Page 69 of The Boss I Can't Stand
Sierra nabbed my wrist, dragging me into the hall.
“What?” I said as she settled me with an unimpressed glare.
“She looked really hurt.”
I waved off her concern. “She’ll be fine.”
“I think she was really trying tonight, Finn.”
I scoffed. “Yes. Trying to poison us.”
Sierra tilted her head, giving me a thin-lipped smile. “No, I think she was trying to build a connection with you. By being involved in your movie. By framing this night around what you’ve both been working on together. And you just basically told her that her efforts weren’t good enough.”
I shook my head. Sierra didn’t get it. I was doing this for all of us—and not just because I didn’t want us to have to choke down inedible food.
“I’m just trying to save us all, including Mom, from the inevitable breakdown that will happen when she realizes dinner didn’t pan out the way she imagined. Trust me. This is how it’s been my whole life.”
“Maybe in the past, but don’t you think you should at least give her a chance? That’s not who she is anymore.”
I took Sierra by the arms, squeezing gently. “That’s who she’ll always be,” I said simply. “Look, I’m glad she’s doing okay now—that therapy and medication and everything else are helping—but that doesn’t mean I trust her to hold it together when shit really hits the fan. So if I can keep things from reaching that point, I’m going to. Bad enough that we had to suffer through that first course. It’s going to take days to get the taste of overcooked duck liver out of my mouth.”
Sierra grimaced. “It did remind me a little of cat food. Though I can’t say my first attempt at something so complicated would be any better.”
“See? It’s better this way. I’ve taken the stress off the evening by lifting the responsibility from Mom’s shoulders. How is that a bad thing?”
“I never said it was a bad thing,” Sierra replied, but I could tell there was more she wasn’t saying.
I sighed. “Everyone’s happier this way, and no one’s put out or disappointed.”
Sierra looked at me like I was missing the point, but I waswellacquainted with this particular point. When it came to Mom, it always paid to anticipate the worst.
24
SIERRA
“Is this a joke?” I asked as we turned off the main drive into a crowded parking lot. When Finn had told me he wanted the location of theEvery Day Is Sundaywrap party to be a surprise, I’d envisioned some swanky hotel rooftop terrace downtown. Notthis.
Finn laughed at the utter shock on my face. “Why would it be a joke? You think I’d have driven you thirty minutes outside the city just to be funny?”
“Stop,” I said, hardly containing my glee. He must have been messing with me. “Is this really where the wrap party is? I’m not being punked?”
Finn cut the ignition, his lips curling into a cheeky half grin. “Yes, this is really where the wrap party is. And no, you are not being punked.”
I glanced back out the window, staring at the sign for the Gutter Ball, a massive bowling alley. It looked like something right out of the eighties, with flashing pink, green, and yellow neon signs pointing the way to the entrance, retro graphic posters, and a geometric paint pattern along the sides of the building.
“Ready?” Finn asked me.
I hopped out of the car, recognizing some of the cast and crew that spilled out the front door of the building. The smell of greasy, fried food filled the air, mingling with the thumping music from inside. Honestly, this was something straight out of my tenth birthday party, and probably the most fun wrap party I could ever imagine. So what the hell was Hart of Gold doing here?
“Okay,” I said, narrowing my eyes as Finn walked around the front of the car, looping his arm over my shoulders. “What’s really going on?”
“A good time by the sounds of it,” he said as raucous laughter echoed across the parking lot. “Think we should join them?”
I looked up at him in the lingering twilight. “You didn’t turn the wrap party into a bowling thing just for me, right?”
He shrugged off my question, pulling me closer as he led me to the front door. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Finn!” I huffed.
