Finn (Casella Cousins #3) - Kathryn Shay Page 0,21
sweet maple syrup. She stayed another fifteen minutes, then left so they could get on with their day.
She only got in a short walk with Scout herself, showered, then stood in front of her closet and said to the dog, “This is pathetic. All my clothes are alike.”
Which never mattered to her. She pushed hanger by hanger to find something appropriate for work, but prettier than her other stuff, and vowed to go shopping on her day off. Or maybe order online. She found a jumpsuit she’d not worn much and wondered if it still fit.
It did. The denim was soft and brushed, the suit was gathered at the waist, with roll-up sleeves, pants ending at the ankle. It was more form-fitting than what she usually wore, which was probably why it was hidden away. She left the banded collar open with two buttons undone. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.”
She tried on comfortable brown suede boots she’d bought for fall, decided they’d work, then placed them in a bag and put on sneakers, which she wore on the twenty-minute walk.
As she left, she wondered when was the last time she dressed for a man.
Never.
* * *
Finn had finally finished dressing—it had taken him forever to choose what to wear, then put on jeans just back from the laundry and a gauzy navy-blue shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. As he slid into his most comfortable loafers, he thought maybe he’d walk to work, to see if he liked it. Going to the computer, he called up maps and figured out how long the trip would take him. A half hour. He could do that.
He was about to leave when the doorbell rang. Finn pressed the intercom.
“Your mother’s here.” Robert was probably getting hell for not letting her up.
“Tell her I’ll be right down.” Grabbing his keys and wallet, he left the apartment and took the elevator to the lobby. She was waiting by the concierge desk.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Finn. I wanted to come up to talk to you.”
“I’m leaving for work now.”
“Fine, I’ll give you a ride to Fitzgerald’s. I planned to get a new book soon anyway.”
When he and Hayley made plans, they joked, Bridget laughed.
In the back seat of her Cadillac, she told the driver where to go, then buzzed up the privacy screen. “I didn’t hear back from you about Hayley’s birthday.”
“It completely slipped my mind.” Because the store was in jeopardy and because of Millie, of course. “When did you want to celebrate?”
“This Friday night.”
“You know, I could swing that, but I wouldn’t be able to come to the Hamptons. I can’t afford the overnight stay because of work. I’m in the middle of something. But if you’d come to town, I’ll make myself available.”
A flicker of something he couldn’t name filled her eyes. When was the last time he didn’t try to accommodate her every wish? “I suppose Hayley’s going to say the same thing. She never let me know either and it’s her party.”
Even more than the last time, her attempt to draw him into her relationship with his sister rubbed him the wrong way. “Mother, you’ve told her on several occasions that you were done with her, because she wouldn’t do what you wanted. Can you blame her for resisting a birthday show-down?”
If it wasn’t so pathetic, he’d laugh at the dumb shock on Bridget’s face. “Why, you’ve never taken her side over mine.”
“Maybe it’s about time I did.”
She literally moved away from him and slid over to the window.
And Finn had a flashback of being in her house, under her control.
He knocked on her door.
“Go away,” she’d say.
“Mother, please, I’m sorry I talked back to you.”
No response.
When she came down for dinner, she sat at the far end of the table away from him. She talked to everybody but him. This went on for a week, at the end of which, all rebellion had been crushed out of him….
When she said no more for a few miles, he thought, I’ll be damned if I take this from her again. He reached out to buzz down the window. “Thomas, would you pull over? I’d like to walk the rest of the way.”
“Certainly, sir.”
He climbed out of the car without saying goodbye and started down the street. He could breathe again. Some might call what he did running away, but it was the very first time he’d stood up to her as an adult.
And that, too, was pathetic.
Fifteen minutes later, he entered the bookstore through