Stir (The Sizzle TV Series Book 5)

Chapter 5 – Finn

It feels like ages since I was here last. I spy West’s car parked at the house, as well as a smaller sedan I suspect belongs to Raleigh. Of course, they’re all home; they wouldn’t leave Callie alone, not today.

I shut off the engine and stare at the house until my fingers shake from the cold. Time to get this over with.

I knock and wait. And wait some more.

The kitchen curtain twitches slightly, and the door swings open.

“Finn.”

“Hello, Lee,” I say. “Is Callie here?”

He doesn’t invite me in. He just looks at me.

“Let him in, Lee.”

That’s West’s voice, coming from somewhere back in the kitchen. Lee frowns over his shoulder but obeys, stepping back and opening the door wide.

West stands up from the table as I walk in. The scent of coffee wafts through the air, and my hand actually reaches for the cabinet before I remember that this isn’t my home anymore.

“Would you like some coffee?” Lee asks, all begrudging, blank-faced politeness.

“Yes, thank you,” I say. West’s eyes narrow. “Where is Callie?”

“She’s resting,” says West. “I don’t think disturbing her is a good idea. She hasn’t been sleeping well.” The implication in his voice is clear, and guilt kicks in immediately.

“Is she okay?”

“As well as can be expected under the circumstances.” He doesn’t give an inch, and I don’t blame him, even as I resent like hell that he thinks he can talk to me that way about my sister. Like it hasn’t been my job to care for her for fucking decades longer than he’s even known her.

“If you’re thinking about punching me again, I suggest you turn right around and head back the way you came,” says West.

“I’m not,” I say, accepting the mug Lee hands me with a nod of thanks. “That is, I was thinking about it. But I’m not going to hit you.”

“That’s a relief,” says West, all sarcasm.

“It is a relief,” says Lee.

“What are you doing here, Finn?”

“I’m here to apologize.”

The silence that falls is absolute. I keep my eyes on the clock on the wall behind Lee. It looks new, and I wonder if Lee and West had something to do with replacing the old one.

“You’ve got some fucking nerve,” says West finally. “Today of all days.”

“Today is all I’ve got.”

“West,” says Lee. West looks at him. They have a silent conversation with their eyes that I’m not privy to, and after a moment, West nods. Lee leaves the kitchen.

West stands up and walks across the kitchen to the door, not so much as glancing my way.

“I’m not sorry I hit you,” I say.

“I know,” he says, staring out the window.

“You deserved it.”

“I know that, too.”

“You did not deserve it,” says Callie. She stands at the threshold of the room, arms crossed tightly across her chest.

“Agree to disagree, sweetheart,” says West, finally turning, warmth coming into his expression. Lee comes in behind her, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. Callie smiles at him softly. She meets my eyes.

“How are you, Cal?”

“I’m fine,” she says.

“You’re lying to me,” I say. “Again.”

“I’m being polite. That’s all you get from me right now, Finn,” she says. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to apologize.”

Again, with the silence. They’re not going to make it easy on me.

“I shouldn’t have…” Christ, where to start? “First of all, I’m not a bigot. I don’t care that you’re bi, or polyamorous, or whatever trendy term there is to call your situation.”

“You sure seemed to have a problem when you found out West and I were lovers,” says Raleigh, and I have to give the kid credit. He moves to stand in front of my sister when he says it, his chin out like he’s bracing for a hit. I guess I deserve that, considering.

“I don’t care that you and West are lovers,” I say. “I can’t stand liars. West and Callie were lying to me about being together.”

“We had to,” says Callie. “Given your reaction, I think it was justified.”

I swallow hard because this is going to suck.

“You’re probably right.”

Again, silence.

“Excuse me?” says Callie, all utter disbelief.

“Did they tell you why I hate liars, Lee?”

He shakes his head. “They said it wasn’t their story to tell.”

I nod at West, grateful for that consideration in the face of everything else that’s happened.

“It wasn’t,” I agree. “But they also don’t know the whole reason.”

“What.” West doesn’t make it a question. Callie moves to the kitchen table and takes a seat.

“What are you talking about, Finn?”

I take the seat next to her, keeping my eyes on Lee. It’s easier, somehow, to tell it to him than the others.

“You know our parents died in a car accident,” I say.

He nodded. “Twelve years ago today.”

“Right. After that, Sully took care of us, pretty much raised us, until I was able to help. It took me a little while to get to that point.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get on with it,” growls West. He sounds so much like my best friend again, my lips twitch, even though it isn’t funny at all.

“A couple years later, I met a girl named Susan. She was twenty and cute, and she told me she loved me. It was the first time I’d been able to feel good about anything since the accident.”

“She wasn’t that cute,” says West.

“West.” Callie shoots him a look. He shrugs and winks at her.

“Cute enough,” I say. “We started dating, and she told me it was serious for her from the start. Then, a few weeks later, she told me she was pregnant.”

A clatter at the sink—West’s spilled coffee all over the place.

“She what?” says Callie.

Glancing between them, Lee says, “I’m guessing you didn’t know about the baby.”

“Bullshit, she was pregnant,” says West. “That is bullshit.”

I nod. “It was. But I didn’t know it was bullshit at the time. Didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground. So we got married.”

“I could kill her,” says Callie.

