‘Not a proper one,’ he sniffed. ‘But I do love the architecture,’ he admiringly added. ‘Did you know Norwich has two cathedrals?’
‘No,’ I said, ‘I didn’t.’
‘The Catholic and the Anglican,’ he elaborated. ‘There are green men carved into the Anglican. Maybe I’ll take you one day and show you.’
‘I’d like that,’ I smiled, amazed that he had suggested it. ‘I’d like that very much indeed.’
We sat in silence then, listening to the music, and I felt happy that we were going to make it through the entire day without falling out.
‘It’s been a good day, hasn’t it?’ I eventually said.
‘A great day,’ he smiled, leaning forward and blowing on his hands.
I hadn’t realised he hadn’t got gloves on.
‘Here,’ I said, wedging Nell’s lead under my leg and holding out my hands.
He turned a little and put his hands in mine and I rubbed them briskly, trying to keep the action as far from intimate as possible.
‘How’s that?’ I asked after a few seconds.
‘Better,’ he said, removing one and putting it in his pocket, but not the other. ‘Much better, thanks.’
I swallowed and carried on staring at his hand in mine.
‘You know, I’m not very good at this sort of thing, Freya,’ he said, gripping my fingers.
Given how he had shrugged off our kiss, I wasn’t at all surprised to hear him admit that.
‘And I find it pretty excruciating when everyone keeps implying that we’d be a good match, like we’re a couple out of an Austen novel or something.’
I couldn’t help but smile and squeezed his hand in response.
‘But I do like you,’ he told me. ‘Really like you, I mean.’
It took me a minute to take in what he had said. Our kiss must have had some impact on him after all.
‘And I really like you too,’ I quietly responded, my voice catching a little as I realised that the attraction wasn’t all one way. ‘I was kind of hoping that you’d say something like that after what happened in the studio.’
I risked a glance and found his eyes trained on mine.
‘It was what happened in the studio that made me back off,’ he then said. ‘You’ve no doubt worked out that I have trust issues, Freya.’
I remembered how Zak had said he was damaged goods.
‘And I just can’t risk getting involved with someone who is already—’
His explanation abruptly ended as the church door opened and the porch was filled with light. Nell leapt to her feet and gave a bark and I dropped Finn’s hand as I made a grab for her lead. In spite of the location I inwardly cursed, frustrated to have our moment interrupted and my chance to explain a few things lost.
‘Hello, you two,’ said Kate, who was part of the throng. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Nell needed a walk,’ I told her, ‘and Finn kindly offered to accompany me as it was so dark.’
‘Hey, you two,’ grinned Luke, as he caught Kate up with the girls in tow.
‘Are you heading back now?’ Kate asked.
Finn and I looked at each other and Nell strained keenly towards the gate and away from the crowd.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I suppose we are.’
‘In that case,’ said Luke transferring Jasmine from his hand to Finn’s as he picked Abigail up, ‘let’s walk together, shall we?’
And that was the end of that.
Chapter 21
Shocked to have heard Finn say, that he liked me, really liked me that is, and knowing that I could no more keep my feelings for him on a professional footing than I could fly to the moon, I started the new week determined to sit him down and talk properly, with no interruptions and no misunderstandings. I’d had enough of those to last me a lifetime.
I had no idea where Finn and I would be headed after that, but at least we could move forward with a clean slate and a relationship based on firm and honest foundations. On my part anyway. Whether or not he decided to share with me the reasons why he had trust issues would be up to him.
Well, that had been my plan. Unfortunately, the weather, and life in general, had other ideas and the week kicked off in unexpected ways.
‘Don’t worry about coming in tomorrow,’ I told Chloe, when I called her Monday evening, and I had said the same to Graham earlier in the day. ‘This snow is only going to harden overnight and we’ll end up doing more harm than good if we