Page 25 of One Vow

In his defense, Dad had been forced to tell me I was in one of the videos, that he was kicking my boyfriend off the football team and suspending him from school, and I hadn’t mustered the courage to tell him I was moving or that I planned to marry the guy from my sex tape so I didn’t have to testify in any court proceeding that might come up against said husband. And because…I loved him.

I tugged Dad’s sleeve and pushed my body between him and Finn.

“You moved in with him! You moved out of your apartment with Sofia! And you didn’t tell me any of it.” He let go of Finn’s shirt and turned away, his back to both of us.

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

“He’s going to ruin your life.” His voice was low, colder than I’d ever heard. “Look what he’s already done to you. To all those poor girls.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face then spun and pounced on Finn again.

Finn didn’t raise his hands, didn’t fight back, didn’t even speak. I, on the other hand, morphed into some sort of hysterical fishwife when Daddy twisted them both around and threw Finn into a stack of boxes of stuff I’d brought from Sofia’s. Dishes inside the box shattered as Finn fell over them onto the floor.

This time, I jerked my dad’s shoulder. “Stop it! He’s my husband.”

Dad straightened, looked over his shoulder at me, and walked out the door. And because I just couldn’t let him go, couldn’t leave this unresolved between us, because I knew I was the one who messed it all up, I ran after him.

“Dad, wait!” He’d made it as far as the sidewalk and stopped. But he didn’t turn to look at me. Wind whipped between the houses and down the street, blowing my hair and chilling my skin, but I only cared about changing the look in my dad’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? This isn’t one of those things an apology fixes.” He shook his head. “This is a guy who’s going to break you. Sweetheart, you deserve better than a college drop-out, than someone you’re going to have to drive to Wiscasset to see on visiting days.”

I didn’t know if what Finn did was a prison time offense or if Daddy mentioned Wiscasset for shock value, but the idea hit its mark, and I pictured Finn in an orange jumpsuit behind bars. But I didn’t shudder, didn’t gasp or cry. I stared at my Dad. My best friend. Who should’ve been supporting me?

And I should’ve talked to him about all of this, the video, my feelings for Finn, the wedding, but I didn’t because I still couldn’t look him in the eyes. I couldn’t face the disappointment I knew I’d see there because of that goddamned video. While I hadn’t been able to meet his gaze since the scandal broke, he hadn’t looked at me either.

My stomach churned and I wanted nothing more than to throw my arms around him for a hug. I wanted to go back to the days before he found out about the videos, to a time when he called me every day and when we went to dinner every Thursday night and tailgated at football games on Saturdays.

“Dad. I love him.”

“I can’t watch you do this, Fliss.” He threw up his hands and walked around his car. “Come with me. You can get an annulment, we’ll fix all of this.”

Because I’d never argued with him or given him a reason to be angry, so I’d never seen this side of him, it took every ounce of courage and energy I had to say, “No.”

He nodded once then climbed in and drove away. Gone. And I stood there staring until his taillights faded and the car disappeared, until the wind blew through me and Finn came out to wrap my coat around my shoulders and guide me back inside.

I didn’t think much more than I was sorry I hurt my dad. So sorry.

Finn wrapped his arm around my shoulder and guided me inside. Probably not the wedding night he wanted, certainly wasn’t the one I’d dreamed about, but he held me through the night as I cried over the scene with my Dad. And when I woke up next to him, I wasn’t so upset anymore.

9

Finn

Everything in the house smelled like Felicity, the sofa cushions, the towels, every molecule of air. Not that I minded. Felicity was one of my favorite scents. I needed only to figure out how to bottle it and take it with me when I left.

Which, even after only two days, I wasn’t in a hurry to do. I liked waking up to hear her humming. And listening to her sing in the shower. I loved the way she talked to the birds when she threw birdseed out in the mornings. And the way she looked? Older. Better, if that was even possible. Her hair was longer. Eyes brighter but with a wisdom behind them that came from living.

“You want breakfast?” She poked her head around the kitchen wall and looked at me as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and wished for a cup of coffee that magically appeared on the table, if magically meant she walked it across the room and set it in front of me.

She looked down where the blanket covered my boxers. “You got a tent pole down there or are you just happy to see me?”

I chuckled. “Always happy to see you.”

She jerked her gaze back to my face and waited a second after my shrug to shake her head.

“Your fiancée know you talk to other women that way?” I should’ve been the one embarrassed, but it was her cheeks that went red.

I wanted to tell her the truth, and I wanted her to stop reminding me of Beth and the wedding. “I don’t talk to other women that way.”