Page 84 of The Nicest Thing
"Why couldn't they just be together?" she said.
"Because if they were, the book would be over," Rose said to murmurs of agreement.
"The unresolved sexual tension literally almost killed me."
"Looks like you survived."
"Barely."
Walking in to book club late sucked.But it allowed me to revel in Rose's laughter, airy, light, and free.My favorite sound.When I stepped into the room, before she realized I was there, I got to witness the happy glow around her.Didn't matter if I was responsible for it or not.I loved seeing Rose happy.
June spotted me first.
"Finn," she said, smiling at me, "why are you hovering by the door?"
"I'm not," I said with a shrug.
"You were kind of hanging back, watching from the shadows," Maisie pointed out.
Okay, so maybe June wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Finn's always been creepy," Emmy said to which I scoffed."How was practice?"
Shaking myself out of it, I walked farther into the room. "Fun.Tiring.Messy."
"You're not kidding."My sister laughed and gestured to my shirt."What'd you do roll in the mud?"
"It's not that bad," I argued.
"Please.You're absolutely filthy."
Rose choked on a cough.I was 99.9 percent sure she was remembering the last time we spoke, when I'd admitted todreaming about her, leaving out the details, but you wouldn't know that by how pink her cheeks were now.I threw Rose a wink as she tried to get a handle on the coughing by sipping some tea.
"You okay, Rose?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said and hit me with a glare, "I'm fine.No thanks to you."
"Me?What'd I do?"
"You know what you did."
"But I don't."
Rose sighed."Finn, if you're going to be late, you could at least try not to be distracting."
"But I like distracting you," I said, enjoying the way her eyes sparked.
"Okay," Emmy said slowly, "what's going on?"
"Nothing," Rose and I said at the same time.
She tried to glare at me again but ended up laughing instead when I hit her with my most innocent expression.
"Also, sorry for disrupting the meeting," I added then held up the box in my hand."But I did bring food."
Emmy's eyes widened."Is that pizza from The Village?"
"Only the best."
