Book 20 Yours After Dark #7
Jenny Martinez comes into the salon, thrilled for Chloe and raving about the McCarthy men.
She lights up with delight when Chloe asks about Alex and their son, George.
Hope is about to have her baby, and Alex and Paul are moving their mother, Marion, back to the island.
They can’t wait to have their whole family together again.
She asks about Finn again and tells Chloe, “The one thing I’ve learned is that when true love comes along, you have to grab it with both hands and never let it go. It’s the greatest thing there is.”
Later that night, lying in bed with Finn, she asks him again if he’s sure he wants to be with her, knowing about her illness and what the future may hold.
He kisses the words off her lips. “No buts. I’m exactly where I want to be with the person I want to be with.
I heard everything you said this morning, and I respect your concerns.
In fact, I read up on RA this afternoon. ”
“You did?”
“Yep. I wanted to know what we’re dealing with.”
Her eyes fill with tears.
“What?” he asks, alarmed.
“It’s very sweet of you to care.”
“I do care. I care deeply, and I want to understand it. After reading about it, I feel so bad that you’ve had to deal with this on your own. It must’ve been so scary to get that diagnosis.”
“It was. It took a long time to get a definitive diagnosis because I tested negative for the RA factor, which happens sometimes. So, in some ways, it was a relief to know what it was, but the relief was quickly eclipsed by the panic about how it would affect my livelihood.”
Finn suggests she open a spa that she can manage but wouldn’t have to work so much with her hands. He’s going to meet with his uncle, Big Mac, about opening a spa at the Wayfarer.
Finn and Chloe join Nikki and Riley for a practice run at the Wayfarer.
They have a great night with Riley and Finn teasing each other and keeping the women entertained.
On the way home, Missy calls and immediately starts screaming at Finn.
He ends the call. Chloe is afraid they haven’t seen the last of her.
“You have nothing to worry about where she’s concerned. ”
“I have you to worry about.”
Have six words ever packed a greater punch? Not that Finn can recall. “That’s very sweet of you to say, but I can take care of myself. And besides, after what she pulled yesterday, she wouldn’t dare set foot on this island again. Blaine told her to go and stay gone.”
“Doesn’t mean she will. You need to be vigilant.”
“I will. Don’t worry about me.”
“Too late. I’m already worried.”
“Why does that make me so damned happy?”
Mac takes Maddie to the clinic when she wakes up with a racing heartrate.
They find Adam in the waiting room with Liam.
Abby is sick and getting an IV. They find out that Abby is pregnant.
Victoria determines that Maddie’s symptoms were caused by stress over having twins and caring for five children.
Chloe asks Finn about his top-secret errand with Riley the next day. Riley is buying an engagement ring. Chloe says she’ll never get married.
“Here’s the thing, Chloe. I want to get married someday.
I want to stand up in front of all the people I love and make that commitment to someone I can’t live without.
I want to have a family with her and dogs and a house that’s all ours.
I want to take vacations with her and see the world together.
I want to live and work and play and love with her, every day for the rest of my life.
The woman I love, the woman I marry, will be treated like a queen because that’s how I was raised by my dad and my uncles.
It’s how my cousins treat their wives. I don’t know any other way but the McCarthy way. ”
The life he describes sounds so perfect as to be right out of a fairy tale. Life has taught her not to believe in fairy tales.
“So, while I respect your line in the sand and understand the reason why you feel you need that line, if you were to give me a chance, I would show you a whole other way than what you knew growing up.” Finn kisses her forehead. “I’ll go so you can get some sleep.”
Finn goes home and sleeps like crap. He’s getting up for work when he receives a text from Mac telling his crew to take a paid week off after finishing the Wayfarer.
Thrilled to have some time off, he can use the time to pack up the rest of the house and move into the apartment at Nikki’s.
He can’t stop thinking about Chloe telling him she’s never getting married.
He worries about how they’ll overcome this obstacle.
He’s having lunch with his dad and uncles and is in need of some advice.
He meets his Uncle Mac, Uncle Frank and father, Kevin, at the South Harbor Diner.
