Chapter 11
I don’t know why, but I faffed for ages trying to decide what to wear for the trip to the pub.
The weather had turned a little milder as the afternoon turned to early evening and that gave me more outfit scope, which didn’t help with the unusual bout of indecisiveness.
It was just an evening in the pub so it really didn’t warrant such careful thinking about, but I had got out of the habit of socialising in a group, and this felt a bit more formal than working with neighbours in the Grow-Well where a holey jumper and well-worn jeans would suffice.
I had just settled on smarter jeans and a shirt with a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath, on the assumption that the tiny pub might be packed and I could lose a layer if I got hot, when a text from Erik landed saying that everyone was going to convene at the entrance to the square at seven so we could walk to The Dragon together.
That gave me time to have something to eat, but having had such a filling lunch, I thought I’d wait until later.
Another bowl of those delicious chips would be the perfect addition to the evening.
‘You look fabulous, Skylar,’ Rafe smiled when I walked down the stairs just before seven. ‘I can’t remember the last time I saw you wearing make-up. That copper eyeshadow really suits the colour of your eyes.’
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘You don’t think it’s a bit too much for a trip to a pub, do you?’ I used to wear make-up for work but generally didn’t bother otherwise. ‘Does it look like I’ve made too much of an effort?’
‘Not at all,’ Rafe reassured me, as he helped me into my jacket. ‘But what would be wrong with making an effort, anyway? I don’t think enough folk do these days and you’ve hit just the right note with the look you’ve gone for.’
I hoped he was right because a quick glance at the clock told me it was too late to change my mind.
‘That’s all right then,’ I said and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. ‘Thank you for the confidence boost. And you smell divine. I hope he’s worth it.’
‘So do I,’ he grinned. ‘Have fun tonight and don’t forget your key. I’ll leave the cats in my sitting room, so don’t worry about them escaping when you come back in.’
‘All right.’
I picked up my small bunch of keys from the hall side table.
‘That’s assuming you do come back,’ he added. ‘You might get lucky.’
‘I’ll definitely come back,’ I told him. ‘And I’m not sure that’s average talk for a father and daughter.’
‘Since when have we been average?’ he laughed, putting air quotes around the word. ‘If I thought we were that I’d be sorely disappointed in both of us.’
‘I’ll see you later,’ I laughed with him and headed out.
I could see everyone waiting for me and, even though it was quite dark already, I felt rather self-conscious as I walked around the square to join them. They probably weren’t even looking at me, but it felt like they were.
Erik and Finn were a clear head taller than the other two men and I was relieved to see Freya was wearing smarter clothes.
Her long hair was loose but there were braids either side with gold thread woven through them which shone in the streetlights.
She looked like the perfect shield-maiden for Viking Finn.
‘Skylar,’ Erik said as he stepped forward to greet me.
‘Hello,’ I swallowed as I looked at everyone. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve kept you waiting.’
‘You haven’t,’ said the man I guessed must be Neil because I knew he wasn’t Mark. ‘Mark got the time wrong, so we were here a bit early.’
‘I’m keen for a pint tonight,’ Mark said with a grin that almost looked impish. ‘So, I might have got it wrong on purpose.’
Neil rolled his eyes.
‘And us three have only just arrived,’ Freya said, accounting for the others.
‘I’m Neil,’ the guy said cheerfully, ‘and this is my husband, Mark.’
‘Hello,’ I smiled at them both.
‘I think I recognise you, Skylar,’ Mark said. ‘You’ve been to Blossom’s Bakery a couple of times, haven’t you?’
‘Far more than a couple,’ I joked. ‘Rafe, that’s my father, did say that a neighbour worked in there, but I wasn’t sure if that was you or not.’
‘Yep,’ he said. ‘That’s me! Helping to expand waistlines right across the city.’
‘Um,’ I said, feeling relieved that the moment of introduction had passed with a simple explanation as to why I hadn’t said hello before, ‘so I gather.’
‘I hear you’re working in the Grow-Well now,’ he said and linked his arm familiarly through mine. News really did travel fast. I had thought country gossip moved at the speed of light, but apparently close-knit city communities had an efficient network, too.
‘I am and I’m really enjoying it,’ I said as we all set off.
‘Erik has just told us that you’ve already visited The Dragon, Skylar,’ Finn said, over his shoulder. For a man with such a commanding presence he was so quiet, you could almost forget he was there. ‘What did you make of it?’
