FULL NOVELXO Finn Rhodes Forever: Chapter 5
THE NEXT EVENING, I caught a flash of her pink hair as I slipped into the back of the meeting room at town hall, nodding hello at the people around me before I took my seat. Town hall meetings weren’t my thing but the conversation I’d heard at the fire hall this morning stuck in my mind all day like a thorn.
At the front of the room, my oldest brother, Emmett, took his seat among the rest of the town council.
He gave everyone a friendly, confident smile. “Let’s start, shall we?”
Emmett looked good up there. Natural, like he was in his element. He had always been a leader, but seeing him as mayor felt right. Back in school, he was class president, captain of the soccer team, and Mr. Popular. The guy had an MBA in finance, and he and Holden had built a successful construction company here in Queen’s Cove from the ground up.
On the other side of the room, Holden sat with Sadie. Holden was the responsible brother. The guy took care of everyone in his life. I usually stayed at his place if I was in town for only a weekend, mostly because before Sadie, he was a grumpy asshole and I loved to get on his nerves.
Beside them sat Wyatt and Hannah. Wyatt was a professional surfer. Part of Queen’s Cove’s appeal as a tourist destination was the cold-water surfing off our coast, and growing up, Wyatt spent most of his free time out on the ocean. He and Hannah had a one-year-old daughter, Cora, the cutest kid I’d ever known. Although he had slowed down since Cora came along, Wyatt still competed, winning tournaments and sponsorships.
And then there was me, the youngest Rhodes brother. The troublemaker. I held the record for number of trips to the principal’s office at both the elementary and high school in town. My own mom joked that I was the devil.
Self-doubt crept up my throat, but I shoved it away.
Emmett started talking about the next town festival—raccoon-themed, this season—as I watched Liv. Her pink hair glowed and there was something about her in that soft-looking plaid shirt that was so fucking cute.
“Next up,” Emmett continued, scanning his notes. “Chief Bell with the Queen’s Cove Fire Department has a concern. Chief Bell, you have the floor.”
Chief Bell, my boss, was in her early fifties and had the most intense don’t fuck with me energy of anyone I’d ever met. She gestured to Miri Yang, who nodded and woke up the computer. The projector lit up and a PowerPoint slide appeared on the wall.
Olivia Morgan: Misuse of Search and Rescue Funds
In the front row, Liv sat up taller. I couldn’t see her expression from the back of the room.
“Are you serious?” she hissed at the council.
Chief Bell nodded to Miri, who clicked to the next slide. The projector flipped to a picture of Liv being helped into a helicopter. It had been taken when she was mid-blink, looking over her shoulder.
“September 18, last year. Olivia Morgan twisted her ankle and limped down the mountain until she had cell service. This was her first Search and Rescue call.”
Liv’s ears were turning pink.
“By the time we picked her up,” my firefighter colleague, Jay, added from a few rows back, “her ankle was the size of a grapefruit.”
Liv turned and glared at him. He withered in his seat, not making eye contact.
“Thank you, Jay,” Chief Bell added before nodding to Miri, who flipped to the next slide, a picture of Liv with her arms crossed in the hospital waiting room, scowling at the camera.
I bit back a laugh.
“April 27, last month. Olivia Morgan failed to return to home base by two hours after the estimated time of arrival.”
“I was a kilometer from the car,” Liv told her, shaking her head.
Chief Bell turned her hard gaze to Liv. “You were hiking in the dark. That’s dangerous.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
Chief Bell’s eyebrows lifted. “After yesterday, we don’t want to take any more risks.”
The room fell silent.
“What does this mean?” Liv asked, blinking. “You’re saying I can’t go anymore?”
She flipped to the next slide of two stick figures holding hands, smiling.
Liv stared and I put a hand over my mouth to hold in a laugh. This was the conversation I had overheard this morning at the fire hall.
Emmett cleared his throat. “Thank you, Chief Bell. I’ll take over before Olivia throws a chair.” The captain took her seat as Emmett turned his focus to Liv. “We can’t tell you to stay out of the back country, but we’re encouraging you to bring someone.”
Liv’s jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me?”
Emmett winced. “It’s getting expensive, Olivia, and we don’t know how long it’s going to go on for.”
Liv stared at him for a moment. “Oh.” She scoffed. “You don’t think it exists.”
“I didn’t say that.” Emmett looked torn.
“You didn’t have to,” Liv shot back. “You think the flower’s extinct, and I’m never going to find it.”
She laughed in disbelief, looking at the council beside him. “I didn’t ask to be rescued. I didn’t even need to be rescued. I always plan for being stuck overnight. I’d have been fine on my own.”
