Chapter Twenty-Eight
Finn
I watched Chloe go and wondered why the fuck I'd agreed to Brian coming over. He had been with me the last day at the hospital, and now instead of making love to my woman, I was hanging out with the guy I used to egg houses with.
"Hey, what was that all about?" Brian picked up the bag Chloe brought over and dropped down in the chair next to the couch.
"She just came over to give me those goodies and make sure I was all settled in."
"If you want her to stay, I can totally go, Finn." Brian pulled out a cookie, inspected it, and ate it in three bites.
"No, we're spending all day tomorrow together, I think." I nodded toward the cookie. "That any good? Can she bake?"
"Delicious," he groaned and pulled out another.
"Give me one." I sat up and reached for it, laughing as he clamped his hands down on the bag.
"I mean, tastes like shit. You don't want this. I'll take one for the team and eat them all for us." He bit into another cookie.
"Give me the bag, you ass."
He tossed it to me and I dug through it, pulling out a few candies and three cookies.
"How are you feeling? You still wanting to go into town tonight?" He licked at his fingers.
"I'm alright. A little tired, but I'll live." I bit into a cookie, surprised at just how good it was. Not only was she gorgeous, willing to give me a blow-job to make me feel better, and wicked smart, but the girl could bake a mean cookie. "I'm asking her to marry me."
Brian laughed and stood. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road. It's getting dark, and you know I hate how bad people drive around here."
"It's the tourists. All these people flocking in from out of town for the holidays." I reached for his hand, and he helped to pull me up.
"Oh, I know who it is. I still hate it regardless." He snagged one more cookie and walked to the door. "You want to grab something to eat, too?"
"Sounds good. Get my thick jacket out of that hallway closet and my red hat, please?"
"Aye, aye, Captain." Brian got the items and helped me dress, making me feel like a child again.
We got in the truck, which took forever thanks to my gimp-ass almost falling five times. I buckled up and leaned back, grateful that Brian was comfortable enough around me to listen to tunes and let me have a moment.
The image of Chloe with her pretty pink lips around my cock raced through my mind, and I steeled my resolve. I didn't need to relive her pleasuring me with Brian in the seat next to me. It wasn't good for anyone's comfort level.
"Burgers sound good?" I asked, turning my head to see what his reaction would be.
"Yeah. What are we looking for, anyway?"
"I want to get Chloe a necklace, Milly some new mittens, and Dad a new jacket. The mall might be our best bet."
"It's Friday night before Christmas. You realize it's going to be a fucking madhouse, right?"
"Yeah. It's all good. We'll be quick about it and get back to the house for some TV."
"Quick about it? With you trying to carry your big ass around on those toothpicks?" He huffed. "This should be good."
"Are you calling me fat?" I sat up as he pulled into the overcrowded parking lot at the mall.
"Yeah, a fathead." Brian glanced around. "You sure about this? Look at this place."
"It's all good. Come help me out of the car and let's get this shit over with."
"Fine. Let's get the gifts and eat." Brian got out of the car, and I opened my door and grunted as he helped me to my feet. "Be careful and don't slip. Busting your ass is funny when you’re healthy. Busting it now would be another trip to the hospital."
"Shut up, and stop treating me like a child." I positioned the crutches under my arms and moved toward the escalator that would lead up to the chaos.
"Let's swing by the old Vanning place on the way to get a burger." Brian suggested and reached out to help me, but I swatted him off with my crutch.
"Why? I can't afford it, anyway." I glanced to my left as three girls going down the other side called out to me.
"Finn! Is that you? What happened?" The blonde in the group puffed her bottom lip out.
"You poor baby. You need us to take care of you?" the brunette threw in.
"No thanks, ladies. I'm good." I turned back up as Brian called out.
"I'm not good. I could use some TLC."
I laughed and got off the moving staircase. "Come on and stop looking needy. That's half your problem."
"I am needy." Brian moved up beside me and looked around at all of the people. "What are the odds that we're going to run into a hundred women that call out your name? This is going to be depressing."
Someone called for me behind us, and I rolled my eyes. "We'll be done soon."
"Not nearly soon enough," Brian mumbled.
* * * *
We stopped by the old Vanning place on our way over to Burger Stop, but as I suspected, someone had purchased it. It was a beautiful old mansion that was built in the early nineteen hundreds. It would have been the perfect spot to turn into a ski lodge, the lodge I'd been dreaming about since I was a teenager.
"Hey, you still down about the old mansion?" Brian reached over and squeezed my shoulder as we walked up to the restaurant.
