Page 75 of Cosy & Chill
Big Day
Finn was going to have a heart attack. Any moment now, steam would shoot from his ears with the force of a train whistle. Either that, or he’d be sick.
He stood in the storeroom behind the shop, hands clenched to stop them shaking, while he listened to Leo clattering around up front, putting the finishing touches to the table beside the entrance where they’d set out mince pies, ice cream truffles, and champagne bottles and glasses.
They’d spent the last three days working flat out to prepareCosy & Chillfor opening day, but no one more so than Leo. His usual enthusiasm hadn’t survived his day in London and the sight of awkward, uncomfortable Leo bothered Finn more than Leo’s abortive attempts at apologies and explanations. Roisin had stepped in to pull Leo from his dark mood in the end, and Finn could have hugged her for it.
Between Roisin and Leo, theirsoft openinghad grown steadily more elaborate.
“Champagne? Really?” Finn had wondered the previous morning when Leo unloaded cases of bottles from the van.
“It goes well with the truffles. Besides, it’s sale or return, so we might as well do it right. We only open for the first time once.”
“Nobody knows we’re opening,” Finn had argued. “If we get a handful of customers tomorrow, we can count ourselves lucky.” He’d repeated those words to himself for days, over and over like a mantra to prepare himself for disappointment. It had left him completely unprepared for Leo’s reply.
“I like that it will be a quiet affair. It will give us a chance to appreciate it.”
Coming from Leo, that comment made sense. He hadn’t stopped moving since his return on Tuesday morning. He used all the activity to hide his embarrassment, Finn knew, but also to avoid answering questions. Finn, mindful of Roisin’s advice, hadn’t asked any and for the first time since they’d met awkward silences had crept into their evenings. Finn was sure that, if he hadn’t pulled him into his bedroom every night to share the big bed, Leo would have gone to sleep alone.
But he was here right now, and as excited about opening Cosy & Chill as Finn should have been.
Finn was a long way from appreciating anything. He was shaking so badly he worried about the planned knitting demonstration. Should he warn people to stand well back so he wouldn’t stab them with his needles?
“I didn’t feel that bad when I opened my Etsy store,” he grumbled. It was a stupid remark. He didn’t have to face people when he’d opened that store. He’d just pressed publish and his store was live. After that it had taken a few days—four to be exact—before he’d taken his first order.
“Maybe that’s what will happen today. We’ll be here with the lights on and the door open and nobody will come in.” That statement, repeated so often it was threadbare now, failed to calm him, too.
He wanted people to come in.
He wanted them to appreciate their work.
Wanted them to check out all the yarn and the row of gifts they’d put together over the last two days.
Most of all, he wanted to see Leo smile the way he’d smiled when they’d signed the rental contract.
Which was an equally useless line of thought.
“What are you doing out back? It’s almost nine o’clock.”
Leo bounced into the storeroom, vibrating with so much energy that just watching him made Finn feel tired. “Trying not to be sick,” he admitted, embarrassed by how pathetic it sounded.
Leo looked at Finn for the first time in days. Then he pulled out the smile Finn had missed so much. “You don’t like change,” he declared, as if something suddenly made sense. “You don’t like stepping away from what you know and trying something new. You were just like that when we met.”
“I was?”
“Yes, you were. You stopped worrying as soon as you signed the contract. This is exactly the same. At two minutes past nine o’clock, you’ll be in your element.”
“I have no idea how to even get to nine, let alone past it.”
“I can help with that. Wait here.”
Leo disappeared and Finn stared after him, wondering how he could do anything but stay where he was. His feet refused to move, just as his fingers refused to uncurl themselves. Leo’s smile had at least calmed him enough that he could breathe. But if Leo didn’t come back right away…
“Here you go!” Leo returned carrying two flutes of champagne and a small dish of the gold and copper ice cream truffles he’d made the previous day. He handed the flutes to Finn and then held out the dish. “Let’s get this show on the road with a toast and a treat.”
Finn’s stomach churned. He wasn’t sure he could swallow a thing and keep it down, but he also didn’t want to snub Leo’s efforts. Not when Leo was almost his old self this morning.
“If we’re toasting the store, then we should be in it,” he said and marched out of the storeroom.
