Chapter Twenty-Two - Michaela
Chapter Twenty-Two
MICHAELA
MY PHONE DINGS FROM the top shelf where I’ve kept it since my little conversation with Finn on Friday. I’m surprised it’s still alive and breathing, but I guess that happens when you don’t use it for two whole days. So, to answer your question, no, I haven’t told my family about David yet. Instead, I spent the weekend holed up in my office working on project after project to keep myself preoccupied. It’s been great workwise. Though, I think I should probably go home and take a shower…
Rising to my tip-toes, I stretch my fingers to grasp my phone from its position at the furthest point of the shelf that I could reach.
I sigh scrolling through her other one million messages before looking at the other unopened messages waiting for me. Liv. Josh. Nina. Alex. Mom. Elizabeth. Finn… Finn? Opening his messages, I’m surprised to see a total of five messages since Friday. The first one was about two hours after he left my office.
Suddenly, the three little dots bounce up and down as he types another message. They disappear but quickly return a few seconds later, a cycle until finally nothing comes through. Maybe he will leave me alone now that he knows I’m alive and have opened his messages… Thank you read receipts.
But, it’s so strange. Why is he so concerned? This is not the same Finnley Sheffield I’ve always known. This is some alternate universe version… The one I’ve always kind of wished he would be.
I don’t respond packing my stuff to head home. I need to take a shower, eat something, and sleep for the next twenty-four hours.
A knock on the door pulls my attention from my rewatch of The Mandalorian. Who in the world? I finally got back to everyone — minus one — about an hour ago and let them know I was alive and well, just consumed by work all weekend. I told Cait that I’d be taking tomorrow to stay at home and catch up on sleep since we don’t have anything that requires me to be in the office.
If I pretend to be asleep, maybe whoever it is will go away.
Another knock before a muffled voice comes through the door. "C'mon, Shortcake, I know you're in there. I can hear the TV."
You cannot be serious. What does he want?
I grumble the whole way to the door, but I have to answer it because he isn't going anywhere unless I do. "What do you want, Finn?"
"I brought soup." Finn proudly holds up a plastic tub of chicken noodle soup. He’s dressed in jeans, a black T-shirt, and a black jean jacket. Damn, he looks good. So good . Besides his gym clothes from last Thursday, I haven’t seen him in anything other than a suit since he graduated high school. He needs to dress more like this. It’s so casual, but damn…I like it. It’s sexy.
No, Michaela, he does not look sexy.
Yes. He does.
“Thank you,” he chuckles. His smirk tells me I just said that out loud. Shit. “I brought soup because I thought it might help make you feel better.”
“What are you talking about? I feel fine.”
“Well, I figured you must be dead or sick since you didn’t answer my texts.”
“I don’t have to answer you anymore — that ended the day I was freed from you.”
I reach for the container, but he holds it away from me. "Can I come in?"
“Hard pass.”
“Oh, c’mon, Shortcake, just a quick in and out, I promise.”
Trust me, there is nothing short or quick about him, I promise you that.
A smirk lights up his face as Finn finally steps past me to come inside. "Nice place you got here," he says. I snatch the soup from him and take it to the kitchen. I catch a whiff, and it smells heavenly. Yeah, I’ll be eating that for a midnight snack later… Okay, time to get him out of here. Stepping out of the kitchen, I watch his eyes roam over the decor, stopping on the original trilogy posters that hang above the couch, before glancing down at my “Tell that to Kanjiclub” shirt. “Still a Star Wars fan, I see."
"Yeah, so."
"No need to get defensive, it's cute. You always were obsessed with it."
Okay, I've had enough of nice-guy Finn. He's never been this person, why is he suddenly trying to be nice to me?
"What do you want, Finn?" I huff.
"I can't come to check on a friend?"
"We're not friends."
"Sure we are, Shortcake." Finn winks, and I feel something deep inside that I haven't felt since that night in the office. I’m not supposed to think about that. It meant nothing, absolutely nothing. I haven’t thought about it one time since that night… With two steps, he’s right in front of me, and the smell of his cologne fills my senses — rich, warm scents of blue cypress and vetiver — it’s intoxicating. Slowly, he pushes a strand of hair from my face before his fingers trail down my jawline, and his thumb rubs along my bottom lip. Warm brown eyes meet mine before they flicker down to my lips.
Wait... Is he... No, he can't be.
“Finn,” my breath catches as he slowly leans in, his lips ghosting over mine, but not quite making contact. I should stop this. End it before it even starts. There’s still time to turn back, but I don’t want to. Instead, I run headfirst into what can only be a disaster, and close the space between us.