Fin led her to the hall, through the benches and to the foot of the stairs where there wasn’t anyone close.
“What’s up, Rees?” he asked when he stopped close to her. Close enough to smell something, her perfume or shampoo. Whatever it was, it smelled like berries.
He liked it.
She looked up at him again and said softly, “I’m really sorry about your Dad, Fin.”
That came as a surprise, like a sock to the gut but God, how could it hurt and feel good at the same time?
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“And I don’t wanna, I mean…you gotta have a lot on your mind and everything so I don’t wanna lay more on you,” she went on, the pain subsided and he felt his brows draw together.
“What?” he asked.
“I…well, I think your aunt, her name is Dusty?” This was a question and she stopped there.
“Yeah, I have an Aunt Dusty. What about her?”
“I think…” she hesitated then finished, “she was seein’ my Dad.”
Finley stared at her.
Holy shit.
Holy fucking shit.
God, he knew all about Aunt Dusty and Clarisse’s Dad. Back in the day, his Dad told him, Aunt Dusty and Mr. Haines were tight, like, tighter than Mr. Haines was with his Aunt Debbie and he was dating her (this did not surprise Finley).
Mr. Haines was a friend of his Dad’s. The dude was cool. Fin always liked him. He had that thing going on where he was a Dad, definitely, but he was also a cop and had that cop vibe. Not the strutty asshole one, the badass, cool guy one, which was awesome. To top that, he was around in a good Dad way. Always at No’s basketball games but not one of those parents who shouted or got up in their kids’ or the coaches’ shit. And he let No have a garage band which was an awesome thing to do. And Fin had seen him walking with his arm around Clarisse’s shoulders and they were always smiling or laughing.
Mr. Haines was like his Dad.
But he also knew that Mr. Haines had been with his Aunt Debbie in high school. This he didn’t get. Then again, he couldn’t imagine anyone with his Aunt Debbie and totally not someone as cool as Mr. Haines. And last, he got the sense his Dad wanted his Aunt Dusty to have a go at Mr. Haines. He was always mentioning him to her when she was around or when they talked on the phone. Too much. It was weird. Aunt Dusty lived in freaking Texas. It wasn’t like she could make an easy play. Still, it seemed Dad was pushing for it. Then again, Dad and Aunt Dusty were tight and Dad liked family around. Even Aunt Debbie. So he’d push something like that to get Aunt Dusty home.
God, this was fucking awesome. If Aunt Dusty was with Mr. Haines, she’d move home and help out.
“They broke up.”
These words came from Clarisse and he focused on her.
“What?” he repeated.
“I don’t know what happened. I…I just heard Dad talkin’ to her once and it seemed all good then I heard him talkin’ to his partner at work and he said it was done.”
Shit.
“I…well,” she turned and pulled her book bag around to her front then dug in it. She came out with some girl-covered books and held them between him and her. “These are your aunt’s. It’s kinda weird, I know, to read them and there’s some bad stuff in them that’s kinda, um…creepy and upsetting. She wrote them a long time ago. She was, well…into my Dad back then and, well, I don’t know what went on but the way she was into him then it makes it sad that they hooked up and then, um…didn’t stay that way.”
Fin stared at the books.
Clarisse kept talking.
“I…I think that, um…well, actually, I know that if she was closer, Dad would, uh…try to get in there again, I mean, uh…with your aunt.” She stopped and Fin’s eyes went to hers so she went on again and fast, her cheeks getting pink. “Sorry. You think this is weird.”
“You’re tryin’ to get them back together?” he asked.
“I know, it’s weird,” she started to step away muttering, “forget it.”
He reached out, caught her hand tight and she froze. All except for her head which jerked back to look at him.
He kept hold of her hand and said quietly, “It isn’t weird, Rees.”
She blinked then whispered, “Is she, um…cool? I mean, her diaries make her seem cool but she wrote them a long time ago.”
Fin kept holding her hand as he grinned and replied, “Oh yeah, Aunt Dusty is the shit. Totally.”
She seemed to relax like this was good news and she was relieved.
Then she carried on, “I know she lives far away and I don’t know how to get her back. I don’t know how long it would take Dad to –”
Fin grinned, squeezed her hand and cut her off. “I know how to get her back.”
“You do?” she whispered.
Her whisper and her eyes getting big like that was really fucking cute.
“I do,” he said soft.
“Oh.” She was still whispering and the way she did it was even cuter.