I relayed the details of what had happened on Tuesday when she came in on Thursday.
‘Zak came tearing down the stairs, naked from the waist up and crashed straight into Finn.’ I told her, cradling my head in my hands.
‘No wonder he seemed in such a temper when he called to tell me about the willow,’ she said, eyeing the bundle which was now in the office, protected from the still breezy weather. ‘Finn, I mean.’
The snow had all gone and the temperature had lifted a little, but it was unlikely that Chloe would be holding her Winterfest session in the Grow-Well as originally planned. Making wreaths wasn’t the tidiest of tasks, but it was going to have to take place in the Prosperous Place dining room if we didn’t want the attendees to freeze.
‘At least the floor is tiled,’ Luke had said to Kate when he told her about the change in venue, ‘which will make sweeping up easier than if the room was carpeted.’
Kate had looked as unsure about Luke’s reasoning as Chloe had about my description of Zak’s half-naked appearance in my kitchen.
‘So, why exactly did he have his top off?’ she asked, leaning in. ‘You don’t suppose he was planning to entice you upstairs for a bit of—’
‘No,’ I interrupted, and she grinned, ‘of course not.’
‘What then?’
‘The silly sod was trying to change a tap washer in the bathroom sink without turning the water off,’ I tutted, thinking of the unnecessarily drenched room. ‘He thought he could be quick enough to switch them, but even with all those muscles, he was no match for the square’s water pressure and then he found the isolation valve was jammed.’
‘And he was shirtless, because?’
‘Because he’d got a sudden soaking, the water was freezing and he’d whipped his top off and dumped it in the bath before running down the stairs.’
‘That sounds feasible enough,’ Chloe shrugged.
‘Of course, it is,’ I shot back, still not able to see the funny side, ‘not that Finn thought so. You should have seen his face.’
‘I’m rather pleased I didn’t.’
‘He took one look at Zak, made what I suppose was the most logical assumption and legged it out the door.’
I was a bit put out that he had jumped to the wrong conclusion, but I was willing to overlook it. I had to if I didn’t want to take us straight back to square one and I daresay I’d have reacted in exactly the same way had I turned up at the studio expecting to have a heart to heart and found a half-naked girl in the flat.
‘Oh dear,’ said Chloe, ‘and just when you two were starting to get on.’
‘I know,’ I groaned, ‘that’s the worst of it.’
‘So, what are you going to do now?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know yet,’ I said, ‘but I’ll come up with something.’
I was going to have to if I wanted to feel Finn’s strong arms around me again and the touch of his lips kissing mine and I really did want to feel both of those things. I might have been trying to convince myself otherwise, but it was no good. My body gave an involuntary shudder as I again remembered the stirring sensation of our spontaneous embrace.
‘You all right?’ asked Chloe.
‘Yes,’ I said, clearing my throat and turning my attention back to my list of jobs. ‘I’m fine. The wind really cuts under that door, doesn’t it?’
* * *
The shops were open late again that evening and, although there wasn’t the same carnival atmosphere, Chloe convinced me to join her and Hannah for a little retail therapy followed by a drink in The Dragon.
Nell and I had been making inroads into our respective advent calendars, but the festive spirit that I had felt building had come to a grinding halt in the face of what had happened with Finn.
All of my thoughts were now focused on finding a way to explain to him why Zak had been shirtless in my house as well as picking the right moment to sort out our former misunderstandings. If I could manage to do that, it would be the best Christmas gift ever!
‘Right,’ I said, coming back from the bar and banging three pints of Christmas Cracker down on the table, ‘I’ve made a decision.’
‘About what?’ asked Hannah, dipping into Chloe’s bowl of chips.
‘Finn,’ I told them both. ‘I’m going to take charge of the situation once and for all.’
‘And how are you going to do that?’ Chloe frowned, pinching a