‘And what about you, Finn?’ Chloe asked, as he walked by. ‘Are you excited about Winterfest? Have you signed yourself up to make a needlefelt robin or a festive cake?’
‘No,’ he said, sounding gruff. ‘I haven’t.’
‘You don’t sound very enthusiastic,’ I commented, looking up at him.
His hair was tied back properly for once and I could see the whole of his face. I hadn’t noticed before but his cheekbones really were beautifully defined.
‘I thought you were on board with it all,’ I swallowed, quickly regrouping.
Given that Zak had let slip that Finn had gone ahead and offered to run a session himself, I thought he would have sounded far keener.
‘It just seems to be getting out of hand,’ he grumbled, shoving his hands deep into his pockets, ‘I had no idea it was going to be so popular.’
I couldn’t understand why he felt so aggrieved. Surely, the more people the event attracted, the more would see his work if we got it out in time and possibly offer him a commission.
‘None of us did,’ Chloe pointed out.
‘You aren’t going to back out of doing your workshop, are you?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he snapped. ‘Of course not.’
‘Well, there’s no need to bite our heads off,’ Chloe shot back.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered, scuffing the grass with the toe of his boot. ‘I’m just worried about how it’s all going to impact on my studio time. I only get to work in there properly during the weekends at the moment and there’s still loads to do. It’s going to be hard to work if the grounds are heaving.’
‘It’s not going to be that busy,’ I said, my own mood deflating a little in the face of his persistently grumpy one. ‘And if you keep the door shut and your music belting out like you usually do, then you won’t even know it’s happening.’
‘Maybe,’ he muttered.
Chloe looked at me and shrugged, clearly, she was as confused by his apparent change of opinion as I was.
‘I just need to be able to get on,’ he elaborated. ‘I’ve got a lot riding on this.’
When he said that, I realised his mood was more the result of fear than grumpiness. He was doubtless mindful of his professional future and worried about hitting the Winter Garden deadline rather than having to cope with a few extra people milling about. Given the way I also felt about the fast-approaching official opening date, I could empathise with that.
‘Just keep in mind that the garden’s a work in progress,’ I said, as much for my benefit as his. ‘You’ll be able to add to it as we go and I’m sure Luke won’t be expecting you to have everything ready all at once.’
‘Because that’s not how creativity works, is it?’ Chloe cleverly pointed out. ‘You can’t just sculpt on demand. You can’t rush it, can you? I would imagine it’s a lengthy process.’
I can’t say I’d given much thought to the nuts and bolts, either figurative or real, but Chloe was right. It wasn’t all about hammering and welding, the planning and preparation had to come first.
‘Jesus!’ Finn suddenly shouted.
For a moment I thought he was shouting at me and Chloe, but then his hair fell loose around his face and Zak appeared from behind him, waving a band about.
‘Are you having a little arty-farty temperamental moment, bro?’ he teased, tossing the band into the air for Finn to catch.
‘Fuck off,’ Finn snapped.
Chloe and I exchanged a look and I realised that Finn’s bad mood was most likely aggravated by his half-brother’s unwanted presence as well as his concerns about his work.
‘Not that you can call welding a few bits of junk together, art,’ Zak carried on, obviously determined to get a reaction.
‘Actually,’ I said, thinking of the beautiful cat Finn had put together for Jasmine, ‘I’ve seen one of Finn’s pieces and his work is exquisite. It’s definitely art.’
Zak looked shocked that I had sprung to his brother’s defence. Perhaps he wasn’t used to having someone stand up to him.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘whatever. I’ve only really come over to ask if you lot fancied a trip to the pub?’
‘And yet you couldn’t resist trying to get a rise out of your brother while you were about it?’ I pointed out.
There was no way I’d be going to The Dragon with him, and not only because it was far too soon after my switch-on hangover.
‘Crikey,’ Zak grinned, looking me up and down. ‘She is a feisty