Falling for Finn (Maplewood Falls #1)

Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

FINN

TWO WEEKS LATER

“You look like shit,” Jessa tells me when I enter the inn.

I glare, huffing in response.

She’s not wrong. I can’t fucking sleep.

It’s been two grueling weeks since I dropped Oakley off at the airport, and it feels like I haven’t slept since then. I got used to holding her and us snuggling through the night. Now my bed is cold and lonely.

As I grab a plate, Jessa walks over. “Need a tranq? I’m sure I can find you one. Knock your ass out for a few days.”

“I’m not in the mood,” I growl, trying my hardest to ignore her, but she keeps following me around the buffet.

“Let me help you. What’s on your schedule today? I can get someone else to take care of it so you can rest.”

“No.”

“Well, you’re going to get yourself killed if you work while exhausted. You shouldn’t even be driving.”

“Operations don’t stop because I’m having a hard time. I’ve done it before, and I’ll work through it again. Don’t make it a big deal.”

After Aspen and I broke up, I was fucking miserable for weeks. I was barely functional but powered through it for the sake of the orchard.

However, this feels different.

It’s so much worse.

“Have you two spoken?” She follows me to a table, helping herself to the chair across from me.

“Not since she told me she landed in LA.”

Two weeks ago. Might as well be an eternity because that’s what it feels like.

“Why not?” She snags a piece of my bacon, and I scowl.

“She needed time to get settled in and figure shit out with her apartment.”

Not being able to touch and kiss her while we talked would hurt too much.

Jessa purses her lips, then grabs her phone. She types something, then sets it down.

“There.”

“There, what?”

“I texted her.”

I pop a brow. “Why?”

“Why not? We’re friends. I can check on her.”

I stab my fork into my eggs and sausage, then shovel both into my mouth so I can get the hell out of here quicker.

When her phone vibrates, my heart rate increases.

“Hmm…”

I want to ask her what Oakley said, but I know Jessa’s baiting me, so I stay quiet. After she sends another message, she sets her phone down again.

“You know, she’s not Aspen.”

“Of course she’s not,” I grind out. “I’ve never thought that.”

“I’m just saying, if you stopped acting so jaded after one bad relationship, you’d see that you and Oakley are perfect for each other.”

“Doesn’t stop the fact that she lives across the fucking country, Jessa. It’s not even the same.”

“Did you ask her to stay?” Jessa asks, and when she goes for another piece of my food, I smack her hand. “ Ow !”

“No. I knew she couldn’t anyway.”

“You sure about that?”

“Positive. She mentioned several times that she needed to network and make connections in big cities to build her career. Considering we’re in a small-ass town, this place wouldn’t be ideal for a professional artist.”

“So you’re gonna let her slip away because of geography ?”

I roll my eyes. “Wow, I didn’t realize you were a relationship expert.”

“I’m a woman, and I can read you like a book. You’re miserable and miss her.”

Of course I fucking do. She invaded my space for nearly three weeks, and we had more sex than I can count. But Oakley meant much more to me than that.

She had me wanting to rip out my hair one second and fuck her the next.

But the tender and vulnerable moments together are what made the difference.

“I’ll get over it…eventually,” I say harshly, wanting this conversation to be over.

“Well, in case you wondered, she’s just as sad as you and decided she’s moving out of her apartment.”

“To where?” I blurt out.

“She hasn’t responded yet.”

I shipped her boxes the same week she flew out, so she should’ve gotten them a while ago. There was so much I wanted to say before she left, but I couldn’t get the words out. Instead, I wrote her a letter and put it in one of her boxes.

But who knows when she’ll see it.

And if she’s already read it, she hasn’t texted or called.

I finish my food and put my dishes in the kitchen. When I come out, Jessa’s in my face again.

“You want me to tell you when I find out?” she asks.

“No.”

If Oakley wanted me to know, she has my number.

Once I escape her, I head to my truck. Even that has too many memories of her. Along with every inch of my house. I can’t go anywhere on the farm or in Maplewood Falls without thinking about her.

It’s fucking torture.

After a long-ass day, I call it quits. I worked nonstop, but it did nothing to clear my head like I hoped. If anything, it reminded me of the tours I gave her and when we made love in the orchard.

I’m tempted as hell to call her, but I’m not sure it’d help either of us. We never discussed keeping in contact after she went home. What would be the point? To stay friends? It’d hurt too much to hear about her moving on or dating someone else. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

As soon as I walk into my house, something’s different. The lamp upstairs is on, and I know I turned it off. I’m tired as fuck, so I might’ve forgotten.

Shrugging off my jacket and kicking off my boots, I make my way to the fridge to grab a beer. If anything, maybe booze can numb me long enough to pass out for a bit.

God knows I need sleep more than anything right now.

I make my way to my room and stop dead in my tracks when I hear sheets rustling.

Someone’s in my bed.

My heart pounds as I stomp up the remaining stairs, and I grow anxious at the possibility of Oakley being here. But when my bed comes into view, my anger shoots through the roof.

“What the fuck are you doing, Aspen?”

She’s sprawled out on the covers in nothing but a tiny piece of lingerie.

“ Get out ,” I bark before she can respond.

“I’m here for you, Finn. Use me to feel better. I know you still have feelings for me. We can get through this little mishap and start over.”

I blink hard, wondering if I’m really seeing and hearing this bullshit or if I’m having a nightmare. Standing in front of the bed, I cross my arms and stare her down.

“You’ve crossed the line this time, Aspen. Get the fuck out of my house!”