"No. It's going to be years before I can ever consider getting my own fixer-upper. Someone made a good purchase. I'll just be interested to see what they do with it." I shrugged and almost lost my footing.
"Be careful, man. Shit. Your dad will kill us if you get hurt again." He held the door for me, and I laughed.
We would always be fifteen in our heads, no matter how old we got.
The hostess showed us to our seat, and I ordered a drink before pulling out the blue box that had Chloe's necklace in it. I popped it open and ran my finger over the forever heart. "You think it's too much?"
"What? No." Brian reached across the table. "Let me see it up close."
I handed it to him, and let my hands drop back into my lap. "I love her."
"Really? Already? It's been two weeks." Brian looked at the necklace, shrugged and handed it back to me. "She's going to love that. It's pretty, and honestly, I think it's just about showing that you cared enough to get her something. You get extra points. You're on crutches, and you got her something."
I smiled, knowing I could always count on Brian to make me feel better. I left the conversation on my feelings for Chloe for later in the evening, and if he wanted to talk about it, he was going to have to bring it up. I didn't want to have to defend something that made no sense, and yet it just was.
"This is true." I picked up my drink and took a long swig of it. "Oh, man, I found out what was up between my dad and Chloe's."
"What? Tell me."
"They grew up together, like you and I did, and then in college I guess Jonathan fell in love with some girl, and Dad stole her right beneath his nose." I shook my head, not being able to fathom something so horrible happening between me and Brian.
"Damn. That's awful. I don't know what I would do if you did that shit to me." Brian sat back, sipping at his beer and looking around.
"So, her dad totally got the girl drunk and slept with her in a place he knew my dad would find them." I sat my drink down, deciding that I'd leave the fact that it was my mother off the table. That was too personal to share.
Brian almost spit his beer, but caught himself. "Are you shitting me?"
"No. Crazy. It's been thirty years, and they are still at each other's throats over it."
"I imagine so." He picked up his menu. "Do you think they'll ever fix it?"
"You know, I don't know. Dad was pretty torn up about it when he told me the other day, which means he still cares about Chloe's dad. I think between her and I, we can get Dad hooked up with Milly and help him work through this stuff with Jonathan. He mentioned something about talking to him to clear things up for me and her, but I told him no thanks. I need to work on that relationship myself."
We paused to order our burgers, but the minute the waitress left, “my big sister” Brian showed back up.
"Hey, look, I know this is absolutely none of my business, but what are you going to do when Chloe goes back to Cali? Long distance relationships suck for people who are mildly sexually active. You are what we would call extremely sexually active. How is that going to work out, exactly?" He lifted his hands as I gave him a stare. "I'm just concerned and wanted to make sure you’ve really thought through this. That's all."
"First of all, you're right. It's none of your business, but since I know it's bothering the hell out of you, I'll explain my thoughts on it."
Brian lifted his beer toward me. "You're a good man."
I rolled my eyes. "If she goes back, which I don't think she will, then I have two choices. I can stay here and we keep in touch, visiting when we can and spending a lot of time on Skype and the phone, or I go with her."
"Go with her? Are you insane?" He sat up and hit the table with his knees.
"Lower your voice. Everyone's going to be in our business, and I don't doubt that there are several girls in here that I don’t particularly want to see right now."
He glanced around and lowered his voice. "Right. Are you insane? You can't leave here. Your dad's here. You love it here. Fuck...I'm here."
I laughed, and sat back in my chair. "I don't know what's going to happen, Brian, but if she wants to be physically together and is willing to try things out, then we have to live in L.A. or here. That's going to be up to her."
"You are a snow-shoveler. What are you going to do in California?"
I leaned forward and pressed my hands to the table. "Go back to school and get a degree? I shovel snow because my old man needs help, and I'm his only son. I have other talents."
"I know, dude. I didn't mean it like that." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I just don't like it. I mean, like, at all."
"I know you don't, but I really think she's the one. We'll find out as we get closer to the time she's supposed to leave, but her dreams are out there, Brian. She wants to design a line of clothing for people in warm weather."
"And you want to build a lodge for families who like to ski. That's here. You can't do that out there." He shook his head and sighed heavily again.
"I know, and for the first time in my life, I'm alright with that. I'm in love with her. Giving up my dreams to see hers come to fruition is okay with me. I want to give that to her. To support her fully."
"You're fucking crazy. This right here is why I don't date."
I laughed. "You don't date because you're scared to talk to girls."
He tipped his beer toward me and smiled. "That right there is the second reason."