Vacation (44 page)

"I've fallen in love with someone
since coming here and he broke my heart tonight." I finished the liquor
and let out a growl. "It's been like nine days or something and I've never
felt like this before. I don't love easily, and I've promised myself never to
love deeply, and yet..."

"You can't help yourself,
right?" He gave me a knowing smile.

"Right." I tapped the glass on
the counter. "More."

He filled it up again and I was grateful
for him being home. It was weird, but simply getting the pain off my chest left
me feeling better.

"If he's the one, then you're sitting
in the wrong place right now. True love doesn't give up, baby." He pushed
the glass back toward me. "Your mother broke my heart a million times
before we were married, but I wouldn't stop. I was relentless, and you know
what?"

"What, Dad?" Tears blurred my
gaze again. Finn was angry because he was hurt. There was a reason behind it.
It wasn't at all what I thought it was, but somehow, I was ready to throw in
the towel and pretend as though I wasn't feeling the incredible pain that I was
feeling over him. The pain was proof of the emotion that lay underneath it.
Whether it made sense or not, I wanted him by my side. In my bed. In my life.

"The hurt faded over the years as
your mother worked to show me how much she loved me. It took little time at all
before we were completely and totally one in all things." He looked up at
the ceiling and let out a painful sound. "I miss her so much."

"I know you do, but she would want
you to move on. You know she would." I got up and walked into the kitchen
to wrap my arms around him.

He wrapped his strong arms around me, too,
and I sunk into his hold, needing it so bad.

"I know she would. I'm trying, but
doing it all wrong. I'll work on it. You don't give up on this boy. Deal?"

I nodded as I held back my tears.
"Deal."

Chapter 18

Finn

Kari could not have shown up at a worse
time.

Did
I really call Chloe a whore?
I walked back into the
restaurant as sickness rolled over me. No way
I'd
done
that. I would never insult a woman that way – especially not someone like
Chloe.

I had. Dammit.

"There you are." Kari moved up
and slipped her arm through mine. "Who was that, really? I know you, and
you do not have female friends."

I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket
and laid a twenty on the table before jerking my arm out of hers.

"Kari. Stop. Shit." I looked up
at her and put my wallet up. "Leave me alone. Okay?"

"Finn. We've been friends for a long
time. Don't close up on me." She moved closer, but I held up my hand.

"I'm serious. Now is not the
time."

"I just want to help." She
puffed her bottom lip out in a pout.

"By sliding into the seat across from
a girl I was with and pawing at me?" I knew my voice was getting a little
too loud, but I was done with people using me. "Who were you helping?
Yourself?"

She got in my face and pressed her finger
to my chest. "Don't you try to get all high and
mighty.
You might be turning a new leaf, but you're still the same old guy. Always
looking to score and break some girl's heart in the morning. We all have you
figured out. That poor girl needed saving. I saved her."

I laughed sardonically and pushed her hand
off my chest. "Yeah. You bitches see what you want to see. I don't
care."

Turning, I moved out of the restaurant and
walked to my truck. I was grateful Chloe had forced us to take separate rides.
The last thing I wanted to do was walk home after the mess I'd made between us.

I texted Brian to meet me at the bar near
my place and headed that way. He lied to me or she lied to him. I needed to
know which. Someone owed me a damn apology because I wasn't going to be the
only one on my knees this time. I'd been there too many times in the last
twelve years and I was tired of it.

I drove like a bat out of hell as I tried
to think through how to get Chloe to see me again. I just needed to apologize
for how ugly I'd been. She wasn't a whore. I was. I didn't need to leave things
like that with her.

Her words rang through my head again and I
growled low in my chest. Had she broken up with the football guy? Was she
really looking for a guy like me or did she make that shit up to cover her
tracks?

The authentic hurt in her face told me
that she was telling the truth, but I was terrified of playing the fool. It was
easier to tuck my feelings back deep down inside of me and just go around as
the town dick.
it
was better than being a broken man
with nothing left to offer anyone.

I parked and walked in, slowing my stride
and putting my facade in place. There was no reason to let anyone see me upset.
It would just cause talk amongst the locals and leave me looking like an idiot.

