Page 80 of Where We Belong

“Lexie, a little help here?” Finn says.

“I have to admit, I’m on Finn’s side,” I say, offering Lilianne an apologetic smile. “You deserve better than that, butobviouslywe don’t know everything.” At this, I kick Finn under the table. He needs to lay off her a little. He’s been hammering at her for the past ten minutes to dump her year-long boyfriend on the spot.

She rubs a spot between her eyebrows, and for the first time today, I realize just how tired she looks.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” she says.

“Lil, he dodges your texts all the time, he leaves you alone to play video games like some kind of twelve-year-old, and he forgot to pick you up yesterday,” he says, putting air quotes around the word “forgot.” I have to say, I agree with Finn that he probably didn’t forget, and if he did, that doesn’t make it that much better. The guy didn’t go pick up his girlfriend at the hospital after a four-hour dialysis session when he’d promised he’d be there. Thankfully, Finn was free and could be there in twenty minutes, but I can’t begin to imagine how that must’ve felt for her.

“But he loves me,” she says, breaking my heart into a million pieces.

Finn doesn’t answer, simply grabbing her hand over the table.

The mood has changed drastically, now somber even in the sunlight, our ice creams melted and forgotten on the table.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she says with a smile that doesn’t look natural, then disappears into the grocery store next to the ice cream stand.

“It kills me to see her like this,” Finn says. “It’s like everyone can see it but her.”

“I know. But we can’t make her do something she doesn’t want to.”

Finn rubs at his scalp before getting up and scooping the bowls from the table, then throwing them in the trash can so hard that some of the melted ice cream flops onto the ground. “I’m so done with all those fucked-up men.”

“What have other men done to you?” I ask. I know I’d have my fair share of names to give if I’d been the one asked, but apart from Lilianne’s boyfriend and maybe my brother, he doesn’t seem to have other assholes around him.

He opens his mouth, but it’s as if the answer is trapped in there.

My brows crease.

He goes to start again, but before he can answer, someone calls his name behind me. A feminine voice.

I notice the multiple emotions going through Finn’s face as he looks over my shoulder. First, there’s the confused narrowing of his eyes. Then, there’s the stiffening of his entire body as recognition seems to hit him. Then, worry, or maybe it’s anger? And finally, his expression slackens, shoulders stooping as if he wants to be swallowed whole. I didn’t recognize the voice, but even without knowing who this person is, I hate them with a passion.

“Chrissy, hey,” Finn says, having regained his smile in the last second. He’s a fabulous actor. If I didn’t know him like I do, I couldn’t tell he’s faking it.

Slowly, I turn to see who that Chrissy is. She looks to be around our age, or maybe older, with a toddler on her hip and a baby in a stroller—a gadget that looks like it cost more than my car. Her pale red hair is pulled back into a bun, and she has a full face of makeup.

She’s really, really pretty.

Behind her stands a tall, skinny guy with long brown hair and a boring face. He’s staring at his phone and doesn’t even look up at whoever Chrissy’s talking to.

“Oh my god, it’s been so long!” she says, throwing her free arm around Finn’s neck and squeezing.

“Yeah,” he says, giving her back a few taps, nothing like the hugs I know he can give. That tells me all I need to know about how he feels about her. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m great. How are you? I didn’t even know you were back in town!”

“Yeah, for a little more than a year now.”

“I can’t believe it,” she says as she pulls back, and the way her hand lingers on his chest tells me something else: they were more than friends at some point. “Little Finn, all grown up.”

He tenses under her touch.

I clear my throat. “Hi, I’m Lexie.” I extend my hand, and as she takes it and starts shaking it weakly, I blurt out, “His girlfriend.”

I don’t know what makes me say it. Maybe the discomfort written all over Finn’s face. Maybe jealousy. Or maybe just that I want her to stay the fuck away. I’ve never seen Finn this shaken, so she must’ve done something to him at some point.

From the corner of my eye, I spot Finn spinning my way with wide eyes, but I pretend as if I haven’t noticed it and hope he just goes with it.

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