10. Rune
Chapter 10
Rune
M y bladder wakes me up before sunrise, but it’s a solid ten minutes before I have the energy to get up and do anything about it. I crashed on Aunt Mairi’s couch last night, a handful of minutes after I came in from clearing the driveway of snow last night. It was back-breaking work; exercise that I’m unused to.
I called Aunt Mairi yesterday, letting her know that I’d arrived (it seemed superfluous to tell her about my mishap over the phone). She promised she’d be here sometime this morning, and I am so excited to see her.
In the meantime, I’m sore, tired, and ridiculously hungry. There’s a cupboard of snack food and some eggs in the fridge that Aunt Mairi said were free for the taking. Her coffee canister is empty, so I heat some water for tea. I should have thought to pick up some groceries of my own, but I’ve been just a tad bit distracted. First by my own series of unfortunate events and then—Finn.
I still can’t get over how he went above and beyond for a complete stranger that he’ll likely never see again. I wonder where you find more men like him—who live in a beautiful home and look like that ?
Is it bad that I find a veritable stranger so attractive this soon after breaking up with my boyfriend of over four years. Am I fickle? Is this what they call a rebound? Should I be concerned? I swear, I was two seconds from making a complete fool of myself yesterday afternoon when he dropped me off. Alarm bells were going off in my head, but I couldn’t make myself look away from those beautiful blue eyes. Did I hurry my ass out of there the moment I realized I was waiting for a make-out session?
Yes…but what if I hadn’t?
I plop a tea bag into the steaming water and think back to the intensity of his eyes. My hormones were so triggered that all I could think of was doing things with him. I’m sure that would not have gone over well, since I’d just spilled the whole sob story about Sebastian over lunch. I probably shouldn’t have told him all of that. Sebastian said I needed to learn how to filter my words around other people. Which is offensive, but probably true.
While my teabag steeps, I distract myself from further thoughts of my ex with some harmless snooping in the living room.
There’s a whole wall dedicated to books—mainly ancient philosophy like Aristotle and Boethius—but also a collection of Kierkegaard and some scattered names that I’m unfamiliar with. If I recall correctly, Aunt Mairi used to be a professor of philosophy, but she gave it up because her colleagues were, in her words, “unable to extricate their heads from their own asses.” So she came up here, leaving her career behind in order to pursue something simpler. I move onto the next shelf to find it mostly filled with romcoms, followed by two more shelves of nature guides and homesteading how-to’s.
Auntie’s house isn’t as massive or impressively decorated as Finn’s, but it’s cozy and well-lived in. There’s even a spinning wheel in the corner and several baskets of yarn set around the living room. Everything here feels simple, homemade, and wholesome—exactly what I’m looking for in life.
Wrapped up in a quilt, drinking my tea, I check my phone and find a text from Finn. Ignoring the surge in my heart, which means absolutely nothing, I open the message to find a photo of his coffee cup on the table, along with a question:
Finn the Hero: Miss this?
Is he…flirting with me? My heart gives a little thump as I imagine Finn texting me in those gray sweatpants he was wearing.
Me: Will have to make do with tea…no coffee here :/
Despite the early hour, he texts back almost immediately.
Finn the Hero: …I meant the charger.
I squint at the picture. Oh. Right. I see that now. I must have left it there by accident. That’s embarrassing. I’m just a little train wreck where Finn is concerned.
Me: Consider it my gift to you for your hospitality.
Finn the Hero: Do you want any?
Me: ….?
Finn the Hero: Coffee. Want me to bring some over?
My fingers do a little dance over the phone screen. I might be in Minnesota for some inner peace, but it wouldn’t hurt to see the guy again, would it?
Me: So tempting…
Finn the Hero: Just say the word
Me: If it’s not too much trouble.
Finn the Hero: Be there in 15.
I have fifteen minutes to get decent. I race to brush my teeth and wrangle my sleep-tangled hair into some semblance of order. By the time Finn arrives with a large thermos of coffee and a box of cookies, I’ve found a loose button-up shirt to wear over my sleep tank and I look more or less ready to receive visitors.
“I come bearing gifts. Coffee, cookies, and—this.” He pulls my charger out of his jacket pocket and dangles it in front of me.
“It was a gift. A thank-you for letting a stranger stay the night.” I lift my hands, mock offended. Damn, that coffee smells good.
“Your company was a gift in and of itself.”
“Stop it. I’m blushing.” I pull a coffee mug from the cupboard. Because I’m polite, I ask, “Did you want to keep me company and have another cup, or are you…on a schedule?”
