by Ali McNamara
‘High maintenance, are you?’
‘Sorry?’
‘High maintenance – you need a lot of reassurance in a relationship. Someone telling you they love you all the time.’
‘No, not at all.’
Finn laughs. ‘Yeah, right. I’ve only known you a matter of days and I figured out you were high maintenance within a few minutes.’
I narrow my eyes at him in annoyance. ‘So what are you then, Finn – low maintenance? So low no one wants to bother maintaining you? As far as I can see, there’s hardly a queue of women lining up to be by your side.’
The moment the words leave my lips I’m sorry. But not for the first time Finn has irritated me with his offhand remarks, when only moments before he’d seemed genuine in his concern for me. I hadn’t meant what I said, but it seemed like the perfect way to counter his jibe. Hopefully, Finn will see it that way too.
But his highly amused expression immediately drops. ‘You’re probably right,’ he says quietly. ‘Who would want to maintain me?’
I wait to see if this is one of his jokes, and in a moment he’ll grin at me, and likely wink too. So when he doesn’t, I get up from my seat, go over and sit next to him on the bed.
‘Finn Cassidy,’ I say, taking his hand, ‘you are the most annoying, secretive, and maddening man I think I’ve ever had the joy to meet.’
‘Thanks,’ Finn says, looking with interest at our hands now entwined between us on the bed.
‘You’re frustrating, exasperating—’
‘I think I get the general idea,’ Finn interrupts, loosening his grip on my hand.
‘Wait, I’m not finished,’ I tell him, holding on even tighter. ‘You’re also one of the kindest, most generous, and loveliest men I’ve ever met. I’m not sure how you manage to be both at the same time, but you do a damn good job of balancing them.’
Finn’s face, close to mine anyway as we sit next to each other on Kiki’s bed, becomes even closer as he turns towards me.
‘I think . . . ’ he says, a smile flickering at his lips, ‘that was meant as a compliment?’
‘It was.’
‘Then the only way I know to thank you when we’re sitting this close is by doing this . . . ’ The tiny gap that was between our two faces disappears as Finn leans forward and kisses me with one of the gentlest kisses I think I’ve ever had.
Then the gap between our faces widens again as he looks into my eyes, seeking my approval.
I give it to him immediately, by placing my lips back where they’d felt so comfortable on his. This time Finn’s kiss becomes firmer and more powerful as his lips begin to explore mine. Willingly I allow them to, enjoying every moment of having Finn this close to me. Our hands are still clasped tightly together between us, so when I feel Finn’s free hand reach up and place itself firmly behind my neck, pulling me even closer to him, I don’t hesitate in allowing him to.
‘Ren?’ Finn whispers breathlessly in between kisses.
‘Yes,’ I ask, doing the same.
‘Why did you invite me in here tonight?’ His hand leaves my neck and wanders down towards my chest. ‘When you were only wearing this?’ I feel his fingers run gently along the opening of my robe.
‘For hot chocolate,’ I murmur, wishing his hand would slip inside the opening.
‘Only hot chocolate?’ Finn asks, his lips moving down to my neck. ‘Or was there another reason maybe?’
So caught up are we in each other we don’t hear the door quietly open, and it’s not until I hear footsteps crossing the carpeted floor that I’m aware anyone is in the room with us. I snap my eyes open as I feel Finn hastily remove his lips from my neck.
We both turn at exactly the same time to see an elated Kiki. She’s standing next to a horrified Charlie, who clutches a silver tray in front of him with two mugs on it this time. ‘I’d say get a room,’ Kiki says, grinning delightedly, ‘but it seems you already have!’
‘Er . . . ’ Finn stutters, looking at Charlie. ‘It’s not what you think.’
‘I’d say it’s exactly what we think, eh, Charlie?’ Kiki nudges Charlie, and he has to steady his tray. ‘Oops, sorry, mate! Do you want to put that down somewhere?’
But Kiki offers a second too late.
Charlie, trembling like a rabbit caught in headlights on a busy motorway, suddenly lets go of the tray, and Kiki has to leap athletically to one side to avoid being covered in two mugfuls of frothy hot chocolate.
