call. Not only had he fixed the ride-on but he could keep pace with Chloe, and that had made a big difference to what we could achieve within the limited time we had before the official opening.
‘It’s all coming together really well,’ I told Mark, with a smile. ‘Give it a season or two and it will be even better.’
‘And how’s the kitchen?’ Harold shouted across the table.
‘All sorted,’ I told him, ‘and no harm done.’
He gave me a thumbs up and went back to talking to his companion.
‘Let me go and get you a drink,’ Neil kindly offered.
I looked over to the bar, which was at least three deep with people waiting to get served. If he joined them, he’d be there until closing time.
‘No, I’m fine,’ I said, ‘but thank you for offering. I really should be heading home.’
‘Are you sure, Freya?’ said Heather, catching the tail end of what I had said.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I’ve got a really early start tomorrow.’
‘Do you want us to walk with you?’ Glen generously offered.
‘No,’ I told him, gathering up my bags. ‘It’s not all that far. I’ll be all right.’
I said my goodbyes and pushed my way back out into the chilly night air. The carnival was still in full swing, but suddenly I wasn’t enjoying it. The lights, music and laughter couldn’t lift my spirits as I made my way home, the faces of my neighbours around the pub table and those who had already left, swimming in front of me.
I never usually took any notice of the fact that I was on my own, and I certainly wasn’t the sort of person who needed a relationship to complete me, but I can’t deny that, in that moment, I felt an unexpected pang of loneliness. I was the only one among us that evening who had been alone.
It hadn’t bothered me when I was shopping, but suddenly I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even Nell had Gus to keep her company and Peter who had sent me photos of his few days away, had a new love too. The woman from the restaurant, Rebecca, had featured, smiling and happy, in almost all of the images.
As I made the final turn into Nightingale Square and looked across the road to Prosperous Place, I wondered if that was why Finn had decided not to join in. Was he lonely too? He always came across as pretty self-contained to me – alone, but not lonely – there was a very definite difference between those two states and I went to bed feeling sad to realise that for some reason I was suddenly experiencing the latter.
Chapter 18
The next day dawned bright, sunny and crisp, but I struggled to raise my spirits high enough to match the effort the weather was making. The evening before had started off so well and I had thoroughly enjoyed the larger part of it, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that it would have been all the better if I’d had someone to share it with.
I had told myself time and time again that I wouldn’t concern myself with thoughts of Finn but I couldn’t stop wondering if he hadn’t attended the carnival for the same reason. I wasn’t supposed to be worried about finding any common ground between us, but was this it?
Were we actually more in tune than we first thought, and after our kiss, increasingly aware that we were very much on our own? However, it didn’t take me many minutes at work to stop speculating because that clearly wasn’t the reason behind why he had missed out on the festive fun.
As was my habit, on the last morning of every working week, I made a tour of the garden, mentally ticking off all the things which had been achieved and committing to memory all those which still needed addressing. However, my list-making went rather awry when I reached the fern garden.
Tucked away, but not so hidden that you wouldn’t notice them, I found two dragon sculptures. The first caught my eye as I entered, because the light bounced off it. It was attached to the wall, had its wings outstretched and was looking over its shoulder to check that whoever had spotted it wasn’t in too hot pursuit. The second was harder to find, but having discovered one, I knew there’d be another and I eventually found it, menacingly crouched in an alcove in the wall at the furthest end of the little