Page 66 of Cosy & Chill
“You forgot to do that to the spatula, didn’t you?”
“Not quite. The utensils in this house—”
Leo’s phone rang. He took one look at the screen and gently pulled his hand from Finn’s grasp.
“Excuse me,” he said, and left the room. Not so much because he didn’t want to be overheard—he was beginning to think that there was nowhere in the house Roisin wouldn’t hear him—but because he didn’t want Finn to see the expression that would no doubt be on his face when he answered the call.
“Mr Griffin. Good morning.”
“Good morning, Leo. I’m sure you know why I’m calling. The mediation meeting with your family has been scheduled for Monday morning. You will need to be present.”
When Leo returned to the kitchen—after his hands had stopped shaking—he found Finn there alone, doodling on a notepad.
“Where’s Roisin?”
“She ran off. Said you wouldn’t be in the mood to discuss the weird stuff, and she wanted to get on with the storerooms downstairs.” He turned his head to look at Leo. “Are you in a bad mood?”
“Not like that.” Leo squirmed. It hadn’t escaped him how carefully Finn avoided any opportunity to discuss their “meeting” with his mother. He felt exactly the same way about his past. Something best left alone. “It was my solicitor on the phone. I have to go to London for a meeting on Monday.”
“You’re not looking forward to it.”
“That’s an understatement.”
Finn held out his hand, and Leo took it, settling back into his chair.
“I wish I could help,” Finn said.
Leo wanted to say that just being with Finn was stopping the nightmares, but that—besides being cheesy—would have prompted more questions he had no wish to answer. “You could distract me.”
“With?”
“Do you believe Roisin’s… not human?”
Finn pointed at the deep blue cupboard doors and the black and copper mosaic tiles. “Could a human have done this? While we watched? Or any of the other stuff she’s done to the house?”
“You have a point. It just seems—”
“Unbelievable,” Finn finished for him. “Like a lottery win. Like something that would never happen to me.”
“I’m sure Roisin had nothing to do with this place having such favourable rental terms.”
“Do we know that for sure?”
“Changing the colour of an object isn’t the same as changing the content of legal documents,” Leo argued.
“True. But Roisin’s key is magical, right? Maybe it influenced the previous owner when he made his will.”
Leo’s mouth fell open and he stared at Finn until he spotted the tell-tale quiver at the corners of his mouth. “Idiot!” he growled affectionately.
“I almost had you!”
“You’re dreaming.”
“That’s exactly how I feel right now between meeting you, renting the store, and Roisin telling us she isn’t human. And I really don’t want to wake up.” Finn pushed to his feet. “That said… shall we catch up with Roisin? I want to watch her work!”
