I held my breath. What if I was fooling myself to think the readers of Tea might relate to my unexpected experience in Pleasant Hollow?

Finally, he leaned in and opened his mouth. Except whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the ping of his phone. “One sec.” His brows furrowed as he typed a response.

My legs bounced under the table as my impatience grew. “Dying here, Finn. Dying!”

He gave me the “hold on a second” gesture with one hand while continuing to type with the other.

Impatience switched to concern at the tight expression on his face. His dad?

Without looking up, he answered my unspoken question. “My dad.”

When the waitress came over with our food, I thanked her and bit into my veggie burger. I chewed the dry patty unenthusiastically. Holy crap, I missed the food in Manhattan bad.

“Sorry about that,” Finn said, flipping over his phone. “Where were we?”

I squirted a drop of mustard onto my sandwich. “My article.”

His face brightened. “Right. I think it’s brilliant.”

“Yay!” My lips stretched into a grin and my shoulders relaxed. “I think so too.”

“So why the doubt?”

I fidgeted in my seat. “I don’t know.” The beginning was easy—girl goes searching for a Hallmark town and finds the opposite—but I didn’t have a clear ending in mind. Falling for the city guy after putting small-town men on a pedestal was an adorable twist, but was it enough? What about my housing situation? The next stage of my career? It seemed too premature to tie things up in a pink bow. What kind of ending would Derek want?

“I’m sure it’ll be amazing.” Finn squeezed my hand across the table but tugged it back as his phone pinged again. He sighed and typed something back. “He wants me to come around tonight with tacos. My mom loved tacos.” He rubbed his eyes.

I studied him. “You look tired.”

“Someone kept me up late last night.” He smiled, but it seemed forced.

I fake-laughed. “Seriously, though. Do you always drop everything when he calls you?”

Finn froze with a french fry at his lips. “Who? My dad?” Answering his own question, he nodded. “I don’t have a choice. He’ll just keep calling.”

“There’s no one else to share the load?”

“Not really. Cheryl cut him off.” He dropped the fry onto his plate. “He’s not always this bad. It’s just a rough month.”