‘I loved it,’ I said enthusiastically. ‘And I instantly spotted one of your dragons scaling the wall, Finn. It’s exquisite and a real treat to be able to admire it closer than the ones in the garden.’
‘Thank you,’ he said and ducked his head.
‘Now you’ve made him blush,’ Mark teased.
He was proving himself to be the joker of the pack that I had immediately imagined him as.
‘Leave him alone,’ tutted Neil, and Mark laughed then slipped his arm from mine to scoot off and walk the rest of the way with his husband.
Erik fell into step with me and we let the other four stride further ahead.
‘Thank you for agreeing to come tonight,’ he said quietly.
‘Don’t thank me yet,’ I told him. ‘The evening hasn’t started, and you might end up regretting asking me if I prove to be a bore.’
‘That’s the last thing you’ll be,’ he said, and our eyes met. ‘I just know it’s going to be a fun night.’
He was right, too.
The pub was still relatively quiet when we arrived, so we bagged a table big enough to accommodate us all and put in our orders for drinks and food.
I had wondered whether to go for something other than chips, but then a heaped bowl was carried out for another customer and I caved. I went for a cheeseburger, too.
‘Oh crikey,’ I said, when it was put in front of me. ‘I’m not sure I’ll eat all of this. I’m hungry, but not that hungry.’
‘Have no fear,’ Neil said. ‘We won’t let anything go to waste.’
‘Hey,’ I objected when Erik then immediately pinched the biggest chip from my bowl.
‘Just returning the favour.’
‘Fair enough,’ I laughed, because I had taken his prize chip the day before.
As I tried to work out how best to tackle the huge burger, I felt amazed that it wasn’t all that much longer than twenty-four hours ago that Erik and I had had our heart to heart at the next table.
So much seemed to have happened since then and all of it had gone a long way to making me feel further settled in Nightingale Square.
It had been a truly great day, and it wasn’t over yet.
I finally decided that some burger tower deconstruction was needed, much to the dismay of Mark who somehow managed to get his mouth around the whole stack of his.
It didn’t matter how I devoured it, every mouthful was delicious, but I couldn’t finish the chips so left those in the middle of the table for everyone to dip into.
Freya was sitting on my left and I couldn’t help noticing that her hair looked even more impressive close up.
‘Your hair looks gorgeous, Freya,’ I commented. ‘It must take ages to braid it like that.’
‘Thank you,’ she smiled and ran her fingers down the length of one of the intricate plaits. ‘You’d be surprised how quickly Finn can do this, even when he’s incorporating threads or beads.’
‘Finn did it?’
Having admired his own hair, I should have realised he was an expert.
‘Years of practice,’ he said to me, having heard what we were talking about.
‘He keeps offering to do mine now it’s longer,’ put in Erik and I looked at his messy shoulder length blond hair. ‘But I’ve haven’t been tempted yet.’
It was doubtless long enough, so I thought that was a shame.
‘You should let him,’ I said, ‘I think it would suit you.’
‘My dad would have forty fits!’ he laughed.
‘Why does it matter what your father thinks?’ I shrugged.
‘Your dad is clearly very different to mine,’ he commented intriguingly.
‘My father is different to everyone’s!’ I laughed, thinking of the conversation we’d had before I left the house. ‘We’re far from what most people expect.’
I didn’t say more than that and neither did Erik and the conversation turned to an announcement Mark and Neil had previously made about putting their plan to become parents on hold after their second adoption attempt had failed. It was the only time throughout the evening that Mark looked downcast.
‘I’ll be back in a sec,’ he said and headed off to the gents.
‘Is Mark, okay?’ Freya asked Neil.
Having only just met the pair, it felt to me, even though neither of them had thrown awkward glances in my direction, that this was a conversation for close friends rather than brand-new ones and therefore I also excused myself.
‘I’ll just go and get another round in,’ I said and slipped away.
The bar was packed, so it was going to take a while, but that would give the others plenty of time to chat. I hadn’t been waiting long before Erik joined me.
‘I thought I’d give you a hand,’ he smiled down at me.
‘Thank you,’ I smiled back. ‘You’ll probably get served faster than me.’
‘What, because I’m a local?’ he asked. ‘You’re a local now, too, Skylar.’
