SWNOVELS Finn Rhodes Forever: Chapter 13
I PULLED into the school parking lot, turned the engine off, and studied my reflection in the rearview mirror.
There was a bright red mark beside my left eye, and the surrounding skin was turning a darker purple by the hour. When I pressed on the bruise, I winced, showing the new gap between my teeth.
A black eye and a missing tooth—not a great look after I’d announced my plan to change to Liv yesterday. Wyatt and I had gone surfing this morning, and I’d lost my balance on a rough wave. The board had bonked me in the face and chipped my front tooth.
I glanced over at the front doors of the school. I couldn’t cancel, that’d be even worse. Besides, it wasn’t like I could hide out without people knowing. Liv would find out.
When I opened the front door, the receptionist greeted me with a cheeky smile.
“Here comes trouble,” she called, standing and shaking her head.
I gave her a close-lipped smile. “Hi, Mrs. Flores.”
She gasped, eyes on my mouth and black eye. “Did you get in a fight?”
“What? No.” I’d never even been in a fist fight. “Surfing.”
“What a relief,” she said, hand over her heart. “Goodness, Finn, you look so handsome in your uniform.”
I looked down at myself with a little laugh. I’d gone all out today. For the kids, but also for Liv. Her seeing this side of me, seeing how seriously I took firefighting, would help change her mind.
Mrs. Flores shook her head with that same knowing, cheeky smile. She wagged a finger at me. “I know you’re still that little devil, though.” She pointed at the framed photo outside the principal’s office, and I held back a sigh.
That photo was still here? It was my grade twelve school photo, and below it, there was a small plaque. I already knew what it said. The principal had showed this to me at graduation.
Finn Rhodes—record holder for number of visits to the principal’s office
“A few kids have come close,” she laughed, “but no one’s beat your record yet.”
It used to be inside the principal’s office, and now it hung outside for everyone who passed in and out of the school to see.
My shoulders tensed. No wonder I had a reputation. Jesus Christ.
“Ms. Yang is ready if you want to head straight to her class,” she said with a bright smile, pointing down the hall. “Right at the end. The door should be open.”
I thanked her and headed down the hall, my boots thumping on the linoleum floor as I approached.
A woman stepped through the classroom door in front of me and I stopped short.
“Jen.” I straightened up. “Hi.”
My stomach tensed. Living in Queen’s Cove over the years, I’d run into Olivia’s mom once in a while, and it was always awkward. Every time I saw her, I heard what she said to me outside the principal’s office. Her words had weighed on me for years.
Jen Morgan was a nurse at the Queen’s Cove hospital. I didn’t realize she’d be here for career day. I hadn’t asked Miri who else had agreed to come.
“Hi, Finn,” she said, gaze flicking over my eye.
Fuck. I had such stupidly high hopes for today and it was sliding downhill, fast.
“Jen.” I pushed my shoulders back. I felt like I should be wearing a tie or something. I pointed at my eye. “This is from surfing.”
She nodded once. “I heard you moved in above the bar.”
My ears burned hot. “Yep.”
Yes, I moved in above the bar knowing Olivia would hate it, but I was desperate to spend more time with her.
“Joe really helped me out.” I cleared my throat again. “Not a lot of options coming into the busy season.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Mhm.”
We stared at each other.
“Finn.” Olivia appeared in the doorway, pink haircut pulled back into a bun, choppy bangs held back with a black headband. She wore a black tank top with a green plaid shirt open over it. She stared at me in surprise.
I knew she had worn that stupid Guy Fieri shirt the other day to get to me. No way would she wear it normally. A smile curved up on my mouth at the sight of her. She looked fucking cute in that tank top.
She made a face at my black eye. “Did you get into a fight?”
“No,” I sighed. “Surfing with Wyatt.”
Frustration hitched in my shoulders. I was going to be correcting a lot of people over the next few days.
She glanced up and down at my firefighter’s gear. “Nice uniform.” The corner of her mouth kicked up like she was trying not to smile, and energy crackled in my chest.
I knew it was a good idea, wearing my gear. I gave her a beaming smile. I could practically see her walls crumbling. True love, here we come. Any minute now.