"Hey." Brian lifted his hand in
the air.

"Hey." I sat down and nodded to
his beer as
Pauly
walked up. "I'll have a
Budweiser, too."

"You bet, Finn. Good to see you,
son." He stuck out his hand and I shook it.

"You too,
Pauly
."
I turned to Brian. "Chloe said she doesn't have a boyfriend, Brian."

"And, you're surprised by this?"
He chuckled and lifted his beer to his lips.

"Yeah, actually, I am. Did she seem
like the kind of woman that would have two men?"

"No, not at all, but it's usually
women like her that you have to watch out for." He shrugged.

"What? Why?"

"She's classy, beautiful, brilliant,
and has the world waiting for her next move. Girls like her know how to lie,
how to look the part, and it leaves us guessing. I don't like it, Finn."

"I don't care what you think she is
or isn't. What I care about is whether she really told you that she's dating
someone."

"Yeah, Finn. I've known you my whole
fucking life. I wouldn't lie to you." He turned away from me and took
another drink of his beer.

"What exactly did she say? Lay it on
me." I'd forced myself to calm down, not wanting to upset him. He was my
best friend and there was no way he wouldn't shoot straight with me over a
girl. We'd been friends for far too long and been through a ton of shit
together.

"She said that she was glad she got
to go out dancing. Her boyfriend back in California is the jealous type and
never lets her get out and have a little bit of harmless fun." He rolled
his eyes and let out a long sigh. "It was something to that tune. She said
she had a man, and I was just warning you. She's lying to you or she was lying
to me."

She might have lied to Brian to save him
from asking her out. She was that type of girl to save a poor guy from looking
too much liked an idiot. Her character just screamed goodness. The memory of
her bringing the cup of hot chocolate to me a few days back rose behind my
eyelids and my heart contracted painfully. Sitting in her kitchen and talking
about nothing had been so damn nice. So right.

"What are you thinking?" Brian
asked.

"That I need to get her back. I
fucked things up tonight because her brother validated what you just said and I
was angry with her." I shrugged. "I should have been a man and just
asked her about it, but I didn't. I acted like a brat and treated her like she
didn't matter, which honestly, couldn't be farther from the truth."

"You just met her, Finn. Don't you
think you're being a little irrational about this?"

"Not at all." I glanced over at
him and took a swig of my beer. "But then again, I believe in love. I've
tried to pretend like I don't so I don't have to hurt so much, but the honest
to God truth is that I believe in it."

"And, you should,"
Pauly
butted in, leaning toward us and staring me in the
face. "I met my wife on the dance floor one night thirty years ago. It was
an old country hoedown in Kentucky and the minute I saw her, I knew. Sounds
silly, but that's because it doesn't happen to everyone. Those of us who are
struck with its overwhelming power know the truth of it, though. If you've felt
it, you better not let it go, Finn. It don't come around but once in a life,
and sometimes not even once."

"That sounds great,
Pauly
, but I've never felt like that. Not once." Brian
sat back and lifted his eyebrow at the old barkeep.

"Just because you've never tangibly
seen gravity, you can't deny that it exists, Brian. It's a force, just like
love is. Stop being ignorant and open yourself up to the possibility that
somewhere in the world there a woman just for you. When you see her, time
stands still and you find yourself willing to-”

I cut him off as I stared at the liquor
bottles behind him. "To do anything for her. You'll give up your own
dreams, cut family ties, or move across the country for her. Anything to have
her as yours."

"That's it. Don't let that go, Finn.
The world will pull it away from you. Fix it and hold tight to that girl. She's
the one." He winked and moved back, his words leaving me breathless.

"I don't know if I believe that, but
I wish I did." Brian turned to me. "I didn't mean to cause you any
trouble. You're like a brother to me. When she said she was dating someone, I
told you. No way was I keeping that from you. You'd have done the same."

I finished the beer and shook my head.
"I know, buddy. I'm sorry I blew up."

"It's all good. What can I do to
help?"

"I'm not sure yet, but if I think of
something, I'll call."

"You heading out?"

"Yeah. I need to see if she'll see
me. I doubt it, but I'm going to try."

