‘Marriage,’ I cut in. ‘Broad-Meadows was my wedding venue. I was getting married there, but I realised I couldn’t go through with it and broke it off.’
Finn looked as if he’d been punched in the stomach. All the colour drained from his face and he sat back in his chair. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who had gone heavy on the bitter. I was pretty certain it was stronger than the more commercial stuff.
‘And what was the alternative Eloise offered you?’ he quietly asked.
‘A job and a cottage,’ I told him, ‘and the opportunity to discover what I really wanted out of life, because it certainly wasn’t marriage.’
‘Or the groom,’ Finn said tersely.
Fortunately, our engagement hadn’t reached the point where Peter had been transformed into a groom and the fact that I still hadn’t started looking at gowns, should have been warning enough for both of us that there was little point in viewing potential venues. Although if I hadn’t, of course, I never would have found Eloise, or Nell. Nell…
‘I think I’d better get back,’ I said to Finn. ‘I know Nell’s got company tonight but this is the longest I’ve left her and if I don’t get some sleep soon, I’ll be useless tomorrow.’
‘Yeah,’ said Finn, sounding gruff as he shoved his glass across the table so it sat next to mine, ‘I’ve got an early start too. Let’s go.’
Chapter 12
Finn walked with me as far as the turning into Nightingale Square and then peeled off to Prosperous Place. He hardly said a word on the walk back and I couldn’t manage to make small talk because I was too preoccupied with trying to focus on my feet. The cold night air had hit me like a brick when we left The Dragon and my legs and feet didn’t want to work together, which was most distracting.
As Poppy had predicted, Nell and Gus were fine and I was grateful Gus stayed overnight because I somehow managed to sleep right through my alarm. If Poppy hadn’t come to collect him and roused me by hammering on the front door, I probably wouldn’t have made it into work at all.
‘What the hell’s happened to you?’ she gaped, taking in my dishevelled and pale appearance as I held up a hand to shield my eyes from the light which streamed in when I opened the door. ‘Oh God,’ she whispered, ‘you haven’t got Finn in there with you, have you?’
‘What?’ I frowned. ‘No, of course not, whatever made you say that?’
‘Nothing,’ she grinned. ‘Where’s Gus? Is he good to go?’
Sunglasses were hardly necessary on such a dull November day, but I kept them firmly in place and my thumping head down at work, avoiding all contact with anyone else and rushing back home, unusually for me, the very second the time ticked over to four o’clock.
Towards evening, I started to feel a little better, but I was still grateful that it was almost the weekend and I could take myself off for a very early night. I eventually managed to dismiss the thoughts about what Poppy had assumed and which had plagued me all day and slept soundlessly until late the following morning. Thankfully when I woke my head felt much more like my own again and I had an appetite to rival Nell’s.
‘Freya!’ Chloe called, beckoning me over as I joined everyone who had started to congregate on the green Saturday evening. ‘Do you want some mulled wine?’
‘Just half a cup, thanks,’ I said.
I didn’t really want any, but neither did I want her to guess that my lack of enthusiasm for the festive tipple was the result of a hangover I had ended up with after staying on with Finn at the pub.
‘There you go,’ she smiled, handing it over.
We had all left the cosy confines of our homes and ventured out as a result of invitations from Luke and Kate which had arrived earlier in the day. Inspired by the switch-on in the city, Luke had arranged for a large tree to be erected on the green and he, Kate, their children and most of the other little ones who lived in the square, had spent the last few hours decorating it with lights and huge baubles.
Goodness knows where he had sourced those from and