Worth the Weight (26 page)

The crowd burst into excitement. There was applause and shouts.
Finn
realized how right Liz had been about the willingness of the people of the Copper Country to pay to have their picture taken with the Stanley Cup.

Ryan
held his hands up to quiet t
he crowd. “And that’s not all. E
ach event will be attended by several members of The Detroit Red Wings, the Lions, and the Pistons. There’ll be Chicago Bears, a couple of Patriots and yes, even a few of the NHL champion Colorado Avalanche.” The last was obviously hard for
Ryan
, and
Finn
swore he saw the guy turn his head and roll his eyes at Liz.

As if she feared he may tell the crowd how he really felt about the Avs, Liz strode to the microphone. “All proceeds go to the Hannah Robbins Foundation. That’s Annie to you and me. We’ve got flyers with all the information at the doors.
It’s got the website address with more information.
Ticket sales to all events begin on Monday.”

She stepped away and gave the mic back to
Ryan
who said, “Where’s my good buddy, Stevie Robbins? Stevie come on up here for a minute.”

Finn
sat, stunned, as he watched his son head to the stage. Clearly, Stevie had no more idea of what to expect than
Finn
did.

When
Stevie reached the stage, Pete
Ryan put his arm around him and said, “This is Stevie Robbins, a good friend of mine and Annie’s older brother. Stevie was helping me clean out my locker at The Joe the other day...” he paused and let the audience, especially the kids in the crowd, absorb this bit of information. “And we got to talking about all the help we could use during the fundraiser. Stevie said he’d be glad to keep track of anyone who’d like to help out. So, if you’d like to volunteer to do something during Annie Aid, say, I don’t know, caddy for
a Red Wing
or
a Lion,
you just let Stevie know and he’ll put your name and phone number on a list and we’ll be calling you in the next week or two.”

The crowd took a visible step forward, as if they couldn’t wait for the event to begin.
Finn
watched Liz’s satisfied smile as she caught his eye from the stage. She gave a tiny thumbs up to
him and he felt like the weight of the world had just been lifted from him.

It was quickly replaced by the weight of his feelings for Liz.

“Whoa there, everybody, plenty of chances. If not tonight, there’s a number on the flyer to call
, or a contact us button on the website,
so you can find out how you can help. Everybody relax, enjoy the rest of the Strawberry Festival and get ready for Annie Aid.”
Ryan
wrapped it up, stood between Annie and Stevie, an arm around each of them.

Finn
watched his son realize that though he’d just been assigned a chore, he would now be hera
lded by all his friends as Pete
Ryan’s personal buddy. The boy’s smile could have melted the ice off the floor if it still remained.

His gaze then turned to his daughter, expecting to see terror and embarrassment. Instead she seemed to blossom right in front of him. She fed off the good vibe
s of the crowd and flashed Pete
Ryan a dazzling smile that
Finn
saw as a harbinger of things to come.

Like they said, when you have a boy you worry about one boy, when you have a girl…you worry about
all
the boys.

Oh God,
how
would he bear it when men started looking at a
teen-age
Annie? He’d happily learn to deal with it, though, if the looks his daughter received from
boys
years from now were filled with
teen lust
and not pity. Well, maybe not
happily
deal with it, but he’d learn to deal with it.

Chapter Fourteen

√ Get candles

√ Find out if they still make Love’s Baby Soft

Call Sybil

Annie could barely keep her eyes open and did so from sheer adrenaline
alone
.
Finn
had danced with her, holding her hands up and swaying to and fro in front of her chair. After seeing how the feat could be accomplished, other men asked the little girl to dance and she quickly turned into the belle of the ball.

Lizzie
herself
felt like she’d danced with every man in attendance. Everyone except
Finn
. He had been surly every time she accepte
d a dance invitation, but hadn’
t asked her himself.

She could count on
two hands
the number of people
in the Copper Country
who’d seen her at her heaviest – unfortunately
it seemed like
they all were here tonight. Lizzie tried to keep the couple of people who wanted to congratulate her on her stunning weight loss away from
Finn
and succeeded. But she couldn’t miss the question in his eyes when a woman came up to her and said she hadn’t known who Lizzie was until someone had told her.

Let him think she never came to town. Let him think that woman
was
senile with her inability to remember Lizzie. Oh, hell, let him think whatever he wants, after tonight it wouldn’t matter.

She just needed to get him in the sack before he knew her tale of obesity. He’d probably figure it out when he saw all the stretch marks, but
she
was counting on a very dark bedroom and enough distractions to prevent that from happening.

Not that she didn’t think
he
wouldn’t sleep with her if he knew she’d been fat. She just didn’t want freak curiosity about her body to be a motivating factor. Or worse yet, a pity fuck. She couldn’t bear the thought of that.

It was nearly eleven before Clea decided to take Annie and Stevie home. They had purchased pizza and other junk from the concession stand which
Finn
and the kids wolfed down, but Lizzie, envisioning being naked later, turned down all food. Her tummy measurement this morning was the best she’d experienced since she
’d begu
n the bizarre ritual. It was almost a pleasure slipping on the black linen dress.