Twenty-Eight
So much for an early night, a bath and anything else that might have been on the menu.
After Charlie’s accident with the hot chocolate, Finn immediately morphs back from romantic hero to hotel manager. Partly to deal with the large brown patches of liquid chocolate that now cover the carpet and some of the walls of our room, and partly I think to hide his mortification at being caught by one of his staff in a compromising position with me.
‘You must change rooms immediately,’ he insists, his face red – again, partly from embarrassment and partly from anger at Charlie. ‘This will take ages to get out.’
‘I’m sorry, Mr Cassidy,’ Charlie cries, grabbing a white towel from the bathroom. He then throws himself down on the floor and begins scrubbing furiously at the stain.
‘That won’t help, will it, you feckin eejit! Get up at once, go downstairs and get whoever is on duty to come up here with buckets of soapy water, sponges and scrubbing brushes. Then ask Sinead on reception to find these ladies another room – no, make that a suite!’ he insists. ‘Then you come back and help them to move their things, do you hear?’
‘Yes, Mr Cassidy.’ Charlie almost bows as he backs out of the room. ‘And I’m very sorry again, ladies.’
‘Oh, don’t be too harsh on him, Finn,’ I say as Charlie leaves the room. ‘It was an accident.’
Finn looks at me, then at Kiki. ‘Let’s get you two packed up and moved,’ he says. ‘We can deal with everything else, later.’
Kiki and I begin to gather our things, throwing items quickly into our suitcases while Finn paces impatiently around in the room, then outside in the corridor, when things aren’t happening fast enough.
‘I don’t want to move rooms,’ Kiki whispers when we’re in the bathroom, gathering our bits. ‘I like this one.’
‘Do as he says, Kik,’ I whisper back. ‘You can see what sort of mood he’s in.’
‘I bet he’s in a mood,’ Kiki giggles. ‘He’s just been prevented from having hot sex with a hot chick!’
‘Stop it!’ I insist. ‘You don’t know that was going to happen.’
Kiki stops screwing the lid on to her moisturiser and stands open-mouthed in front of me. ‘Are you kidding? The look on your two faces when we came through the door suggested that was exactly what was going to happen.’
My face, already pink after recent events, reddens further.
‘Let’s not talk about this now – we need to get on with moving to our new room. We can talk later.’
‘Oh, that is one hundred per cent what we’re going to be doing, lady!’ Kiki grins. ‘I want all the goss! I’m so glad Eddie had an early shift tomorrow, or I might not have known anything about this.’
‘Packing, Kiki!’
‘Yeah, yeah. One more thing, though: you weren’t going to do it on my bed, were you? You would have moved to your own when things . . . progressed?’
‘Enough!’ I hiss, hearing Finn coming back into the room. The situation was bad enough without him thinking I was gossiping about it. The current look on his face suggested this was not something he’d ever dealt with before, and I was secretly quite pleased to know it.
Eventually, we move to a rather lovely suite a little way down the corridor. Our belongings are transported by several members of the night staff, who I suspect haven’t dealt with anything so dramatic before either.
I hope, for Finn’s sake, that Charlie isn’t a gossip. The staff who’ve come to help us give no sign of knowing what caused Charlie to drop
his tray, so either they know nothing or are being super-professional in disguising it.
‘Do you have everything you need?’ Finn asks, when all the staff have departed, leaving only the three of us in the room. Kiki is investigating the extra rooms we have now we’re in a suite, and Finn and I stand by the open door before he follows his staff down the corridor.
‘Yes, this is lovely, Finn,’ I tell him. ‘Thank you for everything.’
‘No, thank you for being so understanding. I’m sorry for all the hassle.’
‘Don’t be silly, it wasn’t your fault. Plus we’ve got a fab new room as a result.’ I gesture back inside the suite. ‘Will you be OK?’ I ask quietly. ‘Will Charlie say anything?’
‘I think everyone will know he dropped hot chocolate everywhere when the cleaners come in tomorrow morning and have a proper go at cleaning it all up.’
‘No, I meant about us,’ I say quietly, looking up at him.
