Page 15 of Cosy & Chill
“I have two large freezers in my bedsit,” Leo said. “They’ll be coming with me. I’m sure my landlady will be pleased to be rid of the noise.”
“They’ll be quite out of your way down here. Now, let’s move on, or you might get the impression I’m trying to sell you a hallway with doors.”
A few more steps brought them into the store proper. Leo’s gaze flew to the long counter on the right. He imagined that this had been the haberdasher’s part of the business and pictured bolts of fabric underneath the counter, the wood polished smooth from years of use. He ran his hand along its length, feeling the silky texture and leaving a streak in the thin layer of dust covering it.
It was a gorgeous piece of wood and Leo wouldn’t change it for the world. He turned his head to say so and found that Finn had wandered off to the other side. Standing in the middle of the room, he turned slowly, looking at the rows of built-in wooden shelves interrupted by small wooden drawers, delighted like a child on Christmas morning.
“Can you see this working for your business? Mr Hoogan?”
“It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. I can fill the shelves with balls of yarn, and the little drawers are where I’d keep accessories—needles, and stitch markers, counters, scissors, anything. It’s… really, it’s wonderful!”
“To be honest, I wasn’t at all sure it would suit.” Mrs Tienfield admitted. “I remember the old store, you know. It had a row of dressed mannequins and racks of clothes where you’re standing right now. If you store your yarn on the shelves, then what are you going to do with all this empty floorspace?”
“There won’t be much floorspace left, once we have a table and two big armchairs in the window,” Finn told her. “Another armchair could fit into the corner. If there’s room, we could have baskets of left-over yarns for sale. Or a rack with ready-made pieces. I’m not worried about that just yet. This place is perfect.” He smiled a blinding, bright smile and Mrs Tienfield matched him.
“At first, my Etsy store will bring in most of the business,” Finn mused. “I do want to keep that going. It’s built up a lovely following. This store… it’s for making sure I have yarn on display for people to browse. For running classes. For somewhere people can come to knit, to get out of the house, you know?”
A wisp of uncertainty crept into his voice and Leo joined him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t second-guess yourself. Your Cosy Corner fits perfectly in here.”
Finn shot him a grateful smile, but they both turned at an odd sound coming from Mrs Tienfield.
“Are you, by any chance, Cosy Corner Yarn & Knitting on Etsy?”
“Yes, that’s my store.”
“You made the christening gown and blanket for our granddaughter,” she said, delighted. “Let me tell you that it is absolutely fabulous. I’d tried lots of different people, but most stores only offered white christening gowns and white wasn’t what we wanted. Then I found your store and asked… I should have thought…”
“I don’t have my name on the store,” Finn said. “How could you have known?”
Footsteps clicked on the hallway tiles. Mr Tienfield stepped into the shop and came up to his wife. He greeted her with a quick kiss to her cheek and shook hands with Leo before he looked at Finn. “Mr Hoogan, I believe?”
Finn held out his hand. “Yes. Thank you very much for letting us view the shop. Thank you for listening to Leo. I… I didn’t have the gumption to come and see you.”
He waved the comment away. “You’re here now. What do you think of it?”
“It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
“Then let’s go and see the rest of the house.”
They spent the next hour upstairs, exploring the living quarters. To Leo’s delight, all three bathrooms were in very good nick, and each had a bath and a shower. The scrubbed wooden floorboards in the rooms needed little more than a rug or two to embellish them. But after years of a family living here, the walls were a little tired.
“Structurally it’s sound,” Mrs Tienfield pointed out. “A lick of paint, and the rooms will be good as new. You’ll need bedroom furniture, though. What was here was too worn to keep.”
Leo wasn’t too worried. Two of the bedrooms had built-in wardrobes, which meant they could use their funds elsewhere. Not that they’d discussed money or anything else just yet. Leo had to keep reminding himself that he’d only met Finn the day before. That he knew next to nothing about the man and yet… here he was planning to share a house and a store with him. Life really couldn’t get any weirder.
“Are you okay?” Finn had appeared beside him, looking out of the bedroom window towards the river.
“I’m fine. It’s just… a bit strange?”
“A bit? I’d go with a whole lot, personally. I keep hoping I won’t suddenly wake up and realise that I’ve been dreaming.”
“You can’t dream my green apple ice cream.”
“True. Just as you can’t dream my green mohair toque.”
They turned their backs on the view to smile at each other, and the tendrils of agitation in Leo’s mind dissipated like smoke.
This felt right.
