Page 41 of Strictly Business
“HONESTLY, SCREW YOU GUYS,” I hiss, following Cait out of the cab. “I shouldn’t even be here right now.”
“Of course you should!” Cait loops her arm through mine, and Liv does the same on the other side as they lead me toward the entrance to Luna Park, where the check-in table has been set up.
Sasha’s smile widens, and she waves excitedly when she sees us. “Michaela! I thought you weren’t coming.”
“I wasn’t, but these two kidnapped me.”
There I was, minding my own business when a knock at the door turned into a full-on kidnapping. Cait and Liv stood on the other side of the door ready to gag and bind me if I refused to come with them. I woke up this morning with a new lease on life. Thank God I get to go back to my office tomorrow. It felt so good to leave corporate on Friday knowing I didn’t have to come back Monday morning. When Nina called Friday night asking if I wanted to spend another week helping Finn, I turned her down. “Best I can do is Sunday,” I said. It wasn’t fair of me to turn her down, and I knew I should help her, but I couldn’t spend another week working with him. Scratch that, I couldn’t spend another week doing all the work for him. I was finally free and did not plan on going backward. I’d be happy if I never saw him again — but, I’d never be that lucky. Not when Josh is my brother.
When I woke up this morning, I decided I wasn’t going to torture myself today by attending the fundraiser. Not even my brother could convince me…
I rolled my eyes. I wouldn’t have had to work so hard if someone had been doing their part. Instead, he was too busy having a good ole time — typical Finn, always looking for the next party. And, I would much rather spend my day at home catching up on the new season of The Boys. I mean, who wouldn’t want to stare at Karl Urban for a few hours?
However, that plan was ruined when the two women dragging me toward the park entrance showed up. At least they brought donuts.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. You should reap the benefits of your hard work!” Sasha wraps one of the bright pink bands around my wrist with a wink.
“That’s what I said,” Caitlin says as one of the volunteers applies her band.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to turn that frown upside down!” Liv says, lifting the corners of my mouth and shoving me inside the blue gates.
So far, so good… We have been here for two hours with no sign of Finn. I can’t lie, today has been a lot of fun. I’ve never been to an amusement park when you’re the only ones there but it’s pretty great. No lines. No rude customers. The workers even seem relaxed and happy to be here. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to normal amusement park living after this. I wonder if I can convince Nina to do this every time we want to go somewhere… Just imagine having somewhere like Disney World all to yourself.
“Well, look who decided to show after all.” Nina stands with a smirk on her lips as she lifts her sunglasses. “I thought you told Josh you weren’t coming today?”
“We couldn’t let her bail,” Liv says.
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t. This has been a great event, Mic. You outdid yourself.” Nina smiles and I feel a weight lift off my shoulders. I know I’m not totally off the hook yet, but it feels like she has some restored faith in me. “We still have some things to discuss, but… You did a wonderful job.”
“Thanks, Nin.”
“There she is!” Nick pops out of the crowd carrying Ophelia who clutches a lollipop bigger than her head.
Behind him, Josh, Kai, and Elieen break through the crowd. Eileen carries a teddy bear, surely a prize won for Ophelia from one of the carnival games. The crowd parts for one final member of the group, and I fully expect to see Elizabeth, but instead, Finn steps through. He’s walking shoulder to shoulder with a younger boy, no more than fourteen or fifteen, who looks like he just graduated from boot camp. He’s clearly one of the kids part of the event, but they look way too comfortable to have just met. Seems weird that Finn would know one of the participants from today. Why would he? The whole idea of him being invested in helping foster kids is still weird to me, it’s such an odd charitable need to pick.
Finn stands out among the crowd dressed in black slacks and a blue button-up, the top buttons left undone, and the sleeves rolled up. The rest of the group is dressed down a bit — while maintaining a certain level of professionalism required by our positions.
“Aunt Michaela!” Ophelia squeals and Finn’s attention is pulled from his conversation. His eyes are hidden behind a pair of black Ray-Bans, but I can feel his stare burning into me. Ophelia squirms from Nick’s arms and crashes into my legs.
“Hey, Leia.” I bend down to her level trying to ignore the two newcomers. “I haven’t seen you in so long, how are you, sweet girl?”
“Uncle Nick won me a teddy bear!”
“He did? That was nice of him.”
“Yeah, Daddy tried, but he wasn’t very good at shooting the ball.”
Kai rolls his eyes, “Thanks, Leia.”
“Don’t worry, man. We all know sports are your strong suit,” Nick laughs gripping Kai’s shoulder.
“C’mon Leia, let’s go ride the Rainbowheel before we head home. It’s almost nap time.” Kai extends his hand towards her, and she looks up at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen. “Don’t look at me like that. You know I can’t resist those eyes.”
Ophelia pouts a little more but finally gives in when Eileen gives her the mom look. She sighs and hugs me goodbye before taking her father’s hand and disappearing into the crowd.
“We’re actually about to head out too,” Nina says leaning into Nick’s embrace. She turns to Finn, “Don’t stay out too late, Sheffield. We have a long week ahead of us.”
“I promise to keep him on his best behavior,” the boy says.