37

Darcy’s long legs gobbled the sidewalk toward Main Street. The distance between them allowed breath to revisit Finn’s lungs and his heart to slow its rapid speed. All day he had battled against his yearning to kiss and hold her. His only defense was keeping at least ten feet between them. Each time he entered the sanctuary during practice, he kept his gaze averted and stayed an assured, clear distance. He worked behind the sound board tweaking the tone on the mics for each of the play leads. He cleaned already tidy pews. He rearranged the life size Nativity in the narthex. And, when Darcy asked if he could give his opinion on where to stage Eloise during Emma’s monologue about the Baby Jesus, he kept his gaze on the podium, and then claimed he needed to take a call on his non-ringing phone. His antics were near rom-com level, but Finn did whatever he could to resist Darcy.

He committed to God and to himself to simply be her friend. He couldn’t be more. Their lives were moving in opposite directions. The temporary intersection where they found themselves would be over before the needles on his Christmas tree started to fall. And, in order to be only a friend, he needed to stay at least two arms lengths distance. If he couldn’t touch her, if he couldn’t breathe in her intoxicating aroma, he could be the friend Darcy needed without intrinsically engaging his already tender heart. With the self-imposed distance, he was able to maintain his commitment to the friend-zone, until Lulu called and asked him to extricate Darcy from her presence.

“My dear Finn, Darcy’s driving me crazy. You need to get her out of my house.” Lulu hadn’t even said hello. Instead, she dropkicked her demand through the phone. She complained Darcy was hovering around her like a mother hen with new baby chicks. “I’m not senile or feeble, Finnegan. I might be a little banged up, but Darcy has me with both feet in the grave and teetering on the edge of extinction. If I don’t get a break from my loving niece, I am liable to strangle her with my sling.”

Lulu was overacting for Finn’s benefit. Darcy had been at the church most of the day working on sets and rehearsing. But he couldn’t resist playing along with Lulu’s charade. He would have a guilt-free reason to be within an arm’s length of Darcy Langston outside of a children’s play. Even if the reason was contrived, he was thankful for any excuse—as friends only, of course.

“How did Lulu guilt you into escorting us to the tree lighting?” Ben asked as they walked the quarter mile to the hub of the opening night festivities.

In her overacted zeal, Lulu had neglected to tell Finn he would have a chaperone in the form of Darcy’s oversized twin brother. “Lulu said Darcy was making her crazy with her fussing and she needed a break from your sister.”

Ben shook his head. “She’s not even trying to hide the set-up, is she?”

“Well, I’ll be sorry to disappoint, but I don’t believe your sister and I are well matched.”

“Are you dead?”

“Huh?”

“You’d have to be dead to not feel the heat simmering between you and Darc in the hallway. I clapped my hands twice and neither of you broke your stares. Man, if you don’t think you two are a match, the rest of humanity should hang up its mating rituals because we’re sunk.” He patted Finn’s shoulder. “But fair warning. And I’ll only say this once. She’s my sister. And to the outside world she might seem a little too controlled and self-sufficient. And tougher than most. But she’s currently in the middle of one of the worst crises she’s faced since our mother died. From what I’ve seen these past few days, she’s barely holding life together by a string. If you hurt her in anyway, I’ll have to break my twenty-year streak of not getting into a fight.”

Finn swallowed against the knot lodged in his throat.

“Do we understand each other?”

Finn nodded.

“Good. Now let’s catch up. I helped hang some of those lights. I’d like to see the show.”

Ben lengthened his stride, closing the wide gap between them and Darcy. But as quickly as Darcy’s brother found his sister, Ben disappeared into the growing crowd. Finn shifted his focus and caught sight of Darcy’s dark hair. She turned and locked her gaze with his. A soft smile tilted her full mouth stopping Finn in midstride.

He felt frozen.

He couldn’t possibly hurt Darcy.

But he was fairly certain she would devastate him.