Lovely Hues | Fillie AU

Chapter Fourteen

A couple days after Millie's brother dropped his little information bomb on her she was finally able to fully admit to herself that she was indeed falling for Finn and had been since she first ran into him all those days ago. Since they locked eyes and she felt her world slow almost to the point of stopping. The excuses she gave herself for why she was so clearly intrigued and entranced by him sounded so insane now that she briefly questioned her mental stability but eventually came to the conclusion that it was somehow part of human nature to be able to persuade yourself of whatever was most convenient to believe.

She had since wondered how Charlie knew what he knew and asked him what possessed him to tell them. He had told her that between work, where he met Finn, and being around town, he had pieced together that Finn had been divorced before coming here. And Caleb had mentioned how he believed his new photographer friend had eyes for someone in town and after Charlie saw his little sister talking to said photographer friend, he figured it out pretty quickly.

And on her side, he told her that on the day he saw her talking with him outside of Gaten's shop, that her face had been so obvious that he was actually kind of surprised that Finn himself didn't know that Millie had a wee crush on him. But once he found out that Finn had actually assumed Charlie was her husband and not her brother, that all made more sense and he so decided to tell them both all he knew when the right moment presented itself.

And then it did.

But since that seemingly fated revelation of their attraction to each other, and Millie's acceptance of it, she and Finn had been going on daily walks to get to know each other a little better. He'd started coming by each morning and instead of sitting around the house on the beautiful fall mornings of late September and early October, they would head out and walk as they talked. The boys and Louisa would always tag along as the two fledgling lovers strolled the long path around town. But it wasn't until two weeks later that she agreed to go out on an actual date with him. Just the two of them. No kids or friends or siblings to be a buffer.

The only time she'd talked to him completely alone had been when she just met him. So it came as no surprise when she called her sister-in-law to come help her prepare because being in her mind alone was producing all forms of disaster scenarios from her not being able to carry on a conversation with him to both of them sitting down and realizing that they weren't the least bit interesting to one another.

Or worse, what if she found herself in love with him as he realized he wanted nothing to do with her. What if, alone, he found her so boring that he couldn't even be in the same room as her.

Needless to say, she was getting herself so worked up over the evening that she couldn't even begin to focus on getting ready for it or consider what she was going to wear. Everytime it crossed her mind, her stomach turned over.

They had reservations at the supper club next to the Inn that served all-american fare but the fish fry tasted on par with the fish and chips from her favorite pub back home. Except when she went to the pub, she never got dressed up like she did to go to the supper club, and it felt nice to don a more elegant dress and do her hair up. It made her feel fancy and regal, even if it was just for a night.

But the thought of this particular night sent her stomach flipping again.

"Stop it." Chloe scolded her, reaching over the space between them on the couch to slap Millie's fiddling fingers, "You're going to be fine, stop worrying or you won't be able to eat tonight and he'll think something is wrong with you."

"Ohh, but that's what I'm afraid of." Millie said with a nervous waver in her voice, "What if I can't keep up, or say something stupid. What if he thinks I eat weird or sit awkwardly or that my face makes weird expressions because I feel like it does that sometimes." She paused, ". . .What if I'm not what he thinks I am."