Finn shakes his head. ‘No. Charlie and I have had a quick chat. Let’s just say he still has a job, when really he should have been fired for that.’
‘Ah, I get it.’ I wink at Finn, but he doesn’t respond. ‘I’m sorry it had to end like that tonight—’ I begin to say, but Finn interrupts.
‘I’m sorry, Ren, I need to go now. I’ll see you tomorrow, yes?’
‘Oh yes, sure.’
Finn looks either way down the corridor. Then he plants a quick kiss on my cheek. ‘Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight,’ I whisper as I watch him hurry off down the corridor. He pauses briefly at the lift before deciding to take the stairs, allowing himself one backward glance at me, still standing in the doorway, before he disappears.
I wave, but Finn is gone.
Twenty-Nine
The next morning, I wake up feeling very different.
As I lie in my new bed thinking about the events of last night I can’t stop myself from smiling, and neither do I want to; thinking about Finn’s kiss and what almost happened is nearly as good as experiencing it the first time.
‘What are you grinning about – as if I need to ask?’ Kiki pipes up from the next bed.
I roll over on my pillow to face her. ‘You’re awake early.’
‘I know, it’s this new room,’ she says, looking around. ‘I’m not sure about it. It doesn’t feel like the old one.’
‘It’s better than the old one – it’s a suite.’
Kiki waves her hand dismissively. ‘Enough about the room – let’s talk about Finn.’ She rolls over in bed and looks expectantly at me.
‘What about him?’
‘What happens next? Are you going to pick up where you left off? It looked pretty heated when I entered the room last night. It would be a real crime not to reignite that burning flame . . . ’
‘I don’t know, do I?’ I say, rolling over on to my back. ‘That depends on him . . . ’
‘Ah-ha!’ Kiki sits up in her bed and pulls the white duvet up around her shoulders. ‘So you want to, then?’
As I stare up at the ceiling, a huge, wide grin forms on my face without me giving permission for it to be there.
‘That’s all the answer I need!’ Kiki shrieks. ‘Woo-hoo! We’ve both found love here in the Emerald Isle! What are the chances?’
‘Are you in love with Eddie?’ I ask, seeing an opportunity to steer the conversation away from me.
‘I think I might be.’ Kiki pulls her knees up to her chest, and the quilt even tighter around her. ‘Eddie is so sweet and kind, I just adore him. Oh, Ren, do we have to go home? Can’t we stay here in this hotel in Ballykiltara forever?’
‘Sounds good to me,’ I joke.
‘Seriously?’
‘No, of course we can’t. We have to go home. We have lives back in London – and, more importantly, jobs!’
‘You’re carrying on with it then?’ Kiki asks. ‘The search for the owner of the house? I thought after everything that happened last night, you might have changed your mind.’
‘How can I change my mind? That’s what we came here for. I can’t go home empty-handed, can I?’
‘Why not?’ Kiki demands, sitting forward now. ‘Why can’t you just this once tell Ryan Dempsey you couldn’t find anything that matches what he was looking for? Why can’t you let this go, then we can enjoy some nice relaxed time here – you, me, Finn and Eddie?’
Not for the first time, I give Kiki’s proposal serious consideration. I’d given it a lot of thought before I fell asleep last night. Naturally, my thoughts had been focused on Finn, but they’d kept drifting back to The Welcome House too. And I’d thought about Donal’s reaction, and Father Duffy’s words of advice . . . My mind had even wandered back to Jackie and the boat trip. It seemed that no one wanted me to carry on with this search. Even Kiki was keen for me to give up. But giving up simply wasn’t in my nature. Then again, my nature seemed to be changing. My brain was fighting it, but my heart . . . Like Father Duffy had said, my heart was telling me differently.
There was no denying it would be lovely to spend some quality time here in Ballykiltara instead of running around looking for a person who obviously didn’t want to be found. Spending proper time with Finn before we returned home was a very appealing thought. I’d never had a holiday romance; maybe this could be the time to try one . . .
‘Perhaps everyone is right,’ I say eventually. ‘Perhaps I should let this one go. I wouldn’t want to be known as the person who ruined the legend of The Welcome House, now would I?’
