“Sounds good.”
We loaded up the car and drove through town.
When we got to the shop, Finn went to the counter to order our food while I found us a seat by the window. It was too cool to sit outside but the sun was warm as it beat through the glass. I positioned myself so I could feel the heat on my back, and I faced the rest of the shop.
Ten minutes later Finn sat down across from me and we chatted and ate our sandwiches.
“This place is so good!” I said around a mouthful of food. “Definitely going to come here during my lunch break!”
Finn agreed with me and we continued to eat to our hearts content. When we finished he sat back and patted his protruding belly. I burst out laughing.
“You look like you’re trying to compete.” I said pointing to my stomach.
“Yours is definitely cuter than mine.” He chuckled.
He looked over my shoulder still smiling when his mouth faltered. His face contorted to a mix of distaste, panic, and confusion. His eyes traveled towards the front door.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” His expression was unnerving.
He didn’t answer me. My attention was drawn to one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen walking towards our table. Her light blue eyes were almost gray. She was very tall with long lean legs. Her breast were huge, but more than likely fake. And as she approached her eyes were set on Finn. What the hell was going on?
I tore my gaze away from the tall woman to look at Finn, and I saw him swallow hard.
“What in the hell are you doing here Valerie?” Finn spoke up and he didn’t sound very happy.
Holy shit! This was Val? The woman that Kyler went and on and on about at the reunion? The same woman that Finn had been seeing on-and-off when he lived in California?
“What do you mean, what am I doing here? I kept calling you and you wouldn’t take my calls.” She said in her oh-so-perfect voice. Of course even her voice was beautiful.
As she spoke, pieces of the puzzle in my head began to fit together. That was who had been calling his phone—it was never a telemarketer. She was the reason he was so distracted that day I was trying to talk to him. How often had they been talking? How did she know where to find him? Did he want her to be here? Did he ask her to come out here so I could see that he had someone else waiting for him? Suddenly my sandwich wasn’t sitting so well in my stomach.
“Don’t pull this shit now Val. I text you and told you that I had moved here to work things out with Emilyn. You have no business being here. You and I are over!” I’d never seen him so angry.
As if she hadn’t even noticed me sitting with Finn at the table, she turned her gray-blue eyes in my direction. She was assessing me, making me feeling like I was a tiny little organism under a microscope. Her lip curled up in a sneer as she looked even further down my body and saw my stomach.
“Is this why you moved out here? Did you get her pregnant? Finley, I know you are a traditional man but we can work this out. Just because she’s knocked up doesn’t mean we can’t be together anymore. I still want you, baby.”
I was shocked at her words. She thought that Finn was the one that got me pregnant? What had he told this woman? Unable to take anymore of her scrutiny, I chimed in.
“Hi.” I stood slowly and held my hand out for her to shake. “I’m Emilyn.” I had to tilt my head back a bit as she stood almost a full head taller than I did. Nothing more intimidating that standing up to your boyfriend’s—or whatever he was—ex-lover and feeling small and insignificant.
She didn’t take my hand, so I let it drop back by my side. Alright so this was how we were going to play this.
“Val is it?” She narrowed her eyes at me, knowing I knew damn well what her name was. “I think Finn has told you exactly how he feels. He and I are together now, working out some stuff that isn’t any concern of yours. I realize you probably flew a long way to get here, and for that I’m sorry, but you’re not welcome here. I’ll gladly pay for your ticket back to California and for your car to the airport.”
Her overly fake boobs puffed up at me. “You little bitch, I don’t care if you’re pregnant. You talk to me like that again and I’ll throw your ass to the ground!”
As if emerging from a trance, Finn finally stood in between us and tried to break it up.
“I’d never hit a girl Valerie, but if you touch her, it’s going to get ugly.”
“How can you say that me Finley! I don’t understand. We lived together. We were going to get married. I love you! You can still come back home baby, we’ll work this all out. Please don’t do this to us.”
“Wait… you lived with her?” I stepped to Finn’s side looking up at him.
“It wasn’t like that Em. She would come and stay with me at my house, but we never actually lived together. Not like you and I do.”
“Were you going to marry her Finn?” Tears started to spring to my eyes.
“No, never!”
The fake bimbo jumped in. “Excuse me, but if we weren’t going to get married, then what was all that talk we had before you left for your little reunion? You made me feel like things were getting serious.”
“Cut the shit Val! You’re the one that brought up marriage. I told you that I had never had plans for us to ever be serious. My heart has always been with Em.”
“She,” she pointed her finger at me, “is the reason that you were never able to commit yourself to me. Well I’m here to take you back home. You’ve got her out of your system, and clearly there’s no comparison between me and her. She is just a plain Jane, Finley. Why would you want that for yourself? If this is about the baby, we can send her money. Please don’t let this baby thing stop your goals and making it to the top. We have so much together.”
Ouch, that one hurt. She was right, I could clearly see the difference between her and myself. I was nothing but a simple little girl whereas she was a blonde bombshell. Granted a bitchy one, but men liked the things Val had. Why was he even with me?
“I’m not the father Val. It isn’t about the fucking baby!” Finn all but gritted through his teeth. He was trying to keep his voice down because people in the shop were starting to stare at us. “Em is so much more than you ever were Val. She isn’t fake, she cares about people. She is definitely not a plain Jane. She’s the most beautiful person on this earth. Don’t you get it? I tried to let you down easy, but you don’t seem to be taking no for an answer.”
“That’s because nobody tells me ‘no’ Finley.”
While the two of them faced off, I began having little twinges of pain that I’d never felt before and it was starting to make me nervous. This stress wasn’t good for me, or for my baby. I reached down to grab my purse and cell phone. I’d call Harper to come pick me up as soon as I got outside. I didn’t want to be in the middle of this. Even though Finn was saying words that I wanted to hear him say, he’d also lied to me. There were things about Valerie that he never told me about, such as them living together, and then not telling me that she’d called.
As I started to move away from the two of them and walk towards the door, Finn noticed me leaving.
“If you’re leaving Emilyn, I’m going with you.” He grabbed his coat.
Val grasped a hold of Finn’s arm and said, “We aren’t done talking. Let her go.”
“No.” He said.
“Finn, I need to leave. I don’t want to be a part of this, and I need some space and time to think about things.” Tears ran down my face.
“Don’t walk away from me again Tiny Girl. It’s you and me.” He removed Val’s arm from his own, and began walking towards me.
“I can’t do this Finn, not right now. I just need some time.” I opened the door, knowing full well that he was going to follow me.
“Em.” I heard him call as I started to practically sprint down the sidewalk.