“I have time,” he says with a smile that reveals the slightest hint of a dimple on one side.
“Great.” More than great. In the few hours that I haven’t seen him, I’ve mis-remembered how stunning the man is. Dark, wavy-slightly-curly hair. Clear blue eyes. A perfectly chiseled nose. I wish there were more men like this five hundred miles closer to where I live. But I guess that’s how I felt when Sebastian and I started dating, too: he could do no wrong in my eyes.
“You slept on the couch?” Finn looks into the living room at the pillow and blankets still strewn about.
“It was near the fireplace.” I hurry to scoop up the blankets, trying to make it look like I’m not a complete pig, and motion for Finn to sit down. Every muscle in my back and neck objects to the movement.
“A little sore, huh?” He gives a knowing look.
“Only a tiny bit. Hardly at all.” I shrug, feigning nonchalance, but even that hurts like a motherfucker.
“Really. No tight shoulders or pinched nerves?” He pauses. Then, “Well then, guess I don’t need to offer my back massage skills. I don’t like to brag or anything, but I’m not too bad at working out knots.”
I waver between pride and the fact that a strikingly attractive man just offered me a back massage. Who am I to say no to that? “As long as you’re offering…”
He flexes his hands and I sit on the floor in front of where he’s seated on the couch.
There are such things as non-romantic massages, like the kind you get at a spa or the kind your roommate gives you when you won’t stop begging. When Finn’s warm, strong hands start working my painful shoulders, it’s about as anti-romantic as it gets. It fucking hurts .
“Shit,” he mutters, “your muscles are rock hard.”
“You’re telling me.” My eyes tear up a little. It takes a ridiculous amount of focus to breathe normally and not flinch away from the pain. “You sure this is going to help?”
“I think so? I think they also say drinking a lot of water and taking a bath in epsom salts is supposed to help.”
“Sure. I’ll try all of that.” Ouch .
Slowly, patiently, he works out the knots. The minutes tick by. My shoulders drop lower, the pain lessens, and my brain begins to clear. I am increasingly aware that Finn’s hands are all over me. Also, I’m not wearing a bra, which he’s probably realized, if he’s paying attention. God, those hands .
Pain has officially faded into pleasure at this point and I never want this massage to end. Maybe I should, though. There’s warmth pooling in places that his hands are nowhere near.
When his fingers brush against the skin of my neck, gooseflesh scatters across my body. Shit . He freezes for the briefest of moments, then brushes the exact same spot once more.
“Thanks for that, it feels so much better already,” I blurt out, embarrassed by how badly I want those hands to keep wandering. I shouldn’t have let this go on so long. He’s being nice and I’m a perv.
I expect Finn to take my words as an opening to end the massage. Instead, his hands slide to my shoulders and he leans forward until his lips are almost brushing my ear. “You deserve it, you know. You did an exceptional job with all that snow.”
I cough out a laugh and turn my head enough to see the corner of his eyes crinkle with humor, but there’s something else, too. Something that a wild, untamed part of me hopes I’m not making up.
“Finn—” I don’t know what I’m going to say. Something suitably flirtatious and maybe mildly risqué to make it clear that I am interested in doing something with him. Preferably physical, although if he wants to profess his undying love first, I’ll accept that.
“Yeah?”
Before I can get the right words out, a vehicle sounds in the driveway, followed by the slamming of a car door.
From Finn’s vantage point, he can see straight out the window. “Looks like your aunt may be here. And possibly some of her offspring.”
Well, there goes that. Disappointment must be written all over my face because Finn chuckles and tweaks my chin lightly. “Better go say hello, huh?”
Is it weird that I’ve invited someone into my aunt’s house without permission? Or that he’s the one who goes directly to open the door while I dash into the bathroom to put a bra on, under my clothes. It takes me all of half a minute, but by the time I’m fully clothed, Aunt Mairi is at the door—along with my two cousins, Ella and Courtney, their arms full of luggage and shopping bags. I didn't realize they were going to be here, too. It feels like Christmas already.
“FINNY!” Cousin Ella screams, dropping her bags and throwing her arms around Finn’s neck.
Um, okay?
“Finny-Finn!” Aunt Mairi smiles. “How nice of you to clear the driveway.”
“Why are you even here?” Courtney, my older cousin, asks.
“Be nice, Courtney.” Finn seems nonplussed. “I’ve been having coffee with your cousin. Who, incidentally, is the one who cleared your driveway.”