Kiki leaps from her bed straight on to mine. ‘Do you mean it?’ she asks excitedly. ‘Can we really have a little holiday here?’
‘A few days’ break, maybe – hardly a holiday.’
‘Yay!’ Kiki claps her hands excitedly. ‘I can’t wait to tell Eddie! He’ll be so pleased we’re not here working any more. I think it’s really bothered him, us searching for the owner of that house, like he was disturbing me from my work or something.’
I didn’t know where Eddie would have got that idea; Kiki’s never needed much of an excuse to take some time off. But I don’t say anything.
‘When will you tell Finn?’ Kiki asks. ‘He’s gonna be so pleased.’
‘When I see him,’ I say carefully. ‘I’m not sure what his shifts are today.’
‘Right!’ Kiki leaps off the bed. ‘I need to get myself Eddie-ready! He has a day off today, but I told him I couldn’t arrange anything until I knew what we were doing.’ She grabs her phone from where it’s charging on the desk, and begins texting as she heads into the bathroom. ‘Back in a bit!’
While Kiki’s busy beautifying herself, I lie back in my bed and relive Finn’s kiss, hoping I might get to experience it again for real later.
Finn is on duty when we go down for breakfast. He passes us in the lobby of the hotel carrying some files.
‘You’re looking very smart, Kiki,’ he says, smiling at her. ‘Special occasion?’ He gives me the briefest of glances.
I smile shyly back, worried that if I open my mouth too far the kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttering nervously in my tummy might decide to escape and fly all over the hotel.
‘I’m spending the day with Eddie!’ Kiki sings happily as she pirouettes her way towards the breakfast room. ‘He’s taking me for a drive in the mountains.’
Finn smiles at her as she disappears into the restaurant. Then he turns back to me. ‘Day off, eh? I didn’t think you allowed that.’
‘I do sometimes. Look, can we talk later, Finn?’ I ask, trying to keep my cool while he’s this close to me, when all I really want to do is throw my arms around his neck and kiss him in the same way I had last night.
‘Yes, I think we probably should,’ Finn says, in a voice so low no one else can hear. ‘Are you around at lunchtime?’
Finn whispering like this is doing funny things to me. The sexy Irish lilt in his voice is hard to resist at the best of times, but whispered close to my ear like this, it’s doing things to me that oughtn’t be done in a
public place.
‘I can be. Where should I meet you?’
‘Come over to the cottage, say around one?’
‘Sure.’
‘Right, you’d better go and get some breakfast before everything’s gone,’ Finn says, looking towards the restaurant. ‘You’re quite late this morning.’
‘Yes, I guess we are,’ I reply, looking at him. But his gaze doesn’t meet mine. Is Finn being a bit offhand with me this morning? It certainly feels that way; his answers are carefully worded and he’s barely made eye contact with me. Don’t be silly, I quickly reassure myself, it’s probably because we might be seen by the staff, and after last night he doesn’t want any more rumours spreading. Yes, that must be it.
‘See you later then?’ I offer, by way of a parting gesture.
Finn simply nods and continues on his way to his office.
After we’ve had breakfast, Kiki rushes off to spend her day with Eddie, while I walk up the hill to see Father Duffy.
I’ve no idea what he meant when he said he had ‘things to show me’. If they’re things to do with The Welcome House, I’m no longer interested now that I’ve made my decision to step away from it. But I said I’d visit him this morning, and I never go back on my word – especially to a priest!
As I walk up the hill in the bright morning sunshine, I think about that. Wouldn’t I be going back on my word by deciding not to pursue The Welcome House for Ryan Dempsey when I’d assured him I would find him his perfect home?
I guess I would be, although it wasn’t like I was giving up my search altogether, merely ruling out this one option. Surely I could admit defeat this once if it was for the greater good – and leaving The Welcome House alone had to be in the house’s best interests, didn’t it?
You’re letting your heart rule your head, Ren, I decide when I can find no reason to change my mind. Father Duffy told you to, and now you’re following his advice it feels good, doesn’t it?
I pass the church as its chimes strike eleven o’clock, arriving at Father Duffy’s house as the last note sounds.