Chapter 25
Juliet
Juliet: I hate you.
Finn: Why? Because I’m hot?
Juliet: Because I have to throw this bachelorette, which is going downhill fast, and I just found out what you and Alistair are doing tonight for his bachelor party.
I ran a hand through my hair. I was standing on a private pier in the Seattle harbor, which smelled like dead fish and spilled gasoline. It was almost five, and the guests would start arriving soon. I wasn’t ready.
Next to me, Nicole had her phone to her ear as she paced. The wind blew her hair into her eyes, and she brushed it back impatiently. “What do you mean, you haven’t left yet?” she said into the phone. “Dad, please!”
Behind us was a boat—our boat, for the next few hours. It was a two-level thing, one of those boats used by companies that did harbor cruises. It went without saying that my budget could not afford a private harbor cruise for Vicki’s bachelorette, which was where Nicole and her dad came in.
Nicole’s dad, the bankruptcy lawyer, had a client whose harbor cruise company went under. The boat was in some kind of receivership. How exactly that worked—and how Nicole’s dad could use the boat for nothing—I didn’t know, and I didn’t ask. I only knew that I had the chance to throw a nice party for Vicki’s bachelorette, and all I had to pay was a fee to the city, four hundred bucks cash for the certified guy to captain it, and some beer and pizza.
The permit from the city was in my pocket. The captain was sitting in a folding chair, smoking a cigarette and waiting for go time. The food and drink was MIA.
Since I was busy setting everything up, and Nicole was an addict, Nicole’s dad was assigned to do the beer and liquor run. But from what I could hear of their conversation, it wasn’t happening because her dad had an emergency at the office. The pizza I’d tried to order wasn’t coming, either. I’d placed the order, paid, and waited forty-five minutes before the pizza place called back and informed me that they weren’t allowed to deliver to the pier for some legal reason. I offered to pick up the pizzas, was told someone else would call me back, and I hadn’t heard from them again.
Now I was panicking, wondering if I should leave to go harass the pizza place or stay here. I was almost positive someone else was eating my pizza right now. My credit card was maxed. There was no booze. I’d had no time to get decorations or any other party favors. My only plan for music for this party was to hook up my phone to the boat’s sound system, hit shuffle, and hope for the best.
When Vicki—who knew nothing of my problems—called five minutes ago, she’d told me what Finn and Alistair were doing tonight for Alistair’s bachelor party: They were watching a special showing of Oppenheimer in a theater downtown. That was it.
I was stressing out over this stupid party—which I hadn’t wanted to plan in the first place—and they were going to a movie. It enraged me so much that I texted Finn again.
Juliet: What does tonight cost for you? Thirty bucks?
Finn: Well, there’s popcorn. We might share a bag.
Juliet: Asshole.
Finn: I can’t help that it’s what Alistair wanted to do. He’s the dad of two little kids, and watching a serious three-hour movie uninterrupted is a pipe dream for him.
Juliet: I have to make nice with Mom’s boss and you get to sleep through a stupid movie. Men suck. The world isn’t fair.
Finn: I’m not going to… Okay, yes, I probably will.
Juliet: ASSHOLE.
“Dad, the boat is supposed to leave in an hour,” Nicole said into the phone. “Just pick up something. Anything. I’ll pay you back.”
The wind picked up. It carried the scent of oncoming rain.
At the head of the pier, a white delivery van pulled up and parked. At the same moment, my phone rang. It was Finn. I picked it up, thinking it would be easier to yell at him in real time.
“What do you want, Finn?” I said when I answered.
“I want to make it up to you,” Finn said.
“Listen, now isn’t the time for sex stuff,” I said, though honestly, I’d rather spend tonight naked with Finn than doing this party, or anything else. I tried not to think about it.
“I don’t mean sex stuff, though that’s on offer, too. I mean the party. Is my delivery there yet?”
I squinted at the van. A guy got out of the driver’s side, took a clipboard from the passenger side, and started down the pier toward me.
“What delivery?” I asked.
“The delivery I ordered. Actually, there are two. I hope it doesn’t rain tonight. Nice job stealing a boat, by the way.”
“We didn’t steal the boat. We borrowed it. We’re giving it back.”
“Still, it’s a stroke of genius. Pier 262, right? The deliveries should be arriving now.”
The guy with the clipboard stood waiting for me to get off the phone. He looked impatient. Too bad for him.
"What’s he delivering?” I asked Finn.
