‘What did you say, Fin darling?’ Angela asked.
‘I said, I’ll come. To the wedding. If you want.’
The words seemed to linger in the air between them all, everyone’s eyes fixed on Fin’s face, which seemed to be turning a very radiant shade of beetroot.
‘Only if you need someone, of course. It’s just … I’m free on Saturday, that’s all,’ he mumbled.
‘Oh.’ Angela placed her hand on her chest. ‘Howlovelyof you, Fin! Isn’t that sweet? Are you sure you’d want to give up a precious weekend like that?’
Fin shrugged, fiddling with a soggy piece of sponge cake on his plate.
‘It’s fine. Like I said, I really don’t mind.’ He glanced up at Eleanor, who hadn’t yet been able to form a sentence in her mind.
‘Well …’ Angela shot Eleanor a pointed look. ‘Are you going to thank Fin and accept his kind offer?’
Time seemed to slow to a painful crawl. What the hell was she supposed to do? Surely he didn’tactuallywant to come to a wedding with her? Eleanor felt the eyes that had been locked on to Fin’s face slowly turn their attention to her.
Say something.
Anything!
‘Erm, thanks, Fin.’ Her cheeks were starting to match the colour of his own flaming-red face. ‘Only if you’re sure?’
‘One hundred per cent.’ He nodded. ‘You know me and weddings,’ he joked awkwardly.
God help me …
‘Ah. I remember my wedding day like it was yesterday,’ Angela said dreamily.
Freya rolled her eyes and shoved a profiterole into her mouth. ‘We’ve heard this a million times,’ she moaned.
‘So once more won’t kill you then, will it?’ Angela smirked. ‘It was 1979 …’
Fin
The rest of the afternoon at Angela’s had gone fairly seamlessly, although Fin couldn’t remember ever eating so much in his life. The next morning he’d woken with a stomach still full of cooking and a head still full of regret about his outburst. By the time he’d got to the home that afternoon, he was all but tempted to text Eleanor and retract his offer.
She said yes.
Get over it.
‘Hi, Fin.’ Nurse Clara’s customary greeting welcomed him into reception.
‘Hey, how’s it going?’ He could sense things were a little hectic, from her ruffled hair and manic smile.
‘Busy,’ she confirmed. ‘I’ll pop by in a bit, but the last time I checked in your mum was fast asleep. Hopefully she’ll come around soon.’
Fin nodded and made his way down the corridor, leaving Nurse Clara to the mountain of paperwork that sat piled up on the desk. Unsurprisingly, his mum was still out for the count and didn’t even stir as he settled himself down in the chair byher bed. Fin looked around the room listlessly. He wasn’t very good at sitting still without distraction, especially not when confronted with so many unwanted thoughts and memories.
Leave, she’ll never know you were here.
Fin rose from his seat and then planted himself firmly back down. He couldn’t go, not without saying hello. His past few visits had already been shamefully short, and after seeing Rudi’s quick demise Fin was very conscious of how cruel time could be.
Put the TV on then.
I can’t, it will wake her up!
Well, think of something …
