Page 70 of Shattered Hearts
My former in-laws.
Chapter 17
Riley
I’m on Cloud Fifteen.Finn doesn’t love my sister, he’s never touched my sister. I’m the first person he’s touched since his late wife.
I slap both hands over my cheeks to stop myself from grinning like an idiot. Nothing’s different between us. Not really.
We know more about each other now. But for all that talking we did, we didn’t cover everything. We didn’t discuss what happened at my apartment or whether Finn was serious when he vowed to make me come all over his fingers, tongue, and cock.
Movement in my peripheral catches my attention. An older couple approaches the diner’s glass door. I can tell from here how put together they are, which is a bit odd, considering it’s only six, almost seven in the morning.
Everything they’re wearing, head to toe, is name brand luxury.
I pull the door open for them, and they duck inside. They return my polite smile with icy stares.
The man wraps a protective arm around the woman’s waist. “You’re sure you want to spend our anniversaryhere?”
She scowls. “Our daughter used to love quaint places like this. We came here to honor her memory.”
When they spot Finn, their cold expressions become positively glacial. It’s not the kind of eye contact strangers in a deserted diner make.
This exchange is war-like.
When I glance at Finn, I find a shell of the man I know.
I’ve never seen him look so small. So broken.
It’s as if someone extinguished the spark of light inside him and hollowed out his eyes.
My attention falls to that widower’s tattoo around the ring finger of his clenched left fist, and a switch flips in my mind.
These must be Finn’s late wife’s parents.
An older couple on their anniversary, honoring the taste of their late daughter…and running into the man they blame for her death. No wonder the air got so frigid.
My heart fractures like glass as I imagine what hell must be going through Finn’s mind.
And that’s when I remember the vow I made sometime in the wee hours of this morning…to have Finn’s back while we’re stuck in this fake marriage together.
The woman’s attention darts to my left hand. “You should leave him now. Before it’s too late.”
Although anger flares in my chest, empathy for their lost daughter has me biting back any harsh words. “I’m sorry for your loss, but Finn is a good man. I’d be a fool to leave him.”
He peers at me like he’s never seen me before.
“Come on, honey. Let’s go home.”
I don’t wait for him to agree. I just grab his hand and tug him along behind me until we’re out the door and on the sidewalk in the early morning air.
Just a few minutes ago, Finn was laughing…one of the happiest, most wonderful sounds I’ve ever heard.
Now he looks like he’ll never smile again.
As if lost, he comes to a standstill at the curb.
“Keys.” I open my palm to him. “I’m driving us home.”