‘Sure.’
So I gladly untied my apron and went over to where Finn was settling into a booth.
‘Hi,’ I said. He looked very at ease, and – I couldn’t help noticing – rather handsome. That made me think of Vanessa saying he was cute, and that made me feel a little bit awkward so I hovered by the side of the booth until he nodded to the seat opposite. ‘Sit down, please. I hate drinking on my own.’
‘I’m not drinking,’ I said just as Tara appeared next to me with a gin and tonic and put it on the table.
‘You are now,’ she said with a smile. ‘Take as long as you want.’
I slid along the bench and Finn smiled at me. ‘She’s nice.’
‘She’s amazing,’ I agreed. ‘She’s always got my back.’
‘I like that.’ He sipped his beer, looking thoughtful as he did so. I liked the way he looked as though he was carefully considering everything he did. It was very unlike how I lived my own life, in a state of total chaos and bad choices.
‘So tell me about your ideas.’
I grinned. ‘Final words,’ I said. ‘Last letters.’
‘Mine? Or …’
‘Well, you know that Elsie’s book has lots of messages in it from soldiers, and other people. Messages she passed on if they didn’t make it through the war.’
‘It was really only the very early months of the war,’ Finn pointed out. ‘The darkest days of the Blitz.’
‘Yes, okay, but the idea is the same,’ I said, not letting his pedantry get in the way of my excitement. ‘She collected people’s last letters for their loved ones. I want to use those words in the mural. And I want to do my own book.’
‘For the residents of Tall Trees?’
I loved that he’d got the idea straightaway. ‘Yes, I thought I could do a book for them, like Elsie did.’
Finn nodded.
I put my hands flat on the table, either side of my G&T glass. ‘So what do you think?’
‘I think it’s a wonderful idea.’
I let out my breath slowly, relieved. ‘I thought I’d include Elsie on the mural. Do you have a picture of her?’
Finn shook his head. ‘Not a photograph, but there are some sketches of her in the book. You could copy one of those.’
‘Perfect.’ I did a little wiggle in my seat. ‘And I also thought I’d try to find out what happened to her. This book really is a present from the past – she’s a local hero. Do you know much about her?’
‘Not really,’ he said, screwing up his nose. ‘Like I said, she onlykept the book for a few months. I think it was late 1940, to the spring of 1941. Just the worst days of the Blitz.’
‘Maybe she didn’t think there was any need for it after the bombing raids weren’t so bad?’
He shrugged. ‘I think she left the hospital around then, and I don’t know where she went after that. I can’t find her.’
‘But she definitely didn’t die?’
‘No, not in the war. At least there’s no record of her death.’
‘That’s good.’ I felt strangely pleased that Elsie had made it through the conflict unscathed. ‘Maybe she joined up? She could have gone to be a nurse in the Army or something.’
‘Maybe.’ Finn looked unconvinced.
‘What do you know about her?’
