She stopped in front of the hall closet and opened the door and shoved me inside. Georgia and Maddox’s house was custom-built, and of course, they had a window in their oversized hall closet with views of the ocean in the distance. It provided enough light to see one another, and I crossed my arms over my chest.
“What are we doing in here, Brinks?”
“What’s going on, Finny?” She raised a brow, and I knew she was counting down in her head because she was not a patient woman. She’d give me a short time to answer before she started her torture tactics.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She reached up and pinched my upper arm so hard, I squealed. “Ouch. What the hell was that for?”
“Stop being a baby. And don’t you dare offend me by lying. I wasn’t born yesterday, you bastard.”
I rubbed at my sore arm and gaped at her. “None of us were. That makes no sense.”
“Cage and Hugh know what’s going on, and you’ve left me and Georgie out. That’s sexist. And rude. Have women not been through enough, for God’s sake?”
I groaned. “This is not me being unfair to you for being a woman. You’re acting insane. They don’t know anything.”
The door whipped open, and Hugh stepped inside. With both he and I in the closet and then you add in petite Brinkley, it was getting a little crowded. I stepped deeper into the abyss of all of Georgia’s holiday boxes and luggage.
“Why are we in the closet?” he asked, before taking a long pull from his beer.
“I’m pissed that he told you guys what’s going on but left out me and Georgie. You know how I feel about picking sides between men and women.”
“Ahhh… so you think he’s a sexist pig for telling us that he has real feelings for Reese and not telling you? You aren’t always the best secret keeper, Brinks.”
“For fuck’s sake. Apparently, neither are you. I told her you didn’t know anything.” I threw my hands in the air.
The door opened again, because heaven for-fucking-bid anyone in this family have a private conversation. Now it was Cage stepping inside, with Georgia right behind him, shoving themselves in and pulling the door closed.
“I figured it had to be something good, seeing as you’re all packed into the closet.” Cage pushed Hugh back a little so he could stand all the way up.
“Georgia, apparently, Finn doesn’t feel that we should be in the know about his real feelings for Reese and that their relationship is not fake. Just as I suspected.”
“Actually, I was the one who suspected it first,” Cage hissed. “And don’t be all righteous. He didn’t want to tell you they were banging because you’d tell him that he had to confess his feelings to her first. And that would have run her off.”
“Yes. The Reynolds men should always lead with the penis,” Hugh said, crushing his beer can after taking the last sip.
“You’re sleeping with her? Jesus, Finny. You should have established the relationship before you went there.” Brinkley poked me hard in the chest. “This is why you come to us first and not these jackasses.”
“Way to go, brother. Once again, we hadn’t shared that. And I’d rather not be in the closet discussing this with you guys while Reese is out there.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Her fucking parents are ten feet away. Can we not do this right now?”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you did it. This is just like tip-of-the-penis-gate. You need to think before you act.” Brinkley poked me in the chest again.
“All I do is fucking think about it, okay? This wasn’t something I took lightly. I wouldn’t have gone there with her if it wasn’t—I don’t know…” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low. “It’s just more, okay?”
“Finny.” Georgia wrapped her arms around me. “You love her, don’t you?”
“I’ve always loved her, so I don’t know how to tell what it means. But yeah, I’ve never felt this before.”
“Do you see this as the long game?” Brinkley asked.
“Listen, she still has Carl in the picture. He’s single again. She didn’t want to end things with me early, so maybe that’s a good sign. But at the same time, I’m fucking terrified. I don’t know if I’m any good at this. What if I push for it and then I fuck it up?”
“Then we’ll have to kill you,” Brinkley said, her voice void of all humor before she barked out a laugh.
The door whipped open and in waddled a very pregnant Dylan. “Hey, what is the rule we have about family meetings?”
“Keep the talk short?” Cage asked, and she chuckled.
“If one goes, we all go. I’m offended that you’ve all disappeared and didn’t invite me.”
“Well, no one here was actually invited,” I said. “They just keep coming in.”
Dylan pressed about what was going on, and Georgia and Brinkley took turns bringing her up to speed, and I took Cage’s beer from his hand and chugged it.
“We need to get back out there. Everyone is going to notice we’re gone.” I made an attempt at the door, and this time it was Dylan who pinched me.
“Don’t you dare leave before I give you my two cents,” she said.
“Aren’t pregnant women supposed to be sweet?” Cage asked over his laughter.
“Yeah, you try having a giant human living inside you and then push him out of your penis and tell me if you’d be sweet.” She raised a brow, and now the entire closet erupted in laughter.
“Okay, let’s hear your two cents, Dilly,” Hugh said as he winked at her.
“You’re worrying about the wrong things. I get it. She knows what she wants—marriage, babies, all that stuff. And you’ve never thought about it because you’ve never been in love.” She smiled and raised a brow. “I was very similar, Finny. My sisters all knew what they wanted. I’d never imagined my future that way. But here’s the thing—you don’t have to have it all figured out. Because when you really love someone, there’s no running from it. Look at me. I’ve got a watermelon growing in my belly. Who’d have ever thought I’d be pregnant right now?”
“But this is Reese,” Brinkley whispered. “She’s family. You need to figure it out before you promise her the world, because if you hurt her, it’s going to cause a shit storm in this family and in hers.”
“And let’s not forget Dr. Pricknuts. She had planned to marry the dude, and now he’s single and wants her back. How do we know she isn’t going to crush Finny’s heart?” Cage said with a wicked grin on his face.
“Why the fuck are you smiling when discussing my heartache?”
“Just never thought I’d see the day that you’d be someone’s little bitch.” He barked out a laugh.
“Why does no one pinch him?” I grumped, just as a knock on the door had us all going silent.
Dylan pushed it open, and Wolf peeked his head in. “Dinner’s ready, and everyone’s looking for you.”
“How’d you know where we were?” my cousin purred to her husband.
“I’ve always got my eyes on you, Minx.”
“Good answer. Take some lessons, Finny,” Dylan teased as we all piled out of the closet.
“Hey,” Hugh said, just before I stepped out. We were the last two in there. “I doubted myself, too. But what I learned is, just because you’ve never done it before, doesn’t mean you can’t. It just means that you haven’t met someone worth going out on a limb for. Maybe you’ve been single because you’d already met the one you were meant to be with. You just didn’t know it. She’d been there the whole time.”
I nodded. I’d thought that many times over the last few weeks. I clapped him on the shoulder, and we stepped out, hearing all the chatter coming from the dining room.
Reese was deep in conversation with Lila and Olivia, and my mom and Jenny Murphy were refilling wine glasses, while my father and Grant had just finished carving two turkeys and were setting the platters on each end of the table.