called me.
‘You’re up early for a Saturday,’ I cautiously said, hoping that she hadn’t had a sleepless night.
I knew that she liked to lie in at the weekend.
‘I couldn’t sleep,’ she told me.
‘And that’s my fault, isn’t it?’ I groaned.
‘In part.’
‘I’m so sorry, Chloe.’ I told her, a lump in my throat. ‘I didn’t mean to be so spiteful about Finn. It just kind of slipped out and I really hate myself for it.’
‘Hate’s a bit strong,’ she said, and I clung to the hope that there was the hint of a smile in her tone.
‘Well, I do,’ I insisted. ‘And you certainly didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of my stupidity. I’m so sorry.’
‘I know you are,’ she carried on, ‘and I also know why you did it. It’s obvious that you really like Finn, which is why I was trying, not very discreetly I suppose, to set the pair of you up.’
Had we had this conversation the night before in the pub as I had planned then she would have been in full receipt of my confession that I was harbouring feelings for Finn, but thankfully that hadn’t happened and I could refute her assumption with a clear conscience.
True, I did still have feelings for my scrap-sculpting colleague and yes, the kiss we had shared was the most arousing I had ever experienced, but, thanks to Zak, my feelings for Finn had morphed into rather different ones now.
‘After you’d gone on Thursday,’ I told Chloe, ‘I realised that’s what you were trying to do and it made me feel even worse.’
‘I wouldn’t have done it as a rule,’ she said, ‘but it’s obvious that you two are into each other and I wanted to help because, left to your own devices, I don’t think you’ll ever get there.’
Had she caught a glimpse of us kissing in the studio, she wouldn’t have said that.
‘But the pair of you will be great together,’ she carried on, blissfully unaware of the seismic shift my emotions had been subjected to, ‘you just need a little encouragement.’
‘Please don’t take this the wrong way, Chloe,’ I cut in before she became completely melded to her matchmaking cape, ‘but I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t say or do anything else.’
‘But why?’
She sounded both crestfallen and frustrated, and I knew I had to nip her enthusiastic endeavours in the bud. Given that I hadn’t had the opportunity to tackle Finn about what he had been saying behind my back, I didn’t want to go into details, but I did want to stop Chloe from trying to shove us along the happy ever after path she so obviously had her heart set on.
‘I am right about you liking him, aren’t I?’ she asked. ‘That is why you’re always a bit sulky when you’ve seen me talking to him.’
I was embarrassed to think that she was observant enough to have worked that out.
‘I do think he’s nice,’ I tentatively admitted, ‘but the thing is, Chloe, I’m new to the area and settling in to a brand-new job, a new home and a completely different way of life and, for now at least, I really don’t need the extra complication of a relationship too.’
That was all true. I was still acclimatising to the changes my life had gone through and getting used to the lie of the land, both in the garden and out. My life in Norwich was different to the rural isolation I had been used to in Suffolk in every possible way.
‘But you do like him, like him?’ Chloe asked again, this time with added emphasis.
She was like a dog with a juicy butcher’s bone.
‘And besides,’ I added, ‘I found out last night that he has emotional baggage of his own which he’s no doubt trying to deal with and as my love life hasn’t exactly been plain sailing, I think your plan to get us together, however kindly meant, is best forgotten.’
‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I see. What sort of baggage might that be then?’
‘I don’t know the details,’ I said truthfully, revealing that I didn’t know anything of consequence about Finn’s while carefully managing to share nothing of my own, ‘but he was described to me as damaged goods, so what he probably needs right now more than anything else is friendship.’
‘And what’s been so complicated about your relationship history?’ Chloe further probed. ‘What sort of choppy seas have you had to negotiate?’
‘I’ll tell you another time. It’s a coffee and cake