Page 94 of Finn Rhodes Forever

I quirked a smile down at her before turning back to the stars.

She stuck another marshmallow on the stick. “The Thompsons keep asking me for another date.”

My chest shook with laughter. “I know. Shannon found me at the bar and I said to talk to you about it.”

“Thanks.” She gave me a flat look.

My head fell back as I laughed. “Baby, this one’s all on you.”

“I know,” she groaned.

A thought flicked into my head. “We should take your parents out for dinner.”

She stiffened. In her lap, her hands came together, twisting. “Why?”

A knot formed in my throat but I ignored it. “Because I want your mom to get to know me. Or, the grown-up version of me.” Jen’s face at the class presentation appeared in my head, amused but not impressed. “When she knew me, I was just a stupid kid.” My gaze lingered on Liv. “I want her to be on board with us.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged, studying the stick she was using to roast marshmallows. “It’s still new to us, you know?”

Unease threaded through my gut and I frowned. “What’s new about it? We’ve been friends since before we could walk. Your mom should have known we’d find our way back to each other.”

An unwelcome thought rose in my head. Liv still had reservations about us.

I folded my arms over my chest and my brow furrowed.

Her hands twisted. “I want to give it a bit more time. I’m not saying no, I’m saying… not right now. I want things to be easy.”

Her eyes pleaded and I nodded. “Okay. I get it.”

I had hurt her, and now I had to be patient.

“Thanks.” Her teeth worried that pretty bottom lip but her shoulders inched down in relief. Her eyes searched my face a moment. “Can I ask you a question?”

I nodded.

“Why did you go cliff jumping that night?” she asked, voice soft.

In an instant, I was transported back to that night. The terror I felt, the shame, the worry that she’d see who I was and toss me aside. I raked a hand back through my hair as I put an answer together.

“I was terrified,” I told her. “I, uh.” My chest tightened. “I liked you for so long and then it was real. A part of me knew I wasn’t good enough for you.” Our eyes met. “I’m still not.”

She frowned. “Don’t say that.”

“I wasn’t drunk.”

She stared at me in confusion. “What?”

I blew a breath out, wincing at the dark forest. “I wasn’t drunk when I got home. I’d had two beers over two hours.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But you tripped when you got out of the car. I saw you.”

“Ididtrip, but that was because I’d left my bike across the path to the front door, and I didn’t see it.”

“You were slurring your words,” she whispered. “You slumped against the door.”

Shame snaked through my gut, and I swallowed with difficulty. My heart was banging in my chest. “I did that on purpose.”

“Why?” Her eyes were wide.

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