Not A Temporary Love | Finley & Harlyn #1

Chapter 33

"I wouldn't be so sure. Maybe I'll break it off with him right before we turn forty and run off with you," I tease, winking at her. She laughs, and Harlyn, still sitting on the floor against my bed, slaps a hand to his chest.

"Oi," he says. "You would leave me for my best friend?"

I look him dead in the eye and say, "Yes. Yes, I would."

"Ow!" he exclaims. "Well, I'll just leave you for Max then."

"Not gay," Max says.

"Well, Finley's not straight and he's shacking up with me," Elly says. "Actually, how about this? Max, babes, if we're still single when we're forty, wanna get married?"

Max shoots her finger guns and says, "I gotchu, baby."

I mean to retort something about Elly betraying me, but I'm laughing too hard, so I listen to them plan their imaginary twenty years from now wedding, complete with swans and so much tulle and possibly a Marvel theme, though I'm not sure how they'll manage to fit swans and tulle in with Thor and Loki. Harlyn crawls back to me, resting his elbows on my knees this time.

"Are you sure you wanna...?" he asks, trailing off.

"Of course, sweetheart," I say. "I...figured we'd kind of implied it, but I didn't want to assume. Are you sure you're ok with me telling my parents, though? You haven't told yours yet."

He shrugs. "I'm telling them in a few days. It's not like your Mum and Dad talk to mine. And I already told you. I want you to be able to tell people."

I nod, and I'm about to thank him when my phone starts ringing.

"It's my parents," I say. All of the anxiety comes crashing down, sitting right below my sternum. Harlyn squeezes my hands once before getting to his feet and heading out of the room. Max and Elly follow, and I take up the rear, answering the call. "Hi."

"Hello, son," Dad greets, shifting on the loveseat next to Mom. I carefully trot down the stairs and into the living room, where Amelia's waiting on the couch. "How's your day been?"

"It's been good," I say. "I actually wanted you to meet some people before we started, uh, talking. You've met Amelia a few times." I turn the phone around so they can see her, and they exchange a few pleasantries. "You know Max, of course."

Max, leaning against Elly's legs in front of the couch Amelia's also on, waves. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. B."

"Hi, Max," Mom says.

"And this is the one and only Elly." I move the phone up farther so they can see her behind Max.

Elly waves my comment away. "I'm no one special."

"Not what we've heard," Dad says. "Seems you and Finley have gotten close. And Harlyn of course."

"Speaking of Harlyn," I say, pulling the camera back to me and making my way to sit next to Harlyn on the other couch. He puts his hand on my knee. "This is Harlyn. He's, uh -" The word gets stuck in the back of my throat. I've never introduced anyone as my boyfriend before. And is Harlyn really sure he wants to do this? This is a big step. A real step.

"I'm his boyfriend," Harlyn says, giving them a winningly sweet smile.

Mom and Dad stare at us, mouths hanging open. It's Bridget's voice that comes across the line first, from somewhere off screen.

"Well, your Paris blog post makes a lot more sense now," she says. I'm concentrating so much on trying to decipher her tone that I don't even think about the blush creeping up my neck. It's not teasing or scathing. It's just a fact, like she's stating the absolute obvious. Wait. She reads my blog? "I just thought it was a crush, but...yeah, that checks out." I wish I could see her face.