"Just be careful. Her old man is a
financial mogul. He's a dick, too. I had a run in with him a few years back. It
took me a day to put two and two together after her friend said her last name
the other night."

"Her father owns a clothing line,
right?" I glanced over at him, praying I wasn't about to uncover another
lie.

"Yeah, he does, but he owns a chuck
of this city and has massive stock investments, too. When we say wealthy,
that's a big understatement."

"She just doesn't come off as someone
with loads of money."

"I agree." Brian shrugged and
finished his beer. "Come on. I'll walk you out."

I lifted my hand in the air and waved.
"Night,
Pauly
. Thanks for the advice."

"Don't leave it here. Take it with
ya
and do something with it." He winked and went back
to wiping down the bar.

"I will." I walked out into the
freezing cold and turned, feeling better about everything. It was going to be a
bitch to get Chloe to listen to me, but the resolve to not give up felt good – like
I had purpose.

"What are you going to do if she
won't see you?" Brian asked, moving to his car and pausing.

"Keep trying, I guess." I
shrugged and stopped by the back of my truck.

"Isn't she going home back to
California soon?"

"That's what she said." I
brushed my fingers by my chin and tried to work through how I could get her to
talk to me. She most likely went home and no one was supposed to be there. I
could just go out there and knock on the door. It seemed logical.

"So, I guess you're on a short time
span then, dude. You better get after it." He smiled and shook his head.
"If anyone can do it, you can."

"Thanks, buddy. I'll call you
later." I walked around my truck. I wasn't on a timetable, at all. If she
didn't come around while she was here, I would simply go there. Only when she
made it perfectly clear that she wasn't interested in anything ever happening
between us, I'd be done.

I got in the car and hooked my phone up as
a call from my dad rang through.

"Hey, Pops. What's up?" I closed
the door and buckled up.

"You. That's what's up." He was
angry.

Great.
More shit to deal with.

"What did I do now? It's been a
fucked up night, so I'm sure I had this coming."

"You did what I told you not to do,
which has been the story of your life. Do you think I give you advice because I
enjoy listening to the sound of my own voice? No. I give it to you because
otherwise, you're going to suffer the consequences for
your
fucked up actions."

"Dad. Really. I'm not in the mood for
this shit. Tell me what I did, and I'll fix it. I don't need you berating me.
I'm a piece of shit. I get it," I barked into the console of the truck and
turned out of the lot, headed out to Chloe's place.

"I didn't say you were a piece of
shit. I said you didn't listen."

"I'm hanging up." I let out an
exasperated sigh. I would call him tomorrow. I was too broken for whatever he
was up to.

"I told you to leave Chloe alone, and
you didn't."

How the hell did my father know I'd hurt her?
Did she run home and tell her dad? Had he called mine? We were adults, for
shit-sake. Why the hell was our fathers involved in any of this?

"What?" I had no other word to
throw out.

"Her father caught me in town tonight
and chewed my ass out for sending you over there to do the yard. He said you
were after his girl, and I couldn't deny it. Do me a favor, Finn. Please. Just
one small, tiny thing. Just this once, keep your dick in your pants and keep
away from the Burke girl. Those people are rich, hateful, and headed straight
to hell."

"Yep." I dropped the call and
turned into her driveway, turning off my lights. I would have to figure out how
to deal with my old man once I figured out if there were anything to really
deal
with. Chloe could turn me down cold
and the problem would be solved. I prayed that wouldn't be the case, but the
chances of a different outcome seemed slim.

Maybe her dad wasn't out of town. I texted
her, half expecting no response, but I made my message too compelling to
ignore.

Me:
I'm sitting in your driveway. Come out for two minutes and then I'll leave you
alone after that.

Chloe: Finn?

Me: Yes. Get out here.

Chloe: How did you get my number?

Me: During our shopping trip. Two minutes.

Chloe: No. Go away. My dad's here.

Me: I'm coming up to ring the doorbell. I
want two minutes with you.

Chloe:
Fine. Come to the second window at the back of the house and I'll let you in.
Two minutes and then you're out. I don't have anything to say to you.

I turned the truck off and got out,
jogging to the back and finding her window open. I felt all of sixteen again.
It was humorous and nerve-wracking all the same.