The Uneventful Life of Harvey Mackler

c h a p t e r | t w e n t y - e i g h t

I snort. But before Lancer can begin to regale me with the woes of his workplace like I know he's dying to, there is a knock on the office door prompting us both to turn to it.

To my surprise, the person on the other side happens to be Finn's younger sister, Leah. Dressed in her kickboxing attire with a phone pressed to her ear, she steps into the room, casting me a smile before directing her gaze at Lancer.

"Lancer, is it okay if I borrow a pen?" she asks in her strong British accent, distancing her phone from her ear.

"Sure thing," Lance replies. He jerks his head in the direction of the bureau. "Help yourself to whatever. Just be sure to return anything you use — Warren gets a bit neat-freaky over these things."

"Thanks," Leah says as she pads into the room to the table. She raises her phone up again to resume her conversation with whoever is on the other side. "Yeah, Dad. I've got a pen now. I'll write it..."

Her voice trails off as she looks around the table, picking up a pack of post-it notes and holding it up to Lancer in a silent request. He nods wordlessly, granting her permission to write in it. She mouths her thanks before continuing.

"Yeah, Dad, you were saying?" she says. Her voice drops as she repeats whatever information her father relays to her, humming in confirmation as she scribbles it down. "Okay, got it. I know, I know. I'll tell Finn. Call them up before going back to England, right. No, I don't know if he's packed yet, but the flight isn't till next week, right? Mm, I'll ask when I see him, I'm still at kickboxing."

England? Flight? Next week...?

Leah rounds up her conversation with her father, saying her goodbyes before lifting her head up to apologise once more to us for the intrusion. She thanks Lancer a second time, then takes her post-it note and leaves the room.

I stare after her helplessly, not knowing how to begin to process the thousand thoughts and emotions running through my head right now. Leah's words continue to replay in my mind, even as Lancer stirs from beside me to speak again.

"Look at the time," he sighs, pushing his back off the wall he is leaning on and slipping his phone into his back pocket. "Hey Harv, I have a couple things to round up here. I'm supposed to be training a newbie, so I should probably check on that first, but I should be done soon," he says. "Do me a favour and ask Finn's sister if she wants a lift too, will you? Might as well, if we're all heading to the same place."

It takes an extra second to interpret what he is saying, given the state of my mind, but I nod in agreement, forcing a quiet thanks out of my dried-up throat as I trudge out the door he opens for me.

All this time, I've been preparing for the possibility of Finn leaving, but next week? I didn't imagine it would be so soon.

It feels like a kick in the guts.

><{{{(•>

It feels like an even harder kick to the guts when I find Finn at the beach half an hour before the official start of today's competition.

His eyes light up and he breaks into a wide grin, hurriedly weaving through the crowd to meet me in the middle of the sandy plane. The look on his face is enough to make me momentarily forget the feeling of a hard, steel-toed boot ramming full-force into my abdomen and knocking me breathless.

For now, Finn is here and that's the only thing that is important.

"You're here," Finn says. He takes a hold of my hands and squeezes them. "I'll have to go to the competitors' area soon, but I'm glad I was able to see you first."