Page 76 of A Hard Fit

“God.” Griffin shook his head. “Look, Finn. Am I a spoiled brat? Yes. But I admit it. Jackon is a spoiled brat who thinks his shit don’t stink. You can’t let him get to you.”

“He’s kind of right, though. Rory is…amazing. And I’m just me.”

“Yeah, Rory’s all right. But so are you.” Griffin grinned and tousled Finn’s hair. “Now let’s go back to the party. Rory will be wondering where you are.”

Right on cue, Rory appeared as soon as they emerged from the bathroom.

“Finn! There you are.” They slid an arm around Finn and tucked themselves up against his side. “Everything okay?”

Griffin waited for Finn to answer.

“Yup. Fine. I just ate too much.” Finn smiled and patted his stomach.

“Oh, I hear you. Did you have any of Miriam’s peanut-butter balls? To die for.”

“Nah, those are all for me.” Griffin slapped Finn on the shoulder and headed down the hall toward the noise.

“You’re sure you’re fine?” Rory said, pausing to look up at Finn with their deep, dark eyes.

Finn kissed their nose. “Completely. Let’s go wrestle some peanut-butter balls away from Griffin.”

* * * *

Finn avoided Jackson like the plague the rest of the afternoon, and he was relieved to find that Lainey had seated Jackson at the opposite end of the dinner table from him and Rory. They were sitting across from Steffie and Mikala, happily child-free, with Leo and Troy at the kids’ table in the kitchen. Finn was next to Rory’s cousin Dimitri, who was lovely with his French accent and musical laugh.

But Finn knew he was in a funk. Rory shot him at least three concerned glances before the turkey was even served, so he did his best to shake it off and get to know the people around him.

“So,” Finn said to Dimitri, “you grew up in France?”

“Oui,” he replied with a dazzling smile. Dimitri actually reminded him a lot of Luka. “I decided to come with my parents when they moved back to Oakport. We all missed our family.”

“Do you miss France, though?” Finn asked, reaching for his wine glass.

“Some things,peut-être.But Oakport is a beautiful city and I am happy to be here withmes chiens.”

“Oh, that’s right, Rory mentioned you have four dogs?”

“That is correct.” Dimitri laughed. “It is too many,je sais. But I love them. Do you have any pets, Finn?”

“No, none for me. There would be animal hair stuck in all my paintings.”

“Oh, you are an artist?”

Dimitri asked Finn lots of questions, and the conversation flowed easily in between bites of the best Christmas dinner Finn had ever eaten. Rory was smiling, giving Finn’s knee a squeeze under the table every now and then.

It was so pleasant that Finn managed to forget what Jackson said…almost.

* * * *

This time when Finn closed the truck door behind him, he didn’t say a word.

“You did so good, babe,” Rory said, leaning over the seat to kiss Finn’s shoulder. “They all loved you so much.”

Jackson’s words came roaring back.“It’s cute that you tried.”

“Yeah,” Finn replied, attempting to smile.

“I told you they would,” Rory continued. “Casper even told me how awesome you were.”

---