Worth the Weight (18 page)

She
let out a soft sigh and pulled
his
mouth back to hers. She took control of the kiss now, and
Finn
reveled in the reversal. She tasted of their earlier burgers and peppermint. She swirled her tongue into his mouth, exploring him. Her lips pressed hard into his as if she was trying to crawl inside him.

It mirrored how he felt. He wanted to be inside her, yearned to slip the bottom of her swimsuit off and take her right here in the lake. The water would make her skin as slick as
Finn
’s
attentions were surely making her.

Fearing he may actually do it, he said a silent thanks as they heard loud throat clearing and catcalls of “get a room” coming from the shore, bringing them both out of their lust-filled haze.

“Oh, God,” Liz groaned and ducked her head to
his
shoulder. “I can’t believe I just did that in front of everybody.”

He
felt a pang of pity for Liz, but
then his pride raised its ugly head and he wondered if she was embarrassed to be caught kissing by her friends, or to be caught kissing
him
? He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, wide hazel pools, still shining with the flare of passion that he’d ignited. “Believe me, I don’t want an audience for what I want to do to you any more than you do.”

He felt the tremor that went through her and his insecurity was put to rest. Nobody could fake that kind of response.
She
wanted him. Not some city slicker, business type.
Finn
could bring her to fever pitch in seconds. Let’s see some BMW-driving,
Iphone
-wielding
dickwad
try to illicit the sounds from
her
that he did.

He smiled at her, gave her a quick peck on the top of her head and started swimming toward shore.

He washed up in the lake, using the bar of soap and bottle of shampoo that perched at the end of the dock for just such a reason. Liz returned to the sauna for another round. He dressed and checked on Stevie and Annie. Exhausted from the day, Annie slept soundly.
Finn
took her out of her chair and carried her to a
bed that Alison directed
him to,
then put her wheelchair in the minivan to save himself the trip later. Stevie watched some movie on HBO that he probably shouldn’t, but
Finn
figured, what the hell, a couple of buildings exploding and car crashes aren’t going to scar him for life, so he left his son alone in cable heaven.

He sat with the others at the picnic table. Alison handed him a beer. They were okay people, Liz’s friends.

The Brandt guy seemed to be nervous and
he
realized that this was a relatively new thing  - Brandt and Alison.
The guy
was certainly more into Alison than she was into him, and
Finn
felt a pang of pity for the guy. It sucked when you were on the wrong side of one-sided emotion. He had been there, with Liz, but felt certain that if asked, Liz would think that she’d been the one who cared the most in their past relationship. It was easier to let her think that. Maybe not for her, but definitely for him.

He didn’t get a good read on Katie’s husband, Ron. He had gathered from Liz that they’d been married a long time, yet they didn’t seem to have that comfort level that long-time marrieds had. Katie’s eyes darted nervously to Ron as she spoke, as if gauging him for any reaction he may have. Ron seemed distracted, and looked at his watch often.
Finn
didn’t think much of it, he didn’t know them well, and after Liz left town, he probably wouldn’t see them much again. A nod in Wal-Mart, a hello at McDonald’s, that would be the extent of their interaction.

Liz had obviously told Katie and Alison about Annie’s operation, and that was the direction of their conversation by the time Liz finally got out of the sauna, fingers pruned and face red and glistening. He didn’t take his eyes from her once as she made her way to the camp, taking refill orders and grabbing a beer for herself.

The soft cotton of her oversized tee shirt hugged her body, still damp from sweat even after a douse in the lake and a shower. Her full breasts swayed as she walked, her hips seeming to have a rhythm of their own. He marveled at how natural she was. Curves and fullness, a sultriness that seemed instinctive.

He
watched through the picture window as she spoke with Stevie for a while, then came back out and pulled a plastic chaise lounge over near the table
.
Finn
got up from the table to help her, then sat down in the chaise himself, reclined and pulled Liz down to sit between his legs, her back against his chest. He waited for her to accept their position, and when she easily did he was pleased. He pulled her hair ou
t of the clip she had put it i
n,
then realized she’d done so because it was still wet. Unable to do anything with women’s hair - and he had tried innumerable times with Annie - he handed the clip back to
her
to pu
t her hair back up. She did
, leaning
back into him. His arms circled around her waist, settling on her thighs. She took his beer can and placed it with hers o
n t
he ground beside their chair,
then rested her arms on top of his. She squirmed her ass a little, finding a more comfortable position, though much more uncomfortable for
him
. She let
out a sigh of contentment and joined the conversation.

“What are we talking about?” she asked.
He
hoped none of the others would remember that they’d been discussing his daughter and his lack of funds to help her.

Katie and Alison share
d a look,
then Katie said, “Actually, we were just discussing
Finn
’s plans for Annie. About how to get the money for the operation.”

“And what does
Finn
have to say about your prying?” She had a censure in her voice directed at her friends that
he
found admirable. She had to know that it killed him to have conversations about his failings as a father.

Just like his Liz to come to his defense. She always thought of him as an underdog, and perhaps he was, but he sure as hell didn’t like feeling it now. “I was just telling them about the spaghetti dinner and pancake breakfast that the women at Gran’s church are sponsoring.”

