Page 24 of Cosy & Chill
Leo shoved the boxes inside the van and slammed the doors. Despite all the yarn, Finn’s possessions didn’t even fill half the space. “Are you bringing any furniture?”
“No. I didn’t buy it. Doesn’t feel right taking it. I’ll have to get quite a few things.”
“That’s what happens when you move somewhere new,” Leo said as they settled into the van. “I had nothing but my books, laptop, and clothes when I moved in. I considered myself lucky that I found a furnished studio where the landlady also supplied bedding and towels. I would have stood in the shower that first night not knowing what to do with myself.” He remembered how disoriented he’d felt for days, alone and grieving, waking up in a strange place and not knowing where he was. He’d left without saying goodbye—just as Finn was planning to do—and he’d always regretted that he’d not stopped for a last look back. “Are you okay?”
Finn turned to him, startled. “Desperate to leave to be honest. I don’t want my father spoiling my buzz.”
“Right.” Leo started the engine, and not ten minutes later they pulled up outside the shop. He stopped in front of the side door.
“I thought… we could keep the main door locked until we opened for business?”
Finn beamed. “My thoughts exactly.”
They left the van, and the excitement took over. The key turned in the lock and Finn headed down the alleyway to the back door. Leo caught up to him there, carrying Finn’s laptop bag and a holdall.
“Ready?”
Finn unlocked the back door. “Ready,” he said, pushing both wings of the door wide open, so they could step across the threshold together.
“We need to go and get your stuff next,” Finn said, when they’d dumped his boxes and bags in the downstairs office. He was rushing around like a ferret on speed, as if he were afraid someone would take the keys off them if they didn’t move in fast enough.
“The essentials are already here.” Leo pointed to his own bags. Shoving his clothes into a holdall and a couple of bin liners had taken moments. “I just need my kitchen equipment and the ice cream, so I can defrost my freezers before we move them.”
“In that case, we’d better plug in that chest freezer.”
Leo chuckled. “I didn’t even think of that. I have cooler boxes in the back of the van but having all the ice cream here is better. Less chance of it spoiling. You’re not going back to your parents’ house tonight?”
“Definitely not.”
“Won’t they mind?”
“For all I know, they won’t even notice. I’ve paid my rent to the end of the month. What happens after…” Finn shrugged. “I should have moved out a long time ago.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Cowardice.” Finn fiddled with the boxes of yarn, stacking and shifting them when they needed neither. “I hate arguments, which is all we seemed to have since my grandma died. When I turned eighteen and my father demanded I paid rent for my room… I just did. He never once asked me where the money came from. Or what I did all day. We didn’t discuss jobs or apprenticeships or… anything. I could have been robbing banks for all he cared.”
“Right.” Leo remembered his own parents, forever in his business, pushing for better grades, wanting to know what he was going to do with himself after school. Even his grandma had been keen to discuss his future plans once he’d lived with her. Having your parents not even take note was… “I can see why you don’t want to go back. How about we secure the ice cream, and then we should go shopping. We need beds. Quilts and pillows and sheets, too.”
Finn shook his head. “There’s an outdoor store just down the road. I was thinking airbeds and sleeping bags.”
“You’re pulling my leg.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” Finn’s voice held a new kind of determination, as if he had stepped away from something that had weighed him down and was suddenly able to straighten up and make choices with greater ease. It was very sexy.
Still… “Airbeds? Really? There’s a bunch of furniture stores just down the road.”
“Too early,” Finn said. “This has all been happening so quickly. I need time for my mind to catch up.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Do you? I’ve never lived anywhere by myself—” He shook his head. “Sorry. You told me you left home with just your clothes and your books, so youdoknow. How long ago was that?”
“December last year.” Leo didn’t want to remember the days after his grandma’s death. Better to stick to practical matters. “Why an airbed?”
“It’s cheaper than a real bed? I have savings, but I don’t want to buy something and then find it’s all wrong. I don’t mind roughing it for a while. If you can call that roughing it.” He waved to encompass their new place. “We have a sofa, a dining table and a fully equipped kitchen. We have a washing machine, a dryer, and three freezers if we count yours. We have heating and a fire. I think I can live with an airbed and a sleeping bag for a while.”
Leo didn’t want to argue. Finn wasn’t wrong, and the idea of camping in their new home appealed to his sense of fun. “Fair enough. Let’s go get air beds and sleeping bags so we know we’re set.”
