Page 29 of Cosy & Chill
Settling In
After the previous week’s upheaval and the exertions of moving, Leo had expected to sleep like a log. Instead, he’d woken not long after going to bed, convinced that they’d forgotten to lock the doors. After telling himself several times that theyhadlocked them—with no effect whatsoever—he’d untangled himself from his sleeping bag and had gone downstairs to check.
Two hours later he’d fought the urge to go and check yet again. He’d managed to stay in bed that time, assuring himself that it was just the old house creaking around him and that he’d get used to the unfamiliar noises soon enough.
When a nearby church clock struck four, Leo wanted to curse. Now he’d heard footsteps on the stairs!
His rational mind argued that it was highly unlikely that what he’d heard had been footsteps. The rest of his mind pointed out that he’d never lived in the centre of town, and that the papers were full of reports of break-ins and thefts. Even though their shop wasn’t open yet, someone might have seen them moving in and wondered what was in the many boxes.
He rolled out of bed, used the bathroom, and then splashed cold water in his face. The unease persisted. Leo knew that if he wanted to get a few more hours of sleep, he had to assure his wayward mind that nothing was amiss.
He used his phone to light his way, not wanting to wake Finn or advertise the fact that he was up. The house seemed larger in the dark, the rooms higher, the shadows deeper. And the stairs to the ground floor creaked with every step he took.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Leo muttered when he’d checked every room except Finn’s bedroom and the attic and found nothing but darkness and silence. Why couldn’t he sleep? Maybe he’d eaten too much and not drunk enough water.
He stopped in the kitchen and remedied the latter before he returned to bed. He was bone-tired, but even after having assured himself that only he and Finn were in the house and all doors and windows were securely locked, sleep was slow in coming.
“Did you move the cutlery?”
Finn looked up from where he sat at the end of the breakfast bar, writing his to-do list. “Did I what?”
“Move the cutlery. I’m sure yesterday the cutlery was in the leftmost drawer, not in the middle one.” He watched as Finn mentally replayed what little time they’d spent in the kitchen the previous night. Just enough to wash their wine glasses and the plates they’d used for the pizza, cake, and ice cream.
“I would have said so,” he agreed after a few moments’ consideration. “Cutlery on the left, knives in the middle, and all the plastic utensils on the far right.”
“Only now, the cutlery is in the middle drawer.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Agreed. And I didn’t sleep all that well. I kept hearing noises.”
“Yeah, me too. At one point I even went downstairs to check that we’d really locked the doors.”
Leo burst out laughing. “I did, too. Do you think we heard each other moving around?”
“Possibly. Though I’d swear that I didn’t touch the cutlery.”
“Maybe we just misremembered.”
“Both of us?”
“We must have,” Leo insisted, and then changed the subject. “What are we doing today?”
Finn waved his list. “Pick up anything we didn’t get yesterday from your old place. Food shopping. Quick stop at that home store by the station. I want to set up one of the attic rooms for washing and blocking finished pieces. I can’t ship orders otherwise.”
“What do you need for that?”
“Not a lot. The bathroom is already there, and I have detergent and blocking squares. I could do with another couple of big bath towels and an extra plastic bowl.”
The coffeemaker beeped. Leo filled two mugs and carried them to the breakfast bar. “We do need food,” he agreed. “And I need to check on my freezers.”
Finn grinned. “I’m sure they’re not going anywhere.”
“Of course not. I just want to make sure they’re not leaking.”
“You won’t be happy until you have them here. It’s cute.”
“The chest freezer downstairs is almost full. Can’t make ice cream without a decent freezer. Besides, they weren’t cheap.”
