The Finn Factor

“Right.” The picture didn’t have great resolution and only showed his head and shoulders, but I could tell he wasn’t as broad as Fi

I pulled my cheese sandwich from the container. “Have you been stalking this guy or do you actually know him?”

“I know him,” she said but her eyes slid to the left.

“Oh my God, Cathy. You’re stalking people to set me up on dates now?”

“I buy coffee from him every morning and today it suddenly hit me that he could be the love of your life, so I looked up the café on social media and followed some links until I found his personal pages. That’s all. Nothing wrong with any of that,” she said primly, then gri

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Do you even know if he’s single? Or straight?”

“He hasn’t checked the ‘in a relationship’ box or mentioned a partner anywhere.”

“Maybe he values his privacy,” I said, heavy on the irony.

She chewed on her bottom lip as she considered. “Maybe, but it can’t hurt to try. How about we meet there for coffee Saturday morning?”

“I can’t. Saturday is Fi

“Okay, what about Sunday?”

I bit into my sandwich and made a non-committal noise.

Cathy narrowed her eyes at me over her coffee mug. “Are you seeing someone?”

The room shrank down and I was lost in memories. Fi

Cathy followed. “You are seeing someone! Why didn’t you tell me?”

After I’d finished an entire glass of water in one go, I took a breath and faced her with an I’ve-got-nothing-to-hide smile. “Nope, not seeing anyone.”

I crossed my fingers behind my back.

Cathy folded her arms. “Then what was that look in your eyes for?”

“What look? There was no look. My eyes are always like this.”

Jared, one of the lawyers, came in for coffee, passed a remark on the weather and left. Cathy not-so-patiently waited until he was gone, then said, “When I asked if you were seeing someone, your eyes glazed over and you happy-sighed.”

“I made no happy sigh.” Though it was totally possible I had, since the feel of my legs wrapped around Fi

“You’re doing it again!” Cathy tapped her shoe on the linoleum floor. “Spill.”

“I can’t,” I said then winced. I’d pretty much just admitted there was a secret.

Cathy grabbed my elbow and steered me back to our seats at the end of the table, where our lunches still sat. “Scarlett Logan, you will tell me what’s going on right now. Is it one of the partners of the firm? Is that why you’re keeping it a secret?”

“What? No!”

“Then who?”

I picked up my apple and toyed with the stalk. Maybe I could tell her. She didn’t know anyone else in our little friends and family bubble, and it might be good to have someone to talk to about it all. Normally I talked to Fi

“Okay, here’s the thing. I slept with Fi

Cathy’s mouth popped open in a silent, thrilled scream. “That’s fantastic. You’re already friends and he’s so hot and he sleeps in the same house—this is perfect!”

A warm fuzzy glow sprang to life in my chest—she was right, this could be perfect if we didn’t screw it up. Plus, it was nice to have someone else as excited about this as I was. “We’re keeping it a secret for now, until we find our rhythm.”

“Roger. My lips are sealed.” She mimed locking her mouth then completely ruined the effect by immediately opening it again. “Tell me the sex is great. Please tell me that much.”

“The best sex I’ve ever had.” I tried not to look too smug, but it was a hard ask and I probably failed. “Five times better than any other sex. Maybe six.”

“You’re not still worried about him being aloof if you dated him, are you? Because I think that horse already bolted.”

It was that, but so much more too. “Fi

She scrunched up her nose as she considered. “Okay, I see that. But I think it will work and you’ll have it all. You’ll have that friend stuff plus great sex every night.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.” Praying for. I picked the stalk out of the top of my apple. “My entire life seems to be about gambles at the moment.”

“What else is going on?”

I glanced around to check no one was coming through the door. “I’ve been offered a promotion here, to a PA position.”

“That’s great,” Cathy said, practically bouncing in her chair. “It will be so much easier to sync our lunch breaks.”

Good point. “So you think I should take it?”

She frowned. “You didn’t already?”

“They said I could have this week to think about it.” And the week was almost up. I really had to make a decision. Cathy and I had talked about her life for most of our lunches this week, so I’d avoided mentioning it. I’d hoped if I let my mind settle in with all the information, it would spit out the answer, but that method hadn’t worked even a little. Maybe I should have told Cathy sooner.

“Are you holding out for more?” she asked in a stage whisper.

That depended on the definition of more. “This was supposed to be a temporary job to save up some money to finish my degree. I’m still officially enrolled in accounting, I’ve just deferred it.” Twice. But who was counting.

Cathy leaned back in her chair. “Do you want to be an accountant?”

I automatically opened my mouth to say “yes”, but paused. For all intents and purposes, Cathy was outside the ecosystem of Fi

“I don’t hate accountancy—the spreadsheets and graphs are fun—but it’s not a dream career or anything.” Though, how many people got to work in their dream career? Maybe I was being too picky.

“Why did you choose it?” She swiped one of my apples.

“Honestly? A friend in high school had parents who were both accountants. They had a nice house and enough money for things they needed.”

“You didn’t have that?” She bit into my second apple while I kept playing with the first.

“My parents are hippies. They don’t think material possessions are important, so their definition of what we needed and mine are totally different.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “I had no idea.”

“They’re camped out the back of Fi

“But it’s not the only job that would give you financial security,” she pointed out.