“Oh, good—that means he’s there. Food and drinks. Plus plates, cups, and cutlery. He should have everything.”
“Drinks? You mean alcohol?”
“It’s a bachelorette party,” he said. “Of course I mean alcohol.”
“How the hell did you?—”
“Are you going to ask questions, Juliet? Your party starts in less than an hour.”
Fuck. Gritting my teeth, I turned to Nicole, who was looking at me helplessly, and drew my finger across my throat. “Tell him he doesn’t need to do the run,” I hissed. Then I turned back to the phone. “I don’t know what weird magic you’re using, but knock it off. And I didn’t ask you to do this.”
“No, you didn’t,” Finn agreed. “You should have.”
“I had it handled,” I argued.
“You had a boat party with beer and pizza,” Finn argued back. How the hell did he know all my plans? He was Satan with gorgeous eyes and a nice ass. “That was good, but this is better. You want to impress your guests? You’re going to impress them tonight.”
Nicole had hung up with her dad and signed for the delivery. She and the delivery guy started up the pier toward the van. Behind the first van, a second pulled up.
“Now what’s showing up?” I asked Finn.
“Is there a second delivery? Oh, good. The flowers are arriving.”
I could feel my head exploding. This was supposed to be my party, and I had tried. I had fucking tried. I hadn’t asked for the other bridesmaids to chip in, or Mom, or Finn. I had insisted on paying for it myself—because it was my job, because no one thought I could do it. Because this was how I showed Vicki that I wasn’t a screwup, that I didn’t hate her. That I cared.
But because I had insisted on doing everything myself, I had ended up with a plan that I knew in my gut could be better. I wasn’t good at this, and I never would be. I was stuck on throwing a party that fed my pride instead of throwing a party my sister would actually enjoy on the night before her wedding.
The world doesn’t revolve around you, Jules!
I had once chance with Vicki, and I had almost made a mess of it because I was too deep in my head to do it right.
Or I had been, until Finn saved my ass.
The delivery guy had pulled a wheeled dolly from his van, and he and Nicole loaded boxes onto it. The second delivery guy opened his door, revealing the huge flower arrangements he was delivering. He got out a clipboard, too. Nicole greeted him and took his pen to sign.
“Juliet,” Finn said on the phone, “Vicki is my sister-in-law. This is my wedding party, too, and I’m going to make it nice. You’re right that it isn’t fair that you have to throw a big party and I don’t have to do anything. So I’m making it even. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
My throat was trying to close, making it hard to speak. I didn’t deserve everyone helping me out like this—Nicole, her dad, Finn. Nicole wasn’t even going to attend the party, because her recovery was too recent and she couldn’t be around alcohol. She was just doing this to be my friend.
“Fuck,” I managed.
“Is that Juliet language for thank you?” Finn sounded amused.
I took a breath. “Thank you,” I said, meaning it.
“Thank you,” he said back. “I believe I’ll be thanking you for life.”
I bit back a smile, my tension starting to unwind. When we’d gone to my hotel room after the Seattle show, I’d demonstrated my affection by going down on my knees as soon as we closed the door behind us. Finn’s surprise was matched only by how wildly turned on he was. We’d nearly woken up everyone in the hall. The whole thing had been gratifying, even for me.
Then we’d gone to bed for more. And before he left the next morning, I’d done it again.
I’d gotten a stunned text later that day, that was only one word: TWICE?? He’d sent me the same single word later that night, as if I’d robbed him of every other thought in his head.
I’d done it because I’d wanted him, and because I didn’t know how much longer I would have him. It felt like we were getting on separate ships that were going in different directions. I couldn’t swim to Finn’s ship, and he couldn’t swim to mine.
But until we started drifting, I wanted as much of him as I could get.
“That was a freebie,” I said to him now. “You don’t owe me because of that.”
“Twice,” Finn said. Then, “Twice,” and I laughed.
I watched Nicole and the delivery guy wheel the food and drink onto the boat. The flower guy started unloading. The guests would be here soon. Behind the flower van, a Prius pulled up. A guy got out.
“Finn?” I asked. “Who’s the guy with the shaved head and gold earrings, wearing sunglasses on a gloomy Seattle night that’s about to rain?”
“Oh, I forgot to mention. That’s the DJ.”
I closed my eyes. “I swear to god, I’m going to do the dirtiest fucking things to you the next time I see you. You thought last time was wild? I hope you’re ready for a repeat. It’s going to be filthy.”
When I hung up, Finn was laughing.