The original McCarthy brothers are inseparable.
Finn pitches the idea of a spa at the Wayfarer.
Big Mac loves the idea but thinks it would do better at the hotel than at the Wayfarer, which is more for day trippers.
He promises to mention the idea to Finn’s Aunt Linda but thinks she will love it.
They talk about adding the spa to the renovations they’re planning in the off-season for the hotel.
After that’s all ironed out, Finn tells them that things with Chloe were going well until she told him she never wants to get married.
She has her reasons—and they’re good reasons.
“I’m not opposed to making a life with someone without getting married, but I always thought I’d get married. Someday.”
“That is a tough one.” Kevin scratches at the stubble on his jaw. He shaves a lot less often since he’s been with Chelsea. “I suppose it comes down to what you want more—her or a future marriage with someone else?”
Leave it to his dad to cut straight to the heart of the matter.
“Since I met her, I seriously can’t imagine ever wanting anyone else ever again.
” Saying the words out loud, knowing they can never be unsaid, would’ve made Finn itchy and nervous a couple of weeks ago.
But everything has changed since he met Chloe, and there’s no going back to who he’d been before her.
“This is big news,” Frank says to his brothers. “We were just talking about how there was only one left.”
“Huh?”
“That your brother and cousins have found their true loves. You were the last one left.”
“And we were super bummed that you were leaving,” Big Mac adds. “So it’s great that you’re going to stay now.”
“If I can figure things out with her,” Finn says. “I won’t want to be here if that doesn’t work out.”
“Figure it out,” Big Mac says, “or spend the rest of your life wondering what if.”
He tells them there are concerns to work out for their relationship to work. Kevin tells him to come into his office and air them out. He tells Finn that’s what he does: he helps people figure out their shit.
Finn helps Riley pick out an engagement ring and heads to Curl Up and Dye.
“I’m sorry about last night and the way I tossed such a big thing into the conversation without any warning,” Chloe says. “I handled it all wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. You told me how you feel, and I respect that.
” Finn suggests they talk to his dad and try to figure it out.
Kevin is the best at getting to the heart of an issue and finding solutions.
She agrees, telling him she was worried she had driven him away. He says, “I’m not that easily driven.”
They head to Kevin’s house for dinner a few days later. Chloe tells Kevin about her diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and her worries about becoming disabled. Kevin says, “I totally understand where you’re coming from. What do you think, son?”
Finn turns his formidable gaze on her. “I think Chloe is the most exceptional human being I’ve ever met, and in case she hasn’t already figured it out, I’m madly in love with her, and other than my concerns about her well-being, I don’t give a flying fuck about anything other than spending as much time with her as I possibly can, every day for the rest of my life. ”
Chloe feels like she’s been hit by lightning—again. To hear him say that, out loud, in front of his dad, no less… She has no idea what to say. No, wait, that’s not true. She knows exactly what she needs to say. “I love you, too.”
Finn asks her if he were to be hurt at work and needed her to take care of him, would it change the way she feels about him? “Of course not. I’d take care of you.”
Smiling, he tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. “So why do you think it would matter to me if one day you were unable to work? I’d take care of you, and you’d take care of me when I needed you. That’s how it goes when you love someone. You take care of each other.”
Kevin says it seems they didn’t need his help after all, but suggests they gather all the information they can, join forums and get all the support they can find. Chloe asks if Kevin is okay with Finn being with her, knowing about her condition and that she may become completely reliant on him.
“I know my son, Chloe, and I’ve never seen him glow the way he does when he’s with you.
So if you’re asking for my approval, you have it.
You have my approval and my support and my appreciation for making my son so happy.
That’s all I’ve ever wanted for him and his brother.
And if the time comes when you need additional support because of your condition, you’ll have it—from me and our entire family. ”
Overwhelmed by Kevin’s heartfelt words, Chloe uses her napkin to dab at her eyes. “I see that you come by your charm naturally, Finn.”
Both men laugh.
“It’s a McCarthy family trait.” Kevin places a hand on her shoulder. “But I mean every word, Chloe, and I appreciate your concerns about how your condition might impact Finn.”