“There’s more,” I say. Callie shuts her mouth, clamping her lips together. “Susan told me the baby would need all these complicated medical procedures, that there were risks. I couldn’t go with her to the appointments, her doctor wouldn’t allow it”—West growls—“and yeah, I believed her. I was working so many hours, trying to make sure I’d be able to provide for them once she gave birth. I planned to move her in here with me, Callie, and Sully, and when I told Susan that, she brought up our inheritance.”

Callie stops moving, stops breathing.

“What are you talking about?” she asks.

I shut my eyes. West knew this part, but I’d never had the nerve to tell Callie the truth.

The irony isn’t lost on me. Not at all. It’s the reason I’m here.

“She knew that we had inherited the house and some money besides. Susan said we could use it as our nest egg just to get started. We signed up for a joint bank account.”

“No.”

“I transferred as much as I could into it. I was trying to show her I could handle it, that I could be a good provider, that she didn’t have to worry so much.” I can’t look at Callie, so I focus on Lee again. He looks shocked, sad, and so sympathetic I have to look away from him, too.

“Does Sully know about this?” Callie asks.

“He does. Sully is the reason she didn’t get the house.” I take a deep breath. “He suspected Susan all along. He never came out and accused her of lying, but he was always asking her questions about her appointments, about her symptoms, about her background, and her family. Always trying to catch her in a lie or trip her up somehow. I don’t know how, but he managed to get the lawyer to tie up most of the money they left us by paying off the house ahead of schedule.”

“That’s why we never had to move,” breathed Callie. “It wasn’t Sully making payments.”

“He did that, too,” I say. “But yeah. The lawyer worked it out with the bank that the mortgage was completely taken care of.”

“What about the rest of the money?” she asks.

I clench my jaw. “The day after I showed Susan the transfer was confirmed, she cleaned out the account. I never saw or heard from her again.”

The silence has a different tenor this time. Still aggressive, but this time, the aggression isn’t directed at me.

“You knew about this?” Callie asks West.

“I knew about the money,” he says. “This is the first I’m hearing about any baby.” He glares at me, and man, if looks could kill.

“She swore me to secrecy,” I say, standing up. “I was eighteen. Sully only found out by accident. He overheard us arguing about a bill from her doctor one night.”

West swears under his breath. “You stupid son of a bitch.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“You’ve been carrying this around all this time? And you never told us.”

I close my eyes again. “I’m telling you now.”

Callie sniffs, and my eyes fly open.

“Callie, please. Don’t.”

“I can’t help it,” she says, tears already tracking down her cheeks. “West is right, you stupid jerk.”

“I know,” I say, ready to beg for real if it’ll make her stop crying. “I was young and dumb. I’m still dumb. Please stop crying.”

“I’m not talking about Susan,” she says, wiping her eyes. “I’m talking about you. I can’t believe you didn’t tell us. All these years.”

“That money was half yours,” I say desperately, inching toward the door. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“I swear to God, Finnegan, shut up!” Callie takes a deep breath. “I don’t care about the money, you ass. I care about you. You absolute fool.” Then she’s up out of her chair and hugging me so hard I can’t stand it. She’s still crying, and right now, I’d do just about anything to make her stop.

“I should go,” I say.

“Don’t you dare,” says Callie. She squeezes me again, hard, takes a deep breath, and steps back far enough to look at me. The tears, praise Jesus, appear to have stopped. “I can’t believe you’ve been holding that in all this time. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Why do you think? He was embarrassed, Callie. I would be, too,” says West, sparing me having to answer that myself. Like this isn’t hard enough already. He’s cleaned up the coffee mess and sets his mug down calmly.

“Thanks a lot, West.”

“Anytime, bro.” It’s the first time he’s called me that in months. I look at him, really look, for the first time since coming into the house. He looks like hell. Like maybe Callie isn’t the only one losing sleep lately. My throat tightens.

“I fucked up,” I say. “Then and now. I should have told you the truth, and I’m sorry.”

“So hang on,” says Lee. “This is why you hate liars so much?”

“Well, wouldn’t you?” says Callie. She’s defending me to her boyfriend. I almost hug her again, but Lee isn’t done.

“And this Susan, this horrible thing she did to you, to all of you… this is the reason you got so mad at Callie and West that you stopped talking to them?”

I don’t like where this is going.

“Raleigh,” West says. It’s a warning, but a mild one.

“No, I get it,” says Lee. “But seriously, dude. You were mad at them for lying to you for a few weeks, but you’ve been lying to them for years. Literally, years.”

“Uh,” I say. “That about sums it up.”

The three of us stare at him for a moment, then Lee throws his head back and laughs his ass off.

“Oh, man,” he says, clutching his middle. “That is rich.”

I feel my face heating. West’s mouth twitches, and I know he’s trying not to laugh, too. Callie looks at me, humor drying her eyes, finally, thank God.

“You’re ridiculous,” she says. “You know that, right?”

“I’m getting the hint,” I say.

I let them have their moment at my expense. They’ve earned it.

An hourand another pot of coffee later, we’ve all settled down. Callie and I get to catch up, Lee stops laughing at me after a while, and West actually smiles at me at one point, which I didn’t expect to see anytime soon. I’m forgiven. All it took was laying out my demons.

Not all of them, maybe, but the relevant ones. And it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Actually, that’s not true at all; it was every bit as bad as I thought it would be. The thought makes me wonder what else I’ve been lying to myself about.

But at any rate, I have my sister back. I might even have my best friend back. And Raleigh, well, Raleigh’s all right. Better still, I’ve got a date on Sunday with the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever personally laid eyes on.

That’s a pretty fine place to start.