Page 14 of The Nicest Thing
"And the cookies."
"Honestly, I don't even like books," Lavender put in.
I could hear Emmy and Maisie laughing as I tried to control my face.My left eye started twitching, and I didn't see that stopping any time soon.
"Do you mind if I take some of these for my sorority sisters?" Lavender said, reaching for the bookie cookies, and I snapped.
"Yes," I said, "I do mind."
As I snatched the plate back, she stared at me with her mouth open in shock.
"These are only for members of the book club.We eat the cookies, drink the tea, read the books and enjoy talking about them.If that's not you, feel free to leave."
"Fine, I will."
I thought I heard Tory mutter, "It's not like she needs more cookies anyway," to which her sister said, "I know, right."Maisie opened the door for them, and Emmy shooed them out.When the door shut, I finally collapsed on the couch.
"Well, that sucked," I mumbled.
"Theysuck," Maisie corrected, "but you were awesome."
"Yeah, I loved it," Emmy said."When you grabbed the cookies, I nearly cheered."
"I like it when she said, 'These are only for members of the book club.'"
"We eat the cookies," Emmy said sternly.
I couldn't hold back a smile."They take a long time to make."
Minutes later when the door opened again, we were still laughing. I'd just taken a bite of my second bookie cookie—the twins could take their attempt to body-shame me and choke on it—but I paused as Finn walked in.He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, black workout pants, and a black baseball cap.My throat went dry as I gazed at him.Finn's shirt was dirty, his pants too, but only in spots.There was nothing new about his appearance.I'd seen him like this a hundred times.Still, heat filled my cheeks as I drank him in.The clothes he wore fit him like a glove.The shirt hugged his broad shoulders;the pants hung low on his hips, showcasing muscular thighs that I definitely should not be noticing.But I couldn't help it.Finn was and had always been the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.
He plopped down on the couch beside me, and I forced myself to swallow. The baseball cap was too much.It made his light gray eyes even more piercing.
"Sorry," he said."Practice ran late.Well, later than usual."
Finn threw me a smile, completely oblivious to the effect he had on me.
Thank goodness.
I cleared my throat then gestured to his shirt."What happened there?"
"Oh, we were teaching the kids how to slide home.They had fun with that, kept asking me to demonstrate."
"Sounds like fun."
"It was.So, what did I miss?" he asked then looked around."Where are the others?"
I shrugged."They left."
"Did you discuss the book already?"
"No.Actually, they just wanted to talk about you."
He scoffed."What?"
"It's true," Emmy said, and Maisie nodded.
Finn looked so surprised it made me smile.