I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “Hell, one of these kids might grow up to be a firefighter like me.”
Jen smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You can’t say hell in front of seventh graders, Finn.”
“Shit. Sorry. I mean—” I caught myself again. “Heck. Shoot.”
Liv snorted.
Thank fuck Miri Yang appeared beside us with a big smile. “Hello, volunteers.”
“I’m going to use the ladies’ room before we start,” Jen said, stepping away.
Miri gasped at my eye and missing tooth.
“Surfing,” I cut in before she could ask. “My surfboard hit me in the face.”
Miri shook her head. “My goodness, Finn, trouble finds you everywhere, doesn’t it?” She glanced between Liv and me, and her expression turned smug.
At slightly over five feet tall, Miri was physically tiny but socially powerful. Emmett had admitted that convincing Miri Yang of his and Avery’s fake engagement had been key to winning over the entire town. The woman was feral for gossip.
She sighed, looking wistful. “I always knew you two would get back together.” She nudged me with her elbow. “Didn’t I say it at Sadie and Holden’s wedding? You remember?”
How could I forget?
Four brothers, four weddings, she had said with a gleam in her eye.
No, I was quick to tell her. No way.
At that time, I believed what everyone else did—I was bad news for Liv.
Now, I wanted her to have the job of her dreams, and I wanted to be the right guy for her.
“What?” Liv’s eyebrows shot up and she shifted. “What are you talking about?”
“Four brothers, four weddings,” Miri sang, bouncing with excitement.
Olivia’s eyes widened with terror and I stiffened.
“Oops!” Miri grinned and made a mouth-zipping motion. “I’ve said too much. I’m going to get the class’s attention and we can get started.”
She hustled into the classroom and Liv turned to me with a look of disgust.
“Please tell me you’re not going to propose.”
I huffed a laugh. I knew how that would go. She’d toss the ring off a cliff.
“I’m not going to propose.” My mouth hitched. “Not yet.”
“Finn.”
I snorted, grinning wider. “What? I’m not going to push you to do something you’re not ready for. I didn’t make you kiss me yesterday, did I?”
She rolled her eyes. “Like you’re ready to get married.”
“To you? I’d get married this afternoon,” I said without thinking. “Would have done it twelve years ago if I was smart enough.”
Panic streaked through me. I didn’t mean to say that. I didn’t want to freak her out. I shot her a wary glance, and she blinked up at me, expression blank.
“You don’t mean that. You’re messing with me.” A little frown grew between her eyebrows and I itched to trace it with my fingers. Before I could respond, she stepped into the classroom.
I watched her make her way to the seats at the back, where the other volunteers gathered.
“I surely fucking do mean it,” I muttered under my breath before I followed her.
“PUTTING out fires is only one small part of my job,” I told the class when it was my turn to present. “On a typical day, we might do routine checks of smoke detectors and fire alarms,”—I pointed to the smoke detector on the ceiling—“or we could be running safety drills at our training facility. If the paramedics are too busy, we answer emergency calls. And because Queen’s Cove is a small town, many of the firefighters double as Search and Rescue.”
The kids were enthralled and I was freaking nailing this. Emmett was a genius for telling me to clean up my image. From the back of the room, Miri beamed and gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. Even Jen seemed to be warming up to me. Her expression had softened as she watched me present.
“Do you get to ride in a helicopter?” one of the kids asked.
“I sure do,” I told her. “Does anyone know why someone would call Search and Rescue?”
Several kids put their hands up and I pointed to one.
“Do you work with girls?” the kid asked.
I nodded. “Yes, there are three women on the crew. My boss, Chief Bell, is a woman, too. People call Search and Rescue when they get lost or injured—”
Another kid cut me off. “What happens when the girls aren’t as strong as you?”
I should have thanked this kid for lobbing me that softball. I fought the urge to crack my knuckles because I was about to nail this.
“First, we refer to them as women, not girls, because they’re grown-ups. Understand?”
The kids stared back at me. When I glanced at Liv, she wore a little smile on her face, which filled me with confidence. One gold star for Finn Rhodes.
