The Comeback Kiss (6 page)

“
Business,”
Finn said. “
I
’
m on my way to a job in Boston.”

Joe nodded. “
So, you
’
re taking cases outside of Vegas now, huh? Business m
ust be good.”

Cases?
Finn kept his face impassive, waiting for Tessa to feed him what he needed. Which she did, expertly couching “
P.I.”
in a coughing fit.

So. He was a private investigator now.

Okay.

“
Yeah,”
he said to Joe. “
Business is good.”

He turned s
lightly toward Tessa. She cleared her throat gently and put her hand to her chest, as though she was surprised and slightly alarmed
—
but not too much
—
by her sudden coughing fit. Finn caught a slight flash of gratitude in her eyes, but he only caught it bec
a
use he knew her so well.

She was a better liar than he remembered, and he remembered her being pretty good back in the day. A rush of something
—
excitement, longing, fear, who the hell knew?
—
ran through him, and he turned his attention back to Joe, whose da
rk stare did a lot to dampen the effects Tessa was having on Finn.

“
Look, little brother,”
Joe said. “
You may have the town fooled with all the money you
’
ve been throwing around here
—”

Tessa cleared her throat again and Finn ground his teeth. So, he
’
d been
throwing money around. Well, that explained Stella Hodgkiss. Of course the
why
was another matter altogether. Tessa was creative when it came to covering up, but even she wouldn
’
t go to that much trouble over the town bell. Something else was going on.

Jo
e continued. “
But I know you better than that. You
’
re not exactly the charity type.”
Joe looked at Tessa again. “
Not if there
’
s nothing in it for you.”

There was something in Joe
’
s expression as he looked at Tessa that struck an odd chord of possessiveness
in Finn.

“
Hey, Tess,”
he said, turning his eyes to her, “
something going on here you want to fill me in on?”

Tessa shot him an indignant look. “
Nothing that
’
s any of your damn business.”

Well. It was clearly going to take a while to get back on Tessa
’
s go
od side. Which he would, if he was staying in town.

Which he wasn
’
t, so it didn
’
t matter.

Joe took a step forward. “
So, how long you here for, Finn? Just passing through to wreak some minor havoc, or planning on hanging around to inflict permanent damage?”

Finn glanced at Tessa, then looked back at Joe. “
Wreak some havoc?
Who uses phrases like that in everyday conversation? You wanna ask me a question, ask it. See, like this. Question: How long are you staying? Answer: Long as I damn well feel like staying,
that
’
s how long.”

Joe took another step forward. “
Look, you little punk
—”

Finn took a step closer. “
I
’
m taller than you.”

“
By a half inch.”

“
And yet, still taller.”

Tessa let out an annoyed sigh and stepped between them. “
He was just leaving. He stopped
by just long enough to return my car and burn down the pet shop
—”

Finn pointed his finger at her. “
This is the last time I rescue animals for you people.”

“—
and he
’
s on his way out.”
She turned to Finn, her face firm, one eyebrow raised. “
Now.”

“
Really?”
Joe said.

“
Maybe,”
Finn said.

“
Now,”
Tessa said. She turned her back to Joe and gave Finn the most pathetic pleading look he
’
d ever seen. It killed him not to smile, but he trusted that if Tessa was playing this game, it was important not to give her away.

It was the least he could do, really.

“
I
’
m late for my shift,”
she said, pushing past them and out to the street. “
You two try not to kill each other.”

Once she was behind Joe, she held up her keys at Finn and mouthed, “
Get rid of him.”

“
Be sure to pick y
ourself up a lozenge for that throat, Tessa,”
Joe said, keeping his eyes on Finn.

Not everyone in town is buying your story, Tess,
Finn thought.

Tessa shot Finn one quick, pleading look, then darted out into the street.

Finn looked back at Joe, who stared
him down. Somewhere in the back of his imagination, Finn heard the menacing whistle of the theme from
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
He hesitated a moment, then decided someone had to make the first move. He pulled on what he hoped was a conciliatory smi
le.

“
So,”
he said, “
duel at twenty paces?”

Joe didn
’
t smile. Big surprise. Humorless ass.

“
Don
’
t you have a fire to put out?”
Finn asked. “
Isn
’
t there a damsel in distress tied to a train track out there somewhere?”

“
As long as you
’
re here,”
Joe said, and
Finn could tell it was killing him to say it, “
you should go see Max.”

“
Hey, now there
’
s some bad advice,”
Finn said.

“
He
’
s not getting any younger, you know.”

Finn felt a slight stab of alarm at Joe
’
s tone. “
Why? What
’
s wrong? Is he okay?”

