‘No,’ said Finn, catching my arm, ‘leave her. There’s nothing you can say right now that will make her feel any better.’
I hated to admit it, but he was right.
* * *
I sent Chloe a text that evening, apologising for my silly comment and making her promise to meet me in The Dragon Friday night so I could buy her a drink and say sorry in person. Had it been anybody else, with any other past, my silly faux pas most likely wouldn’t have mattered anywhere near as much. But dear Chloe, widowed so young, certainly didn’t need me accusing her of looking for love when all she really had going on with the man in question was an easy-going friendship.
I felt a bit jittery as I left the square and headed for the pub. The last thing I wanted to do, especially as the new girl on the block, was upset anyone and I hoped my new friend would accept my explanation when I told her in all honesty that my silly comment was the result of me feeling totally blindsided by my unexpected feelings of attraction for Finn which shouldn’t have impacted on her at all.
The last thing I had been expecting was to fall headlong for the fella who had bitten my head off when I first laid eyes on him, but that’s what had happened, and our passionate kiss had confirmed it. Why else would he be constantly on my mind? Why else would I be factoring in his thoughts and opinions when considering my own? Why else would I care so much that he had been annoyed when I stuck up for him? Why else would my eyes turn green every time I saw him with Chloe?
It was all a mortifying mess, especially now I knew for certain that he was keen to forget all about the best kiss I’d ever had. I would just have to tell Chloe that as kindly meant as her matchmaking was, it was very definitely misplaced.
‘Just a Coke for me please,’ I said to Chloe’s friend Hannah, who was serving behind the bar, ‘and what do you think Chloe would like?’
‘No idea,’ she said bluntly, ‘but she sent me a text a minute ago asking me to tell you that she’s not coming.’
‘Oh,’ I said, reaching into my jacket pocket for my phone.
‘She said she tried to call you but you didn’t answer.’
After Peter’s timely interruption, I’d switched my phone to silent and hadn’t felt it vibrating in my pocket, but sure enough, there was a missed call listed on my log.
‘Damn,’ I said, feeling worse than ever, especially when I realised that from the look Hannah was giving me, she knew what had happened. ‘Did she say anything else?’
‘No,’ Hannah shrugged.
I paid her for the drink she had already poured and found myself a table tucked around the corner from the open fire. I would drink up, head home and work out what I was going to say to Chloe when I called her from the more private confines of my sitting room.
‘All on your lonesome?’
‘Zak,’ I said, ‘hi.’ He was the last person I wanted to see. ‘Yeah, I am, but I’m about to head off actually.’
‘But you’ve only just arrived.’
‘I wasn’t planning on staying long.’
‘You’ve not been stood up, have you?’
‘No,’ I said, trying to keep my patience.
I didn’t think it actually counted as being stood up if the other person had let you know they weren’t coming. Not that I had any intention of sharing that summation of the situation with Zak.
‘I thought you might be waiting for my brother,’ he smiled, ‘but as you’re not, would you mind if I sat with you?’
‘I would actually,’ I told him as I quickly drained my glass.
‘Fair enough,’ he shrugged. ‘I just wanted to have a quick word, but I’ll come and find you next week.’
Something in his tone made me look at him properly and I can’t deny, I was surprised by what I saw. Clad in a shirt which wasn’t two sizes too small and with considerably less product than usual, attempting to sculpt his closely cropped hair, he was almost unrecognisable. He was a much more attractive proposition, toned down and covered up.
‘Too cold for a T-shirt tonight?’ I asked, unable to resist.
‘I know, right,’ he grinned. ‘Who’d have thought it? But actually,’ he went on, ‘this is your doing, Freya.’