‘It’s noisier here than at home,’ Finn complains as a child with a high-pitched voice talks nineteen to the dozen.
‘You’re welcome to leave anytime,’ I say drily.
He turns his head and looks at me. ‘Do you want me to leave?’
‘No!’
‘I’m being a grump, aren’t I?’
‘Just a bit.’
‘I didn’t sleep well.’
‘You fell asleep before I did.’
‘Well, I woke in the night when you were fast asleep and snoring your pretty little head off.’
‘I do not snore!’
‘My ears beg to differ.’
I pull my pillow out from behind my head and thump him with it.
‘Oi!’ He laughs.
‘Are you okay?’
The gravity of the previous night’s conversation has come back to me.
He screws up his nose and shrugs. ‘Meh.’
‘I do like having you here,’ I whisper.
He stares at me for a moment and then grins, pinning my wrists to the mattress as he rolls on top of me.
‘If we can hear them, do you think they can hear us?’ he asks flirtatiously.
‘I don’t want to risk finding out!’
‘Well, in that case, you’d better be quiet.’
I’m not working until later, so we decide to go to Blue Bar for breakfast, but first we have to walk up to Finn’s grandparents’ house to collect his car – he parked it on their street after dropping Timothy home yesterday evening.
Finn’s grandparents live in a small, tidy bungalow high up on the hill with a view over the rooftops to the ocean in the distance. The garden at the front is simple, with one large coral-coloured rose bush in the corner of a small, neatly mowed lawn.
‘Do you want to meet my grandparents?’ he asks neutrally as we approach the house.
‘I’d love to!’ I say with delight.
This is a good sign. I still haven’t met any of his American family – not even over FaceTime – and I’ve been worried Finn has been holding back parts of his private life.
The door is opened by his grandad, a short, stout man in his late sixties. He has thinning grey hair and a bulbous red nose and he doesn’t resemble Finn at all, but I like the way his eyes light up at the sight of us.
‘Who’s this then?’ he asks in a jaunty manner, andnowI can see his grandson in him.
‘This is Liv,’ Finn says serenely. ‘We’ve come to pick up my car. Thought we’d say hi.’
‘Come in! Come in!’ He backs up into a small hallway and waves his hand towards the living room. ‘Trudy!’ he calls over my shoulder as he follows us inside. ‘Finn’s here and he’s brought his lady friend!’
