The Outliers (The Outskirts Duet #2)

“Are ya’ll gonna stand out there and hug all day or you gonna come on in?” Another loud yet much deeper voice boomed from the door.

Finn and his mother walked me up to the front steps to meet the man who was Finn, just older. White hair where Finn’s was dirty blonde. A few more lines on his slightly reddened face. But his height, build, and even the way he was standing with his arms crossed over his chest was entirely Finn.

“It’s eerie isn’t it, darling?” Finn’s mom whispered when she saw me staring between the two men.

I could only nod. I didn’t know if eerie was the right word, but it was certainly interesting how it appeared that the mold used to make Finn’s father was reused to make Finn.

“Nice seeing you again, son,” Finn’s dad said, “Been too damn long.” He held out his hand but the second Finn placed his hand out his father took it and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. “Get over here.”

“Great seeing you again too, old man.” Finn said sounding genuine. I couldn’t help but smile. His happiness was downright infectious.

“Old man? I don’t look a day over fifty-two.” His dad argued, puffing out his chest.

“That’s because you ARE fifty-two,” Finn’s mother said with a playful shove to his shoulder.

“This must be Sawyer,” his dad said, turning his attentions and his Finn-like killer smile on me.

I couldn’t help but smile back. “It’s great meeting you both, Mr. And Mrs. Hollis. Thank you for having me in your home.” I instantly realized we were still on the porch. “Or…outside of your home?” I amended.

Finn placed a hand on the small of my back. A reassuring gesture I desperately needed. I don’t know why I was suddenly nervous to meet new people. I’d been doing it practically every single day for months.

But this is your first time meeting the parents of the man you love.

“No need for the formalities, darling,” Mr. Hollis chuckled. “You can call me Joe and this here beautiful lady is my Josie.”

“Joe and Josie?” I raised my eyebrows at the similar yet adorably fitting names.

Josie placed an arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from Finn and leading me into the house. Joe and Finn followed closely behind. “You think that’s weird?" she whispered. "You should meet our neighbors. Sam and Samantha.”

I chuckled.

“Although, I think these kids here got us beat with the cute names, hun,” Joe chimed in.

“How is that…” Finn’s mom trailed off. She stopped walking and spun around as the realization hit her.

“I knew you’d get a kick out of it,” Finn said with a proud smile. “Since it is your favorite book and all.”

Josie clapped her hands together and looked like she was about to melt into the wood floor. She glanced between us with a smile that took up her entire face.

“Finn and Sawyer!”





Chapter 11





Finn





We ate my mother’s famous roast chicken for dinner. It tasted better than I remembered. The conversation was light and filled with laughter. I found myself reaching over several times to squeeze Sawyer's hand or rub my foot against her calf under the table to reassure her. Although after a while it was clear her nerves had faded and she was just another Hollis sitting around the dinner table.

Just another Hollis.

Something about that made me want to sweep her off to a cave somewhere. I doubted the twin bed in my old bedroom would be as manly, it was going to have to do.

My caveman urges were going to have to wait. After dinner, my father and I sat out on the back deck while my mother insisted that Sawyer stay in to help her with her famous cobbler.

“Since when does Mom need help with desert?” I asked, taking the cigar my father handed to me and biting off the end to light it. Cigars weren’t really my thing but it was almost a tradition that every time I’d visited we’d smoke one and shoot the shit.

“She don’t. That woman can bake with her eyes shut and her hands tied behind her back.” He held up the cigar in his hand. “It’s been too long since we had one of these,” he said, lighting his cigar and puffing on it until the tip turned red then handing it to me to do the same. I took a puff and blew it out.

“Yeah, Dad,” I agreed. “Way too long.”

“You better now, kid? ‘Cause you look better than the last time I saw you when you practically tossed your mama and I out on our asses when we came to check on ya after Jackie passed. I know you told us that you were fine even when you weren’t even close to fine. Broke our hearts when we realized there wasn’t nothing we could do for you but let you work it out on your own. And I know it was hard, but I’m glad you continued taking your mama’s calls. It meant the world to her to know you were still trudging through the mess you made of your life instead of giving up on it.”

I hated being responsible for their pain while I was going through mine. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I really am. Couldn’t see past my own shi…” my mother gave me a glare. I chuckled. “stuff, to understand what I was putting you through.”

My chest tightened at the thought of them suffering because of me.

“Yes, you hurt us. But yes, you are very forgiven. Always,” my mother said, patting the top of my hand.

“Beat around the bush why don’t ya,” I said playfully.

My mom beamed. “Life’s too short to beat around it when you can carve your way through it in half the time and sit back with a beer and a cigar for the other half.”

“There was nothing you guy could’ve done to help me see my way clear of my own bullshit back then. But, yeah. I’m better now. I’m sorry I put you through all that.”

Dad looked down at his cigar, turning it around in his fingers like it somehow held all the answers. “Looks like Sawyer may have played a part in getting you back to us.” He gestured to the window where mom was talking enthusiastically, waving a rolling pin around in her hand while Sawyer laughed at whatever embarrassing story she was probably telling about my childhood. It meant everything to me to have her there. To be part of my family. The three people I cared about most in the world were under one roof and it was a kind of feeling of being complete that I never thought I’d ever have.

He couldn’t have been more right. “She was the first person to come along who made me miss living. I wasn’t expecting her. Or the way she made me feel. Took me by complete surprise.”

“The good ones always do.” Dad nodded like he understood exactly what I was saying although I didn’t quite understand it myself. “I see the way you look at that girl. That’s what I like to call the forever factor. I had it in my eyes when I saw your mother for the first time,” he blew out a breath like he couldn’t believe it himself. He glanced back through the window.

“You still have it when you look at her now,” I said.

“That’s what FOREVER means, son.”