She watched as Stevie said good night to the girl from the parade. She had traded in her purple tank and shorts for a sundress, also purple. Her signature color
, apparently
.

The girl had made a beeline for Stevie the minute he stepped off the sta
ge with Petey, just as she’
d hoped when she’d asked for the favor. She did a quick mental tally, adding up her favors column. She better be careful, too many more times of trying to impress
Finn
’s kids and she’d end up owing the entire NHL.

The thought made her stop. Was that what she was doing? Trying to impress
Finn
’s kids? Or worse, trying to impress
Finn
?

Why?

The reason she picked
him
for this experiment in the first place was because she didn’t feel the need to impress him, had no stake in his opinion of her whatsoever. Right?

Before she could analyze it any further,
Finn
approached her whe
re she stood by their table. He’d taken
Annie and Clea to the van and had headed Stevie in that direction as the boy said a reluctant farewell to the purple girl. He had gotten
Lizzie and himself
both a beer but instead of
handing her one, he set them both on the table.

“Finally, I can ask you to dance.” He held his hand out to her and she took it. It was cool from holding the cup of beer, and was an extreme contrast to the heat that seemed to emanate from
her
.

She felt more anxious to finally be held by
Finn
than walking into any boardroom with a million dollar proposal.

He led her to the dance floor where a song had just ended and the DJ was saying something about “slowing it down for the old folks”. There were a few boos and catcalls from the remaining couples, none of whom wanted to be placed in the old folks category, but who were happy to have some slow songs played.

“Why couldn’t you ask me to dance before?” she asked.

He brought them to the middle of the dance floor, hiding them amongst the sea of other couples. “I wanted to be able to get to Annie if anything happened. And, honestly, I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be if she saw us dancing together. I just
didn’t want to chance a melt-down
, not when everything went off so smoothly.”

She placed her right hand in his and her left on his shoulder and followed his lead. “It did go pretty well, didn’t it?”

He gently squeezed her waist. “Because of you.” He pulled back from her so he could look into her eyes. “You know I’ll never be able to thank you enough for all you’ve done. Even if the operation isn’t successful, we’ll know we tried everything we could.”

She watched his blue eyes, met them, and said in a very serious tone, “I don’t want your gratitude. I saw a chance to help and I did something. Something that will be very beneficial to my clients, by the way, so it was a good business decision. But make no mistake, it’s not
gratitude that I want from you
.”

She saw his strong Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. She knew how he felt, she couldn’t seem to keep her throat from closing up either.

His steady gaze remained on her. “What is it you do want from me, Elizabeth?”

“All I’ve ever wanted from you. All you’ve ever wanted from me. Just to…be together. Just for tonight, no past, no future, no kids, no friends…just us,
Finn
. Alone, with no limits, no good-girl tears, no cold showers of frustration. You and me together. Finally.”

The song ended and segued into Willie Nelson’s “You Were Always On My Mind”. They remained on the dance floor, encircled in each other’s arms, entranced by each other’s eyes.

Indicating the song,
she
said, “There’s an oldie.”

Finn
smiled, his strong cheekbones rising. “But a goodie,” he finished for her. He put his head close to hers and hummed along with Willie, even sang a line or two.

She
had a strong suspicion that
he
was trying to say more than he was
able to with a little help from Willie
. It could be just wishful thinking on her part. A giant rationalization so she wouldn’t be jumping into the sack with someone who hadn’t given her a moment’s thought in the past eighteen years?

It was a rationalization she was prepared to live with when
Finn
said, “This song could be about us. For those first few years after we broke up, you
were
always on my mind. Probably longer than that, if I’m really honest. After I got married, though, it just didn’t seem fair to think about you at all, even if it was only as ‘the one that got away’.”

She had no response
to that, it was more than she’
d ever hoped to hear from him. She thought she was more aptly the one he’d tossed back than the one that got away. She chastised
herself for starving for the few crumbs he threw her way, but there it was.

Finn
had thought about her, and that made her happy.

She
slid her hand from
his
shoulder to the back
of his neck. His skin was warm.
One finger moved slightly into his wavy hair, and another swept softly just beneath his collar. His hand tightened again on her back. He dislodged their joined hands, taking them apart, and placed hers around his neck to join her left hand. His hand moved to her waist. Dancing like you did as kids, because you hadn’t yet been taught how to dance like proper grown ups.

Most of her contemporaries still danced this way, the man’s arms around the woman’s waist, the woman’s around the man’s neck, just going in circles. No steps, no time or rhythm to keep. It allowed for much closer contact, and that was what
they
were after.

She pressed her body into his, physically approving with his decision to change their dancing technique.

“It feels so
good to hold you like this
.” His breath grazed across her neck as he spoke.

She didn’t trust her voice, could only nod her agreement. Her cheek nuzzled closer to his shoulder.

“We fit so well together. We always did, you were always a perfect fit for me.”

“You know,” she quietly said, “my summer fling’s half over and I haven’t even…flung yet.”

Finn
nuzzled her neck. “
You
know how bad I want to…fling you.”