Chief Bell shook her head. “We can’t let you fend for yourself out there. Besides, it’s good practice to go with a buddy.”
Liv blinked at her. “You want me to pay a guide? I can’t afford that.” She hugged herself tighter, brow creasing, and my heart squeezed in empathy. For a moment, she looked lost and I hated seeing that look on her face.
That was why I was here.
Chief Bell folded her hands in front of her, not giving an inch. “Your safety is important.”
Liv’s nostrils flared, like last night in the helicopter when she wouldn’t even look at me. “Who’s going to spend their entire summer trekking around the back country with me?”
I cleared my throat. “I’ll do it.”
Every set of eyes in the room glanced between Liv and me with interest.
She didn’t even look at me. “No.” Her gaze searched the room before she spotted someone. “Randeep?” Her eyes pleaded.
Randeep Singh ran a local tour company, leading backpacking trips through the mountains.
He winced at her and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Olivia. We can go once or twice, but with all the tours I have booked and the kids, it’s tough for me to be away more than I already am.”
Liv chewed her lip, brow furrowed with worry. “Yep, I understand. It’s a big ask.”
I shifted in my seat, crossing my arms over my chest. “I saw it,” I told the room before meeting Liv’s eyes. “I saw the flower, and I want to help you find it.”
“No,” Liv snapped.
Emmett’s gaze flicked to me, considering my offer. “Finn has experience in the back country from firefighting.”
Emmett had a bottle of whiskey coming his way.
Chief Bell nodded once. “Rhodes would be an excellent chaperone.”
Liv choked. “Chaperone?”
“Buddy,” Emmett cut in quickly. “Not chaperone. Just consider it. You don’t have to make any decisions right now.”
Liv’s gaze came to mine. Cold, biting fury flashed across her face. A spike of panic and excitement shot through me.
Fucking hell, she was cute. Even when she was mad at me. Even when she hated me. She had this tiny nose and when she was super mad, it twitched, like she was trying not to scrunch it up.
Fucking adorable.
A memory flashed into my head of us as teenagers, riding our bikes through the forest. Her hair was her natural brunette back then, long and wavy, flying in the wind. When she turned back to look at me, laughing with bright eyes, my heart had leaped into my throat.
Fuck, I missed her. I had missed her every day for twelve years, but seeing her in front of me ratcheted that longing ache up tenfold.
I stared back at her, lifting one eyebrow, holding back the grin. The grin would piss her off and then she’d say no, but I really, really wanted her to say yes. Besides, she needed me. She just had to be the one to make the decision.
She turned back to Emmett, pointing at me. “You planned this. You both did.”
“I swear,” Emmett told her, “we didn’t.”
The entire room held their breaths. I could see her chest rising and falling as she considered her options.
“I believe you,” I told her in front of everyone. “I know it’s out there.”
She closed her eyes a moment, defeated, and my stomach dipped. “Fine,” she muttered.
“Great.” Emmett nodded to Miri, taking notes. “Let’s move on.”
Before she sat down, Liv shot me a look so pissed it could have melted the skin from my bones. Her look said you planned this. I rubbed a hand over my mouth, hiding my smile while my heart did somersaults in my chest.
After town hall was over, Holden pulled me aside.
“What’s up?” I asked him, watching over his shoulder as Liv slipped out. I had been hoping I could try to chat with her for a few minutes.
“I want to make sure you’re up for it, helping Olivia like this.”
Holden and Olivia were friends because he hung out at her bar a lot, and now he was married to her best friend.
“Of course I am.”
He studied me. “Alright. It’s important to her.”
Again, Jen’s words from years ago replayed in my head, and anxiety pinched between my ribs.
No one thought I was good enough for her. No one thought I’d follow through.
I got it. I did. I had a history of fucking up, running wild, and leaving. I loved an adrenaline rush. Trouble found me, and most of the time it was because I went looking for it.
I clapped a hand on Holden’s shoulder. “I’m not going to bail on her.”
Holden arched an eyebrow like he didn’t believe me. “Okay.”
Sadie appeared behind him, smiling at us. “Hey, Finn.”
“Hey, Sadie.”
“Ready to go?” she asked Holden, and he nodded as his arm snaked around her waist.
My heart twisted, watching them smile at each other as they said goodbye and headed off.
I wanted what they had, but it seemed so far out of reach.
Down the street, I watched as Liv strode toward the bar. She lived in an apartment upstairs.
She had said yes. A grin stretched wide across my face. My original plan for this summer was to follow her around like a dog until she gave me the time of day. This was so, so much better.
Maybe what Holden and Sadie had wasn’t so far out of reach.