Everyone made their way to the dining room, and we found our seats. I was between Reese and Cage. We passed around the sides and filled our plates while we all chatted. Once we had piles of delicious food on our plates, my father raised his water glass, and we all did the same. Dylan had water, Gracie had chocolate milk, and the rest of us had wine or beer in our glasses.
“Another year to be thankful for good food, great friends, and my beautiful family. Thanks for hosting, Georgia and Maddox. Thank you to the Murphys for being here with us. Let’s all take a minute to think about all the good in our lives,” my father said, and Cage leaned close to my ear.
“I’m thankful that we finally get to eat some damn turkey.”
I chuckled and elbowed him in the arm.
“I’m thankful for Grammie and Pops!” Gracie shouted. “And all my families and for Bob Picklepants.”
I barked out a laugh because the fact that my oldest brother, with the heart of the Tin Man, had not only gotten his baby girl the cutest puppy, but he’d allowed her to name it that ridiculous name.
“Cheers to Bob Picklepants,” Hugh said, holding his glass high.
“To Bob Picklepants!” everyone said together.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s eat.” Cage rolled his eyes before cutting up the food on Gracie’s plate beside him.
Reese piled mashed potatoes onto my plate, and I buttered a roll and set it on hers. I glanced up to see Brinkley smiling at me.
We spent the next thirty minutes going around the table saying what we were thankful for, and my mom couldn’t stop talking about putting the tree up tomorrow and needing help with that.
Gracie was asking about pie, and we all laughed because we’d just consumed more food than anyone ever should in one sitting.
The doorbell rang, and Georgia left to go see who it was. We were still talking and laughing as we pushed to our feet to start clearing the plates.
“Umm, Reese. Carl is here to see you. He’s in the front entryway.”
What the fuck?
This guy had some nerve.
“How did he get through the gate?” Maddox hissed, arms crossed over his chest as he pulled out his phone to check the camera.
“I left the gate open while everyone was arriving.” Georgia shrugged. “I must have forgotten to close it.”
“I’ve got it. Thank you,” Reese said as she glanced over at me.
“We’ve got it,” I said, my voice firm. This guy thought he could crash Thanksgiving because he was now single?
Not a fucking chance.
“You don’t have to do this,” Reese whispered as she looked up at me. “I can ask him to leave.”
“You shouldn’t have to.” I intertwined my fingers with hers, and we walked down the hallway toward the entrance.
Dr. Dipweasal stood in the foyer, holding a giant bouquet of flowers, looking unusually disheveled. His shirt was untucked, and his eyes were bloodshot. My family was in the bar business, so I could spot an intoxicated person a mile away.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said, dropping Reese’s hand as I moved in front of her. “You come to my sister’s house with flowers for my girlfriend on Thanksgiving?”
Carl looked between Reese and me, and he cleared his throat. “Reese and I usually spend Thanksgiving together.”
“Really? Were you with her last year when you cut her off for moving to London? And now you break up with your girlfriend less than twenty-four hours ago and you think you have a right to come here and disrupt our dinner?”
He glared at me, holding his chin high. “Reese, do you think you could step outside and speak to me for a minute?”
It was the moment of truth. Was she going to side with this guy like she always had? I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
“Carl, you shouldn’t have come here. Are you drunk?”
“I’m a mess. I’m lost without you. So yeah, I had dinner with my family, and I drank a lot. And here I am.”
“You need to leave.” She shook her head. “How did you get here?”
“I took an Uber, but he left. I was kind of hoping you’d give me a ride home.”
That was it for me. He’d thought my girlfriend was going to leave with him?
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” I stormed toward him, pushing him up against the door.
“I can handle this!” Reese shouted, and I could hear the quake in her voice.
“Finn, he’s drunk. Not a fair fight, brother,” Hugh said, his voice coming from behind me.
“We’ll give you a ride home,” my father said, as he and Cage stepped up beside Hugh.
“Reese, can we talk first?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hissed.
“For fuck’s sake,” Cage said. “Take the ride before you get a fist to the face. And after my brother strikes, there are a lot more of us standing behind him. Don’t push your luck. You’re lucky we’re offering you a ride.”
My father held up his keys and clapped me on the shoulder. “Go have some pie. We’ll be back shortly.”
Hugh, Cage, and my dad escorted Carl out of the house, and I turned to see Reese standing there with a tear running down her cheek.
As far as I was concerned, that would be the last tear she ever shed over that bastard.
twenty-two
Reese
It had been two weeks since the fiasco at Thanksgiving. I’d never seen Finn so angry. His mother had made a comment about what a great actor he was, making it clear that nobody there believed there wasn’t more going on between us.
And they’d be right.
But I didn’t know what exactly this was, and neither did he.
I’d been angry at Carl for coming there the way he had. It was disrespectful to Finn, and I’d told him as much when I’d finished the renovation of his office that following week.
Thankfully, there was no reason for me to be around him anymore, and I needed this time to figure out what I wanted.
Because at the end of the day, whether Finn wanted the same things I did didn’t really matter. Because he’d shown me that there was a different kind of love than I’d realized.
I didn’t know if he felt what I felt.
I didn’t want to put that pressure on him.
He knew exactly who I was and what I wanted out of this life. That was the reason he’d always hated Carl. He knew that he didn’t love me the way that I deserved to be loved. I couldn’t see it then, but I saw it now.
But I also knew Finn. Knew that he wanted to travel the world and pursue his acting dreams. He’d never talked about wanting kids or wanting to settle down with one woman.
He’d always told me he’d be content being a fabulous uncle to my and his siblings’ kids.
So, he’d need to decide if that had changed or not.
I wouldn’t be settling for less than I deserved anymore, because being loved by Finn Reynolds had been life-changing for me.
Whether he wanted to stay with me forever would be his decision. I was going to enjoy every second of it while it lasted.
I’d been burning the candle at both ends lately, and I was feeling it. I’d taken on three more clients, and I’d had a few people hire me to decorate their homes for the holidays. That wasn’t what I’d planned to offer, but right now, the more work I could take on, the better. I was growing this company, and I needed to push hard to get things going. I’d always been prone to getting run down, so I was doubling up on vitamins to keep my energy up and stay healthy. There was always this nagging fear that I’d relapse. That my world would come crashing down again. That my future wouldn’t hold all the things that I hoped it would. So I was hyperaware of my body and how I was feeling at all times.
You go through several rounds of chemo, and it will teach you to look for red flags.
But tonight, I was surprising Finn. He’d been so supportive of my new business, fighting me when I’d insisted on paying rent to him and Maddox. Bringing me lunch at work all the time. Letting me live in his house while we pretended to be dating—when we were actually dating, we just weren’t admitting it to one another.
I wanted to do something nice for him tonight. I’d made him his favorite dinner, chicken marsala and mashed potatoes. I told him to go to the bedroom and wait for me after.
I’d snuck off to what used to be my bedroom to change into my outfit. The whole house was decorated for Christmas. Finn and I had spent the weekend after Thanksgiving shopping and decorating every inch of his home.