but you two should stay and keep each other company.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I said, looking over to where Finn was now leaning over the bar. I couldn’t help noticing how broad his back was.
I felt as though I’d already shared enough with him for one evening; first I’d told him about my most traumatic childhood experience and now I’d given him my less than glowing opinion of his half-brother, which of course he had loved.
‘Look,’ said Chloe, ‘I know it’s nothing to do with me, but at some point, aren’t the pair of you going to have to work together in the gardens?’
‘Yes,’ I sniffed.
‘And wouldn’t it be easier to do that if you got to know each other a bit?’
Given the amount I’d already said, I thought he was getting to know me plenty fast enough and we were only positioning sculptures together, we weren’t exactly office desk buddies.
Nonetheless, Chloe looked at me in expectation of an answer, her eyebrows quizzically raised.
‘Maybe,’ I conceded, ‘but not tonight.’
‘Why?’ she demanded. ‘This is the perfect opportunity.’
Given that it was more than obvious that Chloe seemed to like Finn in a way that transcended the friends zone, I could hardly tell her how weak my knees had felt when he took my hand in his or how, when I was first introduced to him, the fluttery sensations in my stomach made me forget there was anyone else in the room, could I?
All of those feelings I had experienced put my interest in the man still standing at the bar way beyond the friend zone too. They were primal and disconcerting and certainly inconvenient. I had enough on my plate right now what with settling into a new home and a new job. I certainly didn’t need the added complication of a new crush too, because that was all it could be. Chloe was going to be the girl for Finn, not me, but I didn’t feel, knowing what I did about her tragic past, that standing in a packed and noisy pub was the moment to point that out.
‘You need to stay,’ she hissed, when I didn’t answer, ‘build on the good work you’ve already done tonight.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Describing his brother as egocentric and muscle-bound has definitely got you off the hook for belittling his Winterfest suggestion.’
‘I didn’t belittle it,’ I said, defensively.
‘Just stay,’ she practically begged, although I had no idea why. ‘Oh God, here he comes. Just stay and get to know him a bit better. Think of it as furthering your professional relationship, if nothing else.’
There wasn’t time to object.
‘Are you not leaving, Freya?’ Finn asked when I didn’t follow Chloe.
‘Not just yet,’ I said, my voice catching as my so-called friend gave me a double thumbs up as she backed out the door.
‘Looks like it’s just the two of us then,’ he commented, looking about him. ‘Why don’t you grab us a table now it’s quieter and I’ll get you another drink.’
* * *
‘Thanks,’ I swallowed, taking the pint he offered when he eventually came back from the bar again. ‘You’ll have to let me get the next one.’
I had no idea why I said that because I wasn’t planning on staying. Finn nodded as he tried to work out where to put his long legs so that they wouldn’t be in everyone else’s way.
‘I’m sorry about that mix up over Zak,’ he apologised.
His tall frame wasn’t easy to fold up and I noticed that he’d had to walk with his shoulders hunched and his head bent to avoid ending up wearing a holly crown. In the constricted space which was enhanced by the smell of wood smoke, he looked like a bulky extra from Game of Thrones.
‘No worries,’ I shrugged. ‘And I’m sorry about what I said about him.’
‘That’s all right,’ he chuckled. ‘It was actually the highlight of my evening.’
‘You were right when you said you were nothing alike, weren’t you?’
‘I honestly don’t think you could find two blokes who are more different,’ he confirmed, before taking a long pull at his pint, which I found myself mirroring. ‘He’s a carbon copy of my father and it’s a nightmare when the pair of them get their heads together. For me, anyway.’
‘What about your step-mum?’ I asked. ‘What’s she like?’
‘She’s all right,’ he told me. ‘Nothing like my mum, of course, but we get on okay. To be honest, sometimes I can’t believe she married my dad.’
‘Are you talking about your mum or