The group was silent, no one wanting to say what everyone was thinking. That those two events wouldn’t even pay for the charge of aspirin at the hospital, let alone an expensive operation.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about that…” Liz said. “I think I could pull together some sort of fundraiser fairly quickly. My staff is at a slow period right now with only baseball in season and no elections this fall where we have a candidate. They could make most of the calls from Detroit, and I could do the local stuff here.”

“What kind of fundraiser? Another spaghetti dinner? Something like that?” Brandt asked before
Finn
could.

“No. Something bigger. Kat, throw me my tote bag, please.”

He
watched as Katie brought Liz’s tote bag over to the chair they shared. Liz plopped it on her lap and dug through it. She came up with a tablet like secretary’s use to take dictation. Actually, she came up with three. One, pristine and unused, got dumped back into the bag quickly.
He
could see that there was some kind of title written across the front of the tablet in red maker of the other two. He peered around
her
shoulder. One tablet was entitled “The Plan” and the other “Annie Aid”.

She
put The Plan tablet back in her bag and flipped through pages of the tablet marked Annie Aid.
Finn
had a sense of unease of what was in that tablet and how it may affect the rest of his – and his kids’ – lives.

“I’ve spent the last few days making some quick calls, getting some ideas. Brainstorming with my mom. Making a few lists.”

Alison laughed. “Lizzie, when
aren’t
you making lists?”

Finn
ignored Alison. He already knew Liz was a planner. He had been too, once upon a time. “What are you thinking of doing?” he asked.

“Something that will draw the entire Copper Country. I did some quick math; the three county area is around 30,000 people. Say you can draw ten to fifteen percent of those to whatever event we plan. Charge thirty dollars per, that’s a hundred grand right there. Maybe make a weekend of it, a couple other events, and we could make a dent in the loan on the farm, maybe even pay it off and put some aside for upcoming medical expenses. I’m assuming there’ll be some physical therapy for Annie after the operation?” She turned her head to look at
him
behind her and froze when she saw the cold look in his eyes.

He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. So many emotions rushed through him. His pride was seething, he felt emasculated that this woman could sweep into town and in a few weeks possibly accomplish something he’d been attempting for years. And why would Liz put herself out like this? She wasn’t trying to weasel her way into his life, was she? She had said no strings, and this seemed like a pretty damn big string that would bind them together.

Then he thought of Annie, and tamped down his feelings of inadequacy and mistrust. Who cares how he got the money
.
This wouldn’t be so much like a hand-out if people were getting something in return for their money. It certainly beat the idea of accepting Liz’s money. The main thing was that Annie got the operation.

She was flipping through pages and
Finn
could see over her shoulder that there were pages of notes and phone numbers, checklists, some color-coded. That she’d been able to do so much in the few days since he’d told her about Annie astounded him.

No, nothing about Liz astounded him.

He forced himself to swallow, and unclench his teeth. “That’s incredibly genero
us of you
. You shouldn’t take up yours and your staff’s time and resources on my account. I’m…very grateful.”

Lizzie sensed she was on thin ice here. How to accept
Finn
’s gratitude but not make him feel like a charity case. She didn’t want gratitude when she had him in the bedroom, she wanted him to take her with a fierceness and passion that she knew he possessed. She turned away from him, toward the others at the table. “You’re welcome. But really, it’s not that big of a deal. This is what I do. Plan events that my clients can attend and give back a little to the people who pay their salaries - the fans.”

“Lizzie, it’s a great idea,” Katie said. “Surely you can get Petey to do something, help out?”

“He’s going to be my first call. I just wanted to make sure it was okay with
Finn
before I got moving on it.
”
Again,
Finn
nodded his assent, but remained silent.

She read through some of her lists
to the group
and when Petey’s name came up again, Brandt asked, “Who’s Petey?”

“Pete Ryan, he plays for...” Alison started to explain but an excited Brandt cut her off.

“The Red Wings, I know. You guys know Pete Ryan?” Brandt watched as the three women and Ron all nodded yes. “I’ve never heard him called Petey before.”

Alison laughed. “Brandt, in the Yoop, everyone ends up with an “ie” or a “y” at the end of their names if you live here long enough.”

“How did you guys meet him?” The awe in Brandt’s voice spoke
of
his fan status.

“He’s from Houghton, we graduated the same year. Lizzie dated him our junior year in high school.”

Lizzie felt
Finn
tense behind her. “That was a thousand years ago, we’re just close friends now. He was my first client when I opened my own PR firm. He actually helped me get most of
my original clients.”

“And obviously you did great things for him, Lizard, if Brandt, a guy from Baltimore who doesn’t follow hockey, knows who Petey is,” Katie said.

There was a lull in the conversation. Katie and Alison could see Lizzie was in planning mode so they kept quiet. She scribbled some more notes in her pad.
Finn
was silent. Brandt seemed to digest the fact that the woman he was dating knew someone famous. Ron looked at his watch. Ron finally broke the silence.

“Come on, Katie, we need to go, I still have to go into the school tonight to pick up some papers.”

They rose to leave and the others followed. “What kind of papers do you need from the school now, it’s the end of June?” Katie asked her husband.

“I need the roster of the hockey team. I want to call the boys this week and make sure they’re working out.”

“I better get the kids home, too,”
Finn
said. He gave
her
a look of regret that yet another evening together would end with them apart.