“Finn!” She rises on her knees. “We used to make love in this bed, too. You can try to replace me with some twentysomething bimbo, but we had something real. You can’t forget that after a few weeks of being with someone else.”

“I don’t know what it’s gonna take for you to understand I don’t want you. My feelings for you are long gone, and nothing you can do or say will change that. What we had is over.”

She lays on the fake tears, and her bottom lip quivers.

“You don’t mean that.”

I throw off my T-shirt and toss it to her. “Cover yourself.”

She lets it fall and doesn’t move to put it on. I roll my eyes as she wipes her dry cheeks. The fake crying is pathetic, even if the old me used to fall for it.

“Finn, please . Give me another chance. We’ll fall back in love like we were if you tried. Remember all the amazing memories we shared? All the hot sex we had?”

“You ruined every memory I had of us when you broke my heart.”

“I hate that I did that, Finn. I’m sorry. Please let me make it up to you.”

I shake my head, knowing she won’t be reasonable no matter what I say. Instead of dealing with her shit, I take the stairs down to the bathroom.

“You better be gone by the time I’m out of the shower,” I warn.

“I’m not going anywhere. I had a friend drop me off because I’m staying here with you, Finn. Stop fighting your true feelings.”

I glare at her and finish my thought. “I won’t think twice about calling the sheriff to come throw your sorry ass out if you’re still here. You’ve got fifteen minutes.”

“You sure you don’t want some company in there?” She follows me, ignoring everything I said.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” I turn around and yell. “You need some goddamn help, Aspen. I don’t know how to make myself any clearer. I. Don’t. Want. You. ”

“If you’d let me make you feel good, I know you’d change your mind.”

My blood boils as my frustration rises. I’m too tired for this.

“Just please…consider it. What we had?—”

“ I’m in love with Oakley! ” I blurt out, my voice booming against the walls. It’s the first time I’ve said those words aloud. Though I wrote in my letter that I’d fallen for her and that there’d always be a place for her here if she decided to come back.

It hasn’t been acknowledged.

Even after two weeks.

“She’s not here, Finn!” Aspen shouts in my face, looking around at my empty house. “If she loved you, she’d be here begging for a chance, but she’s not. I am!”

My breathing grows ragged as I attempt to calm down.

“If you’d come crawling back to me six months ago, there’s no doubt I would’ve taken you back. But not anymore.”

“What’s changed?”

“Me,” I confess. “I’ve changed. Realized I deserved so much better.”

Oakley helped me realize that.

Before she can respond, there’s a knock on the door. Fucking great.

When I whip it open and see my best friend, I shake my head. “Now’s not a good time, man.”

Aspen comes up behind me, and Levi’s eyes go wide. “Dude… no .”

I brush a hand through my hair, blowing out a stressed breath. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Then why are you both half naked?” He eyes my bare chest and Aspen’s lack of clothing.

“We’re in the middle of something, Levi .” Aspen scowls as she comes to my side.

“No, we’re not ,” I snap.

“This isn’t good.” Levi shakes his head, headlights shining in my eyes.

“Who’s that?” I furrow my brow.

“Jessa,” he explains.

“God. Not her again.”

I can’t catch a fucking break.

“Yeah, but she’s not alone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was coming over to make sure you were home. If I’d known you were in the middle of something, I would’ve given her a heads-up.”

“Who?”

The passenger side door opens, and out steps Oakley.

What the hell?

“You better pray she doesn’t knee you in the nuts, man. She flew three thousand miles to see you.”

I push my best friend to the side and walk onto the porch.

It’s really her.

She meets my eyes and smiles.

Jessa steps out and rounds her truck. She looks like she’s ready to fight. “Why the fuck is she here?”

I blink out of my trance and realize Aspen’s standing next to me.

Fuck me.

Oakley’s jaw drops as her eyes widen in horror.

“We’re back together,” Aspen happily announces.

Oakley’s face cracks as her chest rises and falls. There’s no telling what she’s thinking, given that I’m shirtless and Aspen’s in her bra and panties.

“We’re not!” I shout so everyone can hear and face Aspen. “You have lost your goddamn mind. For the hundredth time?—”

Before I can finish, Levi appears next to her and grabs her arm. “Let’s go.”

“Get your hands off me!” she squeals, trying like hell to fight against him, but it’s pointless. He’s bigger and stronger than her. He pulls her down the steps and toward his truck.

“Finn! Tell them! Tell them we’re in love and getting married!” she shouts over her shoulder.

“Shut up,” Levi snaps, opening the door and making her get inside. Once he slams it shut, he points at me. “You owe me, dude. You know how much I despise being anywhere near her.”

“I’ll go with him and make sure she doesn’t kick his ass,” Jessa says, rushing over to Levi’s truck and squeezing in. Once he shifts it into gear, gravel flies up, and they speed off.

“Oakley,” I say her name in disbelief that she’s here.

She meets me on the porch.

“What…what are you doing here?”

“Apparently witnessing The Housewives of Vermont in action.”

“I swear, she was here when I got home. I didn’t invite her.”

“I know, Finn.” She says it with so much certainty that I want to pull her in for a hug for not thinking the worst of me. “Might want to change those locks when you get a chance.”

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I invite her inside. “But that doesn’t answer my question. What are you really doing here?”

She smirks. “I read your letter and wanted to respond… in person .”

“Oh.” I scratch my cheek, gazing down her body, tempted as hell to kiss her.

“But first, I have to ask…” She tilts her head at me in amusement. “Can I crash here tonight?”