He hadn’t been in this part of the school since he’d had to come back with the police right after the shooting to walk them through what he’d seen and experienced. Unlike the gym, this part hadn’t been demolished, only redecorated. Seeing it now with blue lockers instead of gray, with different floors, almost let his mind trick him into thinking he was somewhere else. But when he saw the janitor’s closet, the same crooked NO STUDENTS ALLOWED sign on the front, his mind rushed back to the past. Liv in a glittery red dress, him in a tux just like tonight. He’d dragged her by the hand down this hallway, knowing she was pissed at him and wanting to fix it.
Finn stopped in front of the closet and took a bracing breath. He pulled the knob. Locked.
It hadn’t been locked that night. He’d stolen glances down the hallway and then pulled Liv inside with him. He’d wanted to tell her he was sorry. He’d wanted to tell her he loved her. He’d wanted to tell her that he didn’t care if his parents cut him off. He’d figure it out. Instead, he’d kissed her.
Then he’d left her.
He laid his hand against the worn wood of the door, trying not to think of what could’ve happened.
“You know you probably saved her,” said a quiet voice. The slow click of high-heeled footsteps sounded behind him as his visitor came closer.
He turned and found Rebecca standing there in a dark-green d
ress, purse clutched in her hand and sober look on her face.
Finn cleared his throat, his words coming out like gravel. “No. I left her here. Exposed her.”
Rebecca peered down the hallway, her gaze going distant, like she was seeing that night, too. “You have to forgive yourself for that. Trevor led the way, and Joseph opened every door in this hall. Every classroom. He would’ve opened this one whether you’d left or not.” She wet her lips. “If he had seen her with you, he would’ve shot you both. Being alone saved her. He liked her.”
Finn stared at Rebecca and blinked, the words unexpected. “He liked her?”
Her lips kicked up at the corners. “Who didn’t? Liv was the girl who was too cool to want to be cool. And she never went out with anyone, which made her mysterious. Guess we know why she wasn’t dating.”
He grimaced. “I was an asshole for keeping it secret.”
She shrugged. “Maybe, but once again, maybe that saved her, too. She was under their radar. That’s my point. No use in looking back and wishing you’d handled it differently. We survived. Whatever we did got us here.”
He nodded and tucked his hands in his pockets. “So you’re not mad at me for running out and making you a target?”
She shook her head and gave him a sad smile. “You saved me. That part I do know. I was on their list. Maybe at the top. And not because I was happy.” She glanced down the hallway again, her shoulders sagging. “I’d earned that spot with one of them.”
He frowned. “Bec, you—”
But she raised a palm, cutting him off. “You better get back to the gym. Liv was looking for you.”
The simple mention of Liv’s name lifted some of the cloud of gloom hovering in the hallway. He turned toward the gym. Away from the past. Toward his future. “Want to head back together?”
She rubbed a chill from her arms. “No. I think I’ll take a few minutes down here.”
He closed the distance between them and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You sure you’re okay?”
She lifted her head and gave him her signature smirk, though melancholy lingered in her eyes. “Stop trying to save me, Finn. Your job is done here. I don’t need a hero anymore.”
He smiled and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. “I don’t know, Bec. We all need saving sometimes. I know I did.”
With that, he left Rebecca to whatever demons she needed to slay in the hallway and made his way back to the gym. Liv stepped through the double doors when he was a few steps away. The smile that broke over her face at the sight of him lit up every cell in his body. He would never get tired of seeing this woman, of knowing she was his, and he, hers.
“Where’d you sneak off to?” she asked, stepping close to him and looping her arms around his waist.
“There were some doors left open that I needed to close.”
Her attention drifted past him and toward the hallway, a small line appearing between her brows before she looked up at him again, quiet awareness there. “All done?”
He smiled down at her and slid his hand beneath the dark curtain of her hair, feeling her pulse against his thumb, seeing his life stretch out before him. His life with this woman. A life with love and laughter and all the messy stuff in between. He brushed his lips over hers. “All done.”
She stepped back and held a hand out to him. “Ready to go home, Mr. Dorsey?”
Home.