was the tallest, ‘come on, I’ll show you what to do.’
Finn soon got the hang of it, which was just as well as there were quite literally hundreds to plant.
‘Some of these have fallen quite close together,’ he pointed out. ‘Do you want me to space them out a bit?’
‘No,’ I said, rushing over, ‘clumps are fine.’
Planting exactly where they landed was going to ensure they looked naturalistic rather than regimented. We were striving for swathes of colour not municipal park planting.
‘Are they all the same?’ he asked. ‘There are loads of daffodil varieties, aren’t there?’
‘There are,’ I confirmed, ‘but these are all the same sort. I’ve used them in a scheme before. In fact,’ I added, remembering and then thinking aloud, ‘they became a bit of a trademark for Peter and me.’ We had used them to great effect on at least three occasions and I couldn’t wait to see them swaying in the spring breeze at Prosperous Place. ‘And when they come up,’ I told Finn, ‘you’ll see why I asked Luke to get just one variety – and remember, no blabbing about what we’ve been up to.’
‘Are you talking just about the bulbs, or something else?’ he asked darkly.
Taken aback, I quickly turned away and got my foot caught in one of the planting holes he had made, but not yet filled.
‘Shit,’ I swore, dropping everything as the ground came up to meet me.
Finn swung into action and, before I knew it, I was safely enfolded in his arms and had been saved from the pain of a twisted ankle. I clung to him as I carefully lifted my foot out of the hole and gingerly set it down on the grass. Thankfully there was no harm done. Other than to my dignity, which had taken another battering.
‘I don’t remember that being part of the Nichols technique,’ Chloe laughed. ‘You’re supposed to be throwing not catching, although Freya is a rather lovely catch.’
I kept my eyes focused on Finn’s broad chest, let go of his sleeve and put a little distance between us, embarrassed that Chloe had commented.
‘You all right?’ Finn asked.
When I risked a glance, there was a smirk playing around his lips and I supposed I could hardly blame him. I daresay I had looked hilarious, but I couldn’t see the funny side.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘no harm done.’
‘What a hero,’ Chloe carried on, too far away to see my face as she pretended to swoon. ‘Although I would imagine women are always falling at your feet, aren’t they Finn?’
Now it was his turn to look uncomfortable. His face was almost as red as I imagined mine to be.
‘Not exactly,’ he said, turning his attention back to the job in hand.
‘Remind me,’ she said, wandering over, ‘what exactly is your current relationship status?’
I could feel my heart starting to beat faster and it had nothing to do with the tumble I had just taken. I didn’t like the turn the conversation was taking and knew I had to stop it.
‘If you want to ask him on a date, Chloe…’ I blurted out, but stopped when I spotted the change in her expression.
Her eyes were wide and her rosy glow was dialled down to deathly white.
‘No,’ she stammered. ‘That’s not what I…’
She bit her lip and her eyes filled with tears as she fumbled to pull back the sleeve of her coat to check her watch.
‘I have to go,’ she said, rushing off. ‘Otherwise I’ll be late for school.’
‘Nice one,’ said Finn, as soon as she was out of earshot.
‘I was worried you were going to say something about what happened yesterday,’ I said, my own eyes filling with tears, just like Chloe’s had.
‘Why would I want to tell anyone about that?’ he snapped back.
My analysis of the situation was right then; he hadn’t felt the same level of heat as I had, and I felt even more foolish than when I’d fallen over.
‘And I don’t think Chloe actually was trying to ask me out, was she?’ he said pointedly, making me feel even worse.
‘I’ll go after her,’ I said, my tears spilling over as I realised what I had done.
Chloe hadn’t been asking about Finn’s love life for her own benefit. Of course, she hadn’t. If I hadn’t been so stupidly jealous of their friendship and insisted on reading more into it, then I might have worked that out far sooner and stopped myself from making such a stupid mistake. All this time she had been