‘No,’ I nudged, ‘because of your star status!’
He shook his head. ‘I definitely haven’t got star anything,’ he blushed.
His words were instantly contradicted because the next second someone clapped him on the shoulder and offered to buy him a pint and I noticed a woman on his other side staringly adoringly up at him, completely starstruck.
‘Of course, you haven’t,’ I grinned and inched forward in the queue.
With two trays full of drinks and a variety of snacks to save us having to make another trip to the bar for a while, we slowly made our way back to the table.
‘I hope you’re enjoying your first evening as my PPO,’ Erik said unguardedly.
‘What’s a PPO?’ demanded Mark before I’d had a chance to answer.
I hadn’t realised he was right behind us and jumped. Given that the level of chatter in the pub had increased as more people poured in, I was surprised he’d heard.
‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘Look, I got you another pint.’
‘Thanks,’ he said and took it. ‘Now come on, spill the beans. I could do with cheering up. It’ll help me get my mind off Neil and I putting our plans on hold.’
‘I’m so sorry you’re having to do that,’ I said sympathetically.
He ducked his head. ‘I’m feeling better about it than I was but I’m still struggling to talk about it, even when it is in the company of friends.’
‘In that case,’ I said, ‘I’ll say no more. But I’m still not telling you what a PPO is.’
‘Spoilsport,’ he tutted, then as soon as we’d sat down again, shouted out, ‘Do any of you lot know what a PPO is?’
I looked at Erik and could tell from his expression that he didn’t want to elaborate any more than I did.
‘Something to do with the post office?’ Finn suggested.
‘No, it’s something to do with health insurance, isn’t it?’ frowned Neil.
‘I don’t think so,’ Mark said, looking first at Erik and then me. ‘What do you think, Skylar?’
‘I think you should drink your pint,’ I said deadpan, ‘and stop trying to give Puck a run for his money.’
Freya laughed, Neil almost spat his drink out and Finn nodded.
‘Skylar’s got you sussed already,’ Finn delighted in pointing out to Mark.
‘Um,’ Mark pretended to huff. ‘I think she has.’
Fortunately, Erik and I were saved from further questioning because music started to play loudly and it was impossible to carry a conversation on other than between tracks and that only lasted a few seconds.
Having consumed more alcohol than I had in a long time I found myself singing along with everyone else and we stayed in The Dragon, drinking and laughing until last orders and then set off to Nightingale Square in a rather wobblier formation than we’d arrived in.
It was a crisp night, and the chill air sobered me up enough to remember that we hadn’t talked about the equinox party. I had wanted to pick everyone’s brains for ideas and memories of celebrations in the past.
‘Will any of you be heading over to the Grow-Well tomorrow?’ I asked.
‘That depends how my head feels in the morning,’ Mark said, giving his temple a rub.
‘If we do, it’ll most likely be in the afternoon,’ Neil said. ‘We’re due to put some hours in and I’ve been a bit too tied to my desk of late, so working outdoors for a while will do me good.’
During the evening, I had discovered that Neil was an architect.
‘I’m a bit gardened out this week,’ Freya yawned.
‘But I might pop in,’ Finn said.
‘What about you Erik?’
‘Same answer as Mark,’ he grinned.
‘I’ll probably see some of you there then.’
‘Assuming you’re not hungover,’ Erik pointed out.
‘Even if I am, I’m sure I will have rallied by the afternoon.’
We were back at the entrance to the square by then and as we said our goodbyes, I noticed Mark was watching Erik and me.
‘No kiss goodnight?’ he said, his head cocked as I went to walk away.
His remark was confirmation that he had assigned himself the role of mischievous matchmaker, and given the way Erik stared at his feet, I knew he had sussed that, too. I decided to call Mark’s bluff.
‘Oh, go on then,’ I said and quickly went to grab the front of his jacket. ‘Just the one.’
‘No!’ he squealed, loud enough to wake the dead as he leapt out of reach. ‘Not me!’
‘Well, make up your mind,’ I tutted and everyone laughed.
That said, Neil didn’t look overly impressed with his husband’s antics.
‘Mark,’ he scolded. ‘Behave yourself before you wake up the neighbourhood. You’ll have Lisa and John out here demanding to know what’s going on!’
That was enough to rein Mark in, and we all headed off to our respective homes with smiles on our faces.