Comically, their eyes snap over to me, standing in the kitchen. I give a little wave. “Hi.”
Ella squeals. “You sneaky little kitten, where’s your car?”
“At Finn’s,” I say. It sounds suggestive of other things, so I quickly add, “I had some car trouble. He was nice enough to help out.”
“Finn loves to help out,” Courtney says drily.
I get the urge to defend him, but Finn only laughs and says, “Pretty sure you still owe me for the last time I helped out.” Which is brave of him. The last time I taunted Courtney, she decapitated one of my dolls and put its head on a tiny wooden stake in the garden.
“Come here,” says Aunt Mairi and wraps me in the warmest, most Aunt-Mairi-like hug there is. She's soft and warm and smells like cinnamon and nutmeg. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. I cannot even imagine how she and my mother are related. My mother is like ice, cold and calculating, while Auntie’s warm and genuine as the summer sun. “Car trouble?” she asks, looking from me to Finn, who nods.
“I went into the ditch,” I admit. “And then—something else is wrong with the car.”
“Just an oil leak, maybe some tie rods,” Finn says. “Figured Charlie could have a go at it, since the shops are pretty booked out.”
A look passes over Auntie’s face for the briefest of moments, so quick that it’s gone before I can identify what it is. “You’re such a sweetie, Finny-Finn. Are we talking days or weeks to fix?”
“Should be done by early next week,” he replies easily.
I try to look knowledgeable, as if that’s the answer I would have given had she asked me instead of Finn. Because of course he was here to talk about my car. Not to work me into a frenzy with those talented hands.
“Don’t let us distract you two from your visit,” Auntie says. “Come on, girls, let’s finish unloading the car before you start pestering Finn too much.”
“As if,” sniffs Courtney.
“One time I drooled all over Finn’s pillow,” Ella smirks, winking at me.
I don’t know what expression is on my face, but it’s enough for Finn to bother explaining that it was at a New Year’s party a couple years ago.
Right.
Of course the moment between Finn and I has vanished. He offers a few polite suggestions for good food in the area while my aunt and cousins finish unloading their suitcases from the car, and then everyone is settled onto the couch and chairs, alternately voicing excitement about my visit and teasing Finn about some inside joke or another. I didn’t realize they knew each other this well. I’m not sure what to think about this. It feels a little like going to your secret fort and discovering that the entire city likes to hang out there in their spare time.
“I didn’t know you were coming up north,” I say to my cousins.
“Of course not, because you didn’t even ask,” Ella replies, rolling her eyes.
“I thought it might be a nice surprise. Although we can always send them back where they came from if it stops being fun.” Aunt Mairi gives Ella a look.
I adore my cousins, but there’s a sick thud in my stomach when Ella throws herself down next to Finn on the couch and puts her feet on his lap with a playful request to warm them up.
Is it petty that I secretly want Finn to give her a disgusted look and ask her to please keep her feet to herself (and maybe come sit by me on the loveseat, for good measure)? Maybe. Instead, he gives her a good-humored smile and tickles— tickles —the bottom of her feet until she shrieks and removes them.
I force myself to watch, to fight the stupid sinking feeling in my stomach. What did I expect? I’ve only known the man for a day. He has a real life and real friends. I’m the one being dumb, building up a little romance in my mind where none exists.
The chances of him being actually interested in someone like me is close to nil. I'm quiet and reserved with an odd penchant for over-sharing; he's charming and at ease. I should be thankful that my cousins’ arrival saved me from making a stupid assumption, from saying something embarrassing in that moment when his hands were resting on my shoulders. I should be relieved, but a quiet part of me wishes I was the one bold enough to put my feet on his lap and daring him to do something about it.
“You staying for brunch, Finn? You’re welcome to.” Aunt Mairi glances at the clock.
“No, I should be going. Just stopped by to update Rune on her car and give her the keys to the house.”
“The—I’m sorry, what?” I blink confusedly as he holds out a lone key hanging from a leather fob.
“I have to head out of town for a few days. Figured I’d give you this in case you need to pop in and warm up when you’re checking on your car, since my former hiding place has been compromised. Charlie has your number, so expect a text if there’s an update.”
The words register in slow motion and I get another pathetic, sick jolt in my stomach. I sort of assumed that Finn would be around during my visit and we could…I don’t know, hang out?
“Rune’s a klepto. You better give it to me instead,” Ella’s words break into my mini self-pity session. She’s batting her eyelashes at him like a fool.
“What—no, I’m not.” My face heats.
