True Blue - A Second Chance Romance (Complete)

Chapter 6

"Is Mary here yet?"

Emily put the birthday cake in the fridge and turned towards her younger sister who was artfully placing bite-sized appetizers on a plate. The picture of domesticity. It still shocked Emily a little that her youngest sibling had turned out the more responsible of the three sisters.

Beth had a wild streak in her that had at one point once upset more than one life. But you wouldn't know it now, looking at her standing in her five-bedroom home in a suburb just outside of Washington D. C., married with one child and another on the way. It gave Emily pleasure to know one of the Montgomery sisters had figured life out.

There was a time Emily thought she had a chance at what her sister had. Settling down, having kids, growing old with love by her side.  When she first met Finn, he had turned her world upside down and everything seemed possible.

Emily hoped today was the day she would see Finn again. Since their first meeting, she had found only two excuses to come back to the Waterfront Bar and both times Finn had not been working. To not be too obvious in her disappointment, she had hung around ordering a drink and hanging out with Simon. Luckily, the small resort town of Bridgeport only had a few restaurants and everyone knew this was her favourite, so her presence didn't seem too out of place.

When Simon let it drop that his new employee was his younger brother, Emily remarked on the family resemblance. Their bright blue eyes reminding Emily of the ocean and they shared the same wavy medium brown hair, although Simon wore his shortly cropped and Finn longer and shaggier, causing it to curl a little. Both men were above average height, with Finn slightly taller. But there the men verged. Simon was muscular and hard, perhaps from years of lifting beer kegs, whereas Finn was thin and lanky, all arms and legs, seeming to poke out of his t-shirt and shorts.

Emily wondered if their personalities were alike. She liked Simon. He was kind to her and the whole family when her mother was sick last year. The odd times they went out for a meal during those terrible times, Simon would go out of his way to make her mother comfortable, offering to make her anything her heart desired and never saying a word when she only pushed the food around her plate, barely eating anything.

If Simon had one character flaw, it was his obvious obsession with her sister. Emily had seen Finn's reaction to Mary as well. He had seemed dumbstruck. Wondering if this was something else the two men had in common, Emily opened the door to the bar and scanned the place for any sign of Finn. It wasn't Finn's fault, most men found Mary's looks very alluring. Her personality was a different story.

Emily felt a slight tug in her stomach when she spotted a man with curly brown hair serving a couple at a table by the window. Even though his back was to her, Emily was sure it was him. She was in luck.

Making her way to the bar, Emily picked out a seat near the end. Finn left the couple and stomped his way back to the kitchen. Emily watched his progress out of the corner of her eye, giggling a little at his obvious distaste for the task of clearing his customers' plates.

When he returned, Finn stopped in his tracks upon spotting her. A huge grin spread across his face and Emily's stomach did another flip flop. He was just so cute.

"Hey," Finn pointed at her. "Best of both worlds girl, right?"

He remembered her. Not her sister, her. Remembered her motto. Emily felt her cheeks burning.

"That's me." Emily couldn't keep the glee out of her voice.

"More frings today?"

"No, just came in for a drink this time."

"Let me guess, Iced Tea." Emily's glee dipped a little, that was Mary's drink. So he had been paying attention to her as well.

As if reading the disappointment on her face, Finn switched gears. "Or maybe a combination of..." he turned his eyes to the ceiling as if thinking really hard, "hmmm, maybe something sweet and sour, like cranberry and gingerale?"

The smile returned to Emily's face. Could he be any cuter? "Just a lemonade today please."

"One lemonade coming up."

Emily tried not to stare as the muscles in his arms flexed while pouring the drink or at the long fingers wrapped around the tall glass he placed before her. Her mind went to another place imaging something else those hands could grasp.

Finn seemed to be peering at her intently. She pushed away her errant thoughts and thanked him for the drink. Desperate for a reason to keep him near, Emily asked the first question popping into her mind. "So, do you like working here?"

Placing those fine hands flat on the bar as if to tempt Emily again, Finn rocked back and forth on his feet a little. "It's a job. Keeps me busy. Good way to waste time until fall."

"Really? Excited about going back to school?"

The lightness in Finn's expression faded away and he looked down at the floor, a grim smirk on his face. "No, I'm done with school. Let's say the academic system and I don't see eye to eye."

"Oh." Emily didn't know what to say. Finn didn't look much older than her. If he wasn't off to university like her, what was he looking forward to? Finn answered her question as if reading her mind.

"Army. I'm due to report after Labour Day weekend."

"Army?" Images of a recent WWII movie she had watched filtered through her head. The thought of Finn being caught in the horrors of war made her mouth go dry. "But you could be hurt," she blurted out.

Finn's eyes shot up at her words, locking on to hers. As they stared at each other, the rest of the world went quiet, until it was just the two of them. His pupils dilated and softened. Emily forgot how to breathe. She felt the smooth varnish of the bar beneath her hand as it slide across the bar, seeking his.

"Finn! Food's up!" Barked the cook, holding two plates in his hands. Finn jumped, breaking their connection. And then he was gone, off to serve his other customers.

Emily was left breathless, blinking to try to get her brain to start working again. She wasn't sure what had just happened, but Emily knew her world had changed. For a moment, she had been lost in those vivid blue irises. She never wanted to be found. She wanted to spend eternity drowning in the ocean of Finn.

"She's in the living room with Lance and Sophie," said Beth, referring to their other sister as she bent down to the petite male version of herself and handed him a piece of cucumber. Emily watched as the child grabbed the green circle out of his mother's hand and ran towards her proudly displaying it.

"Well, what have you got there, Ben?" Emily asked, lifting the boy up into her arms. Ben, for his part, garbled something completely unintelligible and tried to feed the thin disc to her. Emily pretended to take a bite and Ben giggled. "Let's go find Daddy, shall we?"

Rounding the corner into the living room, Emily almost dropped the child when her eyes met an all too familiar ocean.