in the kitchen hanging up coats and dropping bags, the words fell from Finn’s lips. “I called Liz.”

Rory whirled to face him. “You did?”

“Yeah. Last night while I…while I was out on my walk. Then we texted a bit more today. The kids are going to come stay here for the weekend in March.”

Rory launched their lithe body at Finn and threw their arms around him. “That’s great, Finn. I’m so proud of you. And look, last night, when I said—”

Finn cut them off. “It’s okay. You were right.”

Then they were kissing, quickly moving from soft and tentative to urgent and needy. Finn picked up Rory and their legs closed around his waist. “Oh, that’s right,” Finn murmured into Rory’s ear. “We had plans last night, didn’t we?”

“I believe you were going to devour me?” Rory said, holding Finn even tighter.

“Like I haven’t eaten in years,” Finn said. He carried Rory down the hall to their bedroom and feasted.

That didn’t actually solve any of their problems, though.

Chapter Twenty

Cali and Bryson

Finn squinted at his screen and read the email again. “Wow!” he said to Rory, who was flipping quesadillas in a frying pan. “Markos has invited us to the grand opening. Like, everyone. All of Breakpoint and their families.”

“No way!”

“It's the weekend Cali and Bryson are coming.”

“That’s perfect!” Rory hesitated. “That’s the weekend of Bailey’s party, too. It’s Sunday night.”

Right. Bailey’s party. They hadn’t talked about it since their Valentine’s Day fight.

“Oh. Okay. That will be so fun for the kids,” Finn said, tactfully steering the conversation away from the abyss.

Rory came to read over Finn’s shoulder. “I wonder if I can invite my extended family?”

Finn tried not to grimace. Because of course Rory would want to invite the entire family tree. “Park’s looking great though,” Finn said, changing the subject again, scrolling through the rest of Markos’ email. “What’s left for you to do before it all goes live?”

“Just have to submit to the app store and get approval, and we’ll do some dry runs at the park this week to see how it works real time in the kitchen. You?”

“Not much. I’m supposed to give notes on the new ride but they haven’t sent me the files yet. All the ads are live.”

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