Joe shrugged.
“
He
’
s fine. He
’
s just getting older, and whatever happened between you guys, as long as you
’
re here, you should make it up.”

Finn stared at his brother. For once, the hostility in his face was gone. It was still stony, impassive, and kinda square, but defi
nitely not hostile. Finn relaxed his stance a bit.

“
All right,”
he said. “
I
’
ll think about it.”

Joe nodded, hesitated for a moment, then turned and stalked off.

Finn leaned back against the wall of the drugstore. All he
’
d wanted was to come into town, righ
t a wrong, and get the hell out. He supposed he could still do that. He could grab his backpack, grab the macaw, and skip town. He pushed himself away from the wall, walked to the corner, and poked his head around to see Joe handing a leashed spaniel to o
n
e of the onlookers, delegating responsibility to the rubberneckers like a big damn hero who thinks he
’
s better than everybody else.

Asshole.

Finn glanced down at the bench. His backpack was still underneath and, wonder of wonders, the cage with the macaw w
as still next to it.

Out of his peripheral vision, he thought he saw Joe look in his direction, and he ducked behind the corner and counted to sixty as he formulated his plan.

He could grab his pack and the cage, and then cut across Lowery
’
s field to get t
o the lake. His toes would likely freeze solid before he got there, but if the shack was still there, he could probably count on the old cot and the woodstove and half a cord of firewood waiting there, as it had been every winter since he was a kid. Dick
L
owery made sure of it; his land bordered the lake after which the town was named, and by stocking the shack with the basics he kept the fishermen, drunks, and revelers from wandering onto his property and dying of exposure. It was pretty much a win/win.

Ge
t moving,
he thought, but he stayed where he was, staring off in the direction Tessa had gone. He could still feel her under his hands, taste her on his lips. How did she do that? How did she stay with him even when she wasn
’
t there?

That wasn
’
t normal. It
was a bad sign that she could still twist him up like this. If those kisses had lasted any longer, he didn
’
t know if he
’
d still be able to form a thought. It had occurred to him that he might see her, but he
’
d never expected that she
’
d still pull on him
l
ike that, like a force of nature. He still couldn
’
t believe he
’
d been stupid enough to kiss her, and yet, when they
’
d gotten that close, all the wires in his brain crossed and kissing her seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.

Which wasn
’
t good. If t
here was one thing Finn liked to count on, it was his ability to think clearly. Something about Tessa messed with his head, so the best thing to do was to get as far away as humanly possible.

His internal count hit sixty and Finn peeked his head around the
corner. The onlookers had dispersed, probably afraid of being forced by Joe to foster a pet or give blood. Great. His brother was actually good for something.

He glanced down at the bench. His pack was still there, but the macaw was gone. He looked up and
saw Joe putting the cage in the front seat of the lire truck.

“
Shit,”
he grumbled. Well, there went that part of the plan, the part where he actually got something out of coming back to this crap hole. Unless...

He looked in the direction of the diner. Un
less he stayed one more day, took the time to track down the macaw. Then, maybe he could get a bottle of wine and sneak off somewhere with Tessa. Catch up on old times. Maybe have some new times...

Bad idea.
He knew that if he stayed, it would be in the ru
nning for the stupidest thing he would ever do, and there was certainly a healthy amount of competition for that slot. Smart Finn would have left already, but Stupid Finn had been ruling the day so far. He could feel them both pulling on him, pretty much
i
n a dead heat.

Finally, he ducked out onto the sidewalk, grabbed his backpack, and made a choice.

***

Isabella Scuderi picked up a crate of violets from the cart and put them on the long display table near the entrance to FLOWERS, ETCETERA. She inhaled t
he earthy scent of the soil mixing with the sweetness of the flowers and smiled. This job definitely beat the hell out of AP Chem, which was where she would be if she hadn
’
t dropped all her advance classes and gotten the afternoons off from school. It had
been a hell of a fight convincing Tessa to let her graduate with her class instead of finishing early. Izzy had actually had to pull out reference materials from noted psychologists on the benefits of not skipping grades in school. She was lucky Tessa did
n
’
t require official in-person depositions from the experts.

That
’
s probably what she
’
d have to do to get her own car. The way it was now, whenever she wanted to use the Mazda, she had to deliver a full itinerary to Tessa, who would make phone calls to chec
k with mothers and chaperones, just to be sure. It would be impossible for Izzy to fly under Tessa
’
s radar if she had to ask permission anytime she wanted to go farther than walking distance from their house.

It
’
s not that I don
’
t trust you,
she
’
d always s
ay,
it's just that sometimes I wish Mom hadn
’
t trusted me so much.