“All firefighters are required to pass a series of tests before being hired on to the crew, which means all the female firefighters are strong enough. They’re an important part of our crew and I’m lucky to work with them.”
Miri clutched her heart and pretended to swoon. Whoosh—that was the sound of me slam dunking this. My chest puffed out with pride. Miri slipped out into the hall to speak with a volunteer who had just arrived, and I opened my mouth to continue talking about safety in the back country.
“Have you ever been drunk?” another kid asked.
“Uh.” I hesitated. Of course I had, but I didn’t think I should say that. “Alcohol is bad.”
“My parents drink wine,” she volleyed back.
Uh. “A little is fine but getting drunk is bad. So, one of the main reasons people need to call for help is—”
“You didn’t answer us,” a girl in the front row said, raising her eyebrows. She turned to the class. “He’s drunk right now. That’s why he has no tooth.”
“I’m not drunk,” I rushed out. My ears were going hot again. What the fuck? “And I knocked my tooth out surfing this morning. Sure, I’ve been drunk before, but as you get older, the hangovers will hit you harder…” I caught Jen’s bemused expression and Olivia rolling her lips, trying not to laugh, and cut myself off. “Let’s stick to talking about hiking safety.”
“Have you ever smoked weed?” the girl prodded.
“Uh.” I glanced at Jen, who raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
I glanced at the doorway. Miri was still fucking chatting in the hallway. I exhaled heavily. I couldn’t lie to them, they’d see right through me. Besides, it was more responsible to tell them the truth and give them the tools to make good decisions, right?
A kid in the front row held up his phone. “Is this you?”
I leaned forward and nearly choked at a photo of me in my early twenties, doing a bong rip with some friends.
I reared back. “Where’d you find that?”
She tapped something on her phone and the phones around the classroom started pinging and buzzing.
“I put it in the group chat,” she said to the class, and everyone pulled out their phones to look.
Fuck. Okay. I was losing control of this.
“Yes, I have smoked weed,” I admitted, glancing nervously at Jen. “Drugs are bad. I mean, not all drugs—”
She frowned.
“—most drugs are bad,” I continued, starting to sweat.
“How do we know which ones are bad?” the nosy girl asked.
“Anything in pill form. Pills, crystals, powders, that stuff can kill you. We see people overdose sometimes.” Good, okay, this was good. Back on track. “Don’t take anything people offer you.”
“Are mushrooms bad?”
“How do you make weed brownies?” another one asked.
The nosy girl started filming me. “How many beers can you drink before you’re drunk?”
“What’s a Jäger-bomb?”
“My mom went to school with you and she said you’re a hot mess express.”
Fucking hell. This wasn’t a class presentation, it was a firing squad. Under my jacket, I was sweating through my t-shirt.
“Have you ever been arrested? My dad said you’ve been to jail.”
“The drunk tank isn’t jail,” I said, for some stupid fucking reason. Finn, shut your goddamned mouth.
Jen turned and gave Liv a look.
Fuuuuuuck.
“And our next presenter is…” I gestured at the back. “Jen Morgan! Everyone give her a big round of applause.”
The kids ignored me while I strode to the back of the room, heart beating in my ears. Jen started talking about nursing and I dropped into the seat beside Liv.
A wry smile stretched over her face. “That went really well.”
I raked a hand back through my hair.
This date I was going to take Liv on? I needed to plan something good.
ON THE WAY back to the fire hall from the school, I passed a car on the side of the road. One of the tires was sagging. I slowed and pulled over to the shoulder and got out.
The driver straightened up from where he was fumbling with a tire iron. He scanned me in my gear, and he was breathing hard. I’d seen people experiencing a stress response like this during Search and Rescue.
I put my hands up. “Need help?” I asked in a reassuring tone. “I know how to change a flat.”
His gaze flicked between me and the highway behind me. “Yeah.” He nodded quickly before swallowing. “That would be great.”
I was swapping out the flat for his spare when a familiar white 4×4 drove past. Liv’s car. I gave her a wave and a big smile and returned to tightening the bolts.
Today had started out shit, but this guy’s flat was a small gift from the universe.