“You stole my purple hair bow when we were in fourth grade,” Ella points out. “And had the audacity to wear it to Grandma’s funeral.”
Aunt Mairi snorts. “But rather than ask for it back like a human being, Ella decided to scream like a banshee. It was god-awful and I had to leave my own mother’s funeral early.”
Finn grins, dropping the key into my hand. “Good thing I don’t have any purple hair bows to tempt you,” he says with a wink.
“Can I come with and can we use your hot tub?” Ella asks.
Finn just shakes his head at her with an accompanying eye roll. To the rest of us, he gives a little wave and says, “Don’t have too much fun. Nice to see you all.”
And then he just—leaves. No hug. No special look. Not even a flirtatious smile to acknowledge our special time together.
It’s outrageous.
“I didn’t know you and Finny were friends. How do you know each other?” Ella wants to know.
“We don’t and we aren’t,” I say, annoyed at myself and my stupid untethered heart. “His uncle stopped to help me out of the ditch and roped Finn into towing my car out.”
There: simple. No need to explain anything further, especially not the part where I stayed at his house for the night. It’s such an insignificant detail, after all.
“You went into the ditch?” Aunt Mairi repeats, looking concerned.
“It wasn’t too bad,” I lie.
“Boring,” declares Ella. “Let’s talk about our plans…how long are you staying with us, again?”
“I, uh, I’m not exactly sure. I won’t overstay my welcome,” I promise, looking at Aunt Mairi, who just smiles.
“You stay as long as you want,” she says.
“I was thinking maybe a week? Head back next Friday?”
“Got some PTO that you have to use up?” Courtney asks.
I stiffen a little, then realize I should just rip off the bandage. “I’m sort of in between jobs right now.”
I’ve been so scared of telling anyone about my current state of unemployment. Whenever I start thinking about it for too long, I feel dizzy and short of breath. And then, it’s really embarrassing. How do you manage to get fired from a lower level job that you’re actually rather good at? (Answer: you don’t play office politics as well as the new girl with long blond hair and a charismatic personality.)
But, as with Finn, I face no judgment here. The moment the words register, a pity party of the very best kind ensues. Aunt Mairi makes a breakfast pizza while Courtney, Ella, and I curl up under the same blanket on the couch where the entire story tumbles out. Craig, Diana, Sebastian—all of it.
“Sounds like you should have left that place ages ago,” Courtney says, garnishing her cold honesty with loyalty.
“Have you had revenge sex with anyone to serve Sebastian right? Is that what you and Finn were up to?” Ella asks eagerly.
“What—no.”
“He’d be a good person for it. He’s rich, successful, and really hot.”
“Ella, he’s a human being,” I shoot back, even though everything she says is one hundred percent true.
“Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be up for it, if you asked.” She shrugs indifferently. “This is Finny we’re talking about.”
“I’m not sure Finny would appreciate that characterization,” Aunt Mairi calls from the kitchen. I’m not sure I appreciate that characterization. Does Finn flirt with a lot of girls? Probably. You’re not that special, Rune , a whispered voice tells me. A voice that is as reasonable as it is cruel.
“Ok, but how do you know him?” I ask, shifting the topic. “Our paths only inadvertently crossed. I didn’t realize he was an acquaintance of yours.”
“Acquaintance? What are we, British?” Courtney scoffs.
“We went to school together. He’s two grades above Courtney,” Ella explains. “The bus route was awful, so Mom used to pay him to pick us up and bring us to school when he got his license.”
“Did you guys ever date?”
“Why do you care to ask?” Courtney gives me a look.
“Just curious, considering Ella’s comments about him being hot and insinuating that revenge sex with him would be…adequate,” I finish lamely.
Ella gives a sly smile. “I wouldn’t say no if he was up for it.”
“Ella!” Aunt Mairi scolds from the kitchen. “He’s basically your brother.”
“He is not!” she objects. “We’re unrelated and he’s single. At least I think he is. It wouldn’t be totally appropriate.” Turning to me, she adds, “The real problem is that he’s either a recluse at his house or gone traveling.”
Great. Another traveler.
“The real problem is that you’re usually involved with someone else,” Courtney says dryly with a pointed look at Ella. “And also that Finn is not interested in you and never has been.”
I’ve never been so grateful for Courtney’s blunt comments. Probably time to change the subject. “Ok so everyone’s relationship status aside, what’s on the agenda during my visit?”
“I’m glad you asked,” says Ella, producing a notebook. “I’ve made a whole list.”