Page 68 of The Best Friend Problem
“Then why did you guys wait so long?”
Blue eyes, eyes the same color as his, stared back at him.
“Your mother said she didn’t want me unless I wanted her. Your brother was an accident, but one she’d happily raise on her own if need be. She didn’t want me proposing out of some silly notion of obligation then resenting the marriage and her years down the road.”
Sounded like his mother. So why had his dad asked Finn about marrying Pru?
“The thing is, I loved your mother since the day I met her. Always have. I would have married her, baby or not. Took a while to convince her of that. To make her see I wasn’t going to take off. I wasn’t just sticking around because of the baby, but because of her. Because I loved her.”
“Yeah, Dad, but Pru and I don’t… It’s not like… I don’t love…”
At his nonsensical rambling, his father simply raised his brow.
“I’m not in love with Prudence.”
Now his father laughed. Not good. Kurt Jamison only laughed when someone told a witty joke or a cat got scared by a cucumber. His dad emailed him so many of those stupid videos. He seriously regretted showing the man how YouTube worked.
“What?”
“Son, you’ve been in love with that girl—woman—since the tenth grade.”
Had not.
“You may be able to hide it from everyone else, including your mother, which is a feat of God in itself, but you can’t fool me. I know.” A warm hand landed on Finn’s shoulder. “I’ve been there. The Jamison men tend to fall for tough, stubborn women. Stay strong, son. Don’t let her push you away, because I know she has feelings for you, too.”
“How do you know?” Dammit, he hadn’t meant to ask that. He hadn’t meant to admit his father might be right.
Might. Because, yeah, he could admit to himself—and only to himself right now—he had been harboring a secret crush on Pru for a long time, but a crush didn’t equal love. He cared for her. Deeply. In a more-than-a-friend kind of way that some people might call love. Y’know, if you believed in all that sappy stuff.
His father smiled, placing both hands on Finn’s shoulders and staring him straight in the eyes. “Don’t let her push you away. Prove yourself and your feelings and don’t let doubt or fear overwhelm you. Either of you.”
Great. He’d just do…that. Simple, right?
“Dinner’s ready,” Quentin called from the kitchen.
The women arrived back upstairs a moment later, all of them surrounding Pru, still offering advice and tips on pregnancy and babies. Her arms were empty, but his mother carried a box overflowing with baby blankets, clothes, and a toy puppy he’d remembered sleeping with every night until he was in the fifth grade.
“Here, Finn, dear.” His mother dumped the surprisingly heavy box into his arms. “Put this in your car so you two don’t forget it, then join us at the table.”
“Sure, Mom.”
He rolled his eyes, catching Pru’s gaze. She laughed, shrugging as his mother pulled her into the kitchen. She looked good here, happy, surrounded by his family. A place she’d always been welcomed, a place she’d now be a part of forever. A place he suddenly realized he never wanted to be at without her.
Dammit.
Why were parents always right?
Chapter Seventeen
“I’ve got cheesecake!” Mo raised the dessert high in the air as she entered the apartment.
Pru grinned from her position on the couch. “Perfect. I just cued up the movie, and once Lilly’s out of the bathroom, we can start girls’ night.”
Her roommate set the delicious confection on the coffee table before taking a seat next to Pru. Small but surprisingly strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and tugged her in for a hug.
“Ugh, it feels like forever since we’ve had a girls’ night. I can’t believe we let it go this long.”
Some of that was Pru’s fault. Okay, most of it. Though the women lived and worked together, they tried to set aside one night every few weeks to just kick back and relax, not as business partners but the way they began—as friends. Since they were in their downtime as far as weddings went, it should have been easier for them all to find a night off, but she’d been spending more and more time at Finn’s place.
