Page 75 of Where We Belong

“Mrs. O’Connor finally realized it was you who stole from her pumpkin patch in fifth grade?”

“Fuck off, I’m being serious.”

He chuckles. “What’d you do?”

“Where do I even start?”

I briefly go over what happened since our ruined first date, the forced friendzone that ensued, and what things have been like between us since. Once I’m done, I’m breathless, and Aaron is quiet, so I add in a rush, “And I just invited her in your parents’ hot tub, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to survive it.”

Aaron hums. “I love that hot tub.”

“That’s fucking disgusting,” I say. There’s only one thing that tone can mean, and I’d rather not think about it.

He laughs. “But seriously, though. What happened that made you skip on her?”

“I can’t tell you.” If I couldn’t say a word to Lexie about it and ruined what we’d barely started, I’m not going to break Francesca’s trust with Aaron, no matter how much I’d like to tell him the shit I found out about my sister’s ex-boyfriend. If he’s still her ex-boyfriend.

“Fine. But even without knowing, I can imagine how she’d feel. You ditch her and don’t offer a good explanation. Maybe if you gave hersomething…”

“I can’t. Besides, that’s not the point. The point is, I’m about to get real close to a girl I’m… A girl I like, and I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“Man, I feel you. That sucks.”

I rub at my scalp. I’m sure this situation alone will give me another bald patch in a few days.

“Give her some time,” Aaron says. “That’s the only thing you can do at this point if you don’t want to be fully honest with her about everything. Regain her trust. Make her see you’re there to stay.”

There to stay.The one thing I’ve never been good at doing.

“Yeah, okay,” I say. I guess there’s no other option anyway.

After a moment, Aaron breaks my spiraling thoughts by saying, “Iknewyou were into her.”

“Shut up.” Having reached the main house, I use the key they gave me a while back, then step inside. “It’s not like that.” I head toward the bathroom on the main floor where Martina keeps the towels, then put Aaron on speaker phone so I can start undressing.

“What’s it like, then?”

I push my tongue into my cheek. “I don’t know, man. It’s…” The words die on my tongue because really, I don’t know what it’s like. I can’t say precisely what Lexie is to me except that she’smore. So much more.

“I think I get it,” Aaron ends up saying, no trace of sarcasm in his voice. In a way, I think he’s right. His path to Wren was so damn rough, and yet they have the most beautiful love story I’ve ever seen. Two people who fought their feelings for so long but who were always meant to end up together.

“All right, gotta go,” I say, now only in my checkered boxer briefs. Thank god they have tiny buttons closing the fly, because the last thing I need right now is flashing Lexie in the hot tub like a weirdo.

“Hey, Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll be fine. She’ll figure it out. See you’re a great guy.”

“Thanks man,” I say, his words easing some of the tension in my shoulders. Aaron’s the best man I know, so if he has hope, how can I not? “See ya.”

I hang up, then see I’ve received a text while I was talking.

Lexie: Where are you?

Me: Heading into the hot tub. Meet me in the back?

She doesn’t answer, but when the “seen” message appears on my phone, I rush out the back door with my towel, then push open the lid of the tub, steam billowing out and making me blink.

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