Chapter 25
Finn
Finn pressed the doorbell and straightened his jacket as he waited. A light shone through the transom window, and he heard footsteps, then Violet flung open the door. His pulse quickened on seeing her. Per his pre-date instructions, she was wearing jeans and a warm jumper and holding a woolly hat.
He bent down and kissed her cheek, feeling oddly shy about it. Violet grabbed her coat and keys, then he reached for her hand as they walked down the garden path towards his car. He felt a moment’s tension in her fingers as he took them in his, then she relaxed.
‘So,’ she asked, as they drove away from her house. ‘Are you going to tell me where we’re going?’
‘You’ll see,’ was all he said as he eased the car into the road.
‘I hope this isn’t some late-night hike or something. I can’t imagine why I need to be dressed warmly for a Saturday night date. Are you walking me into the woods to do away with me?’
‘If I were, I wouldn’t worry about you being warm, would I, Vi? Sorry, Violet.’
‘You can call me Vi,’ she said, interrupting him. ‘I don’t mind so much.’
‘You don’t mind so much,’ he parroted.
‘I mean, it’s sort of nice. That you do it. I don’t want it to catch on with everyone, but you can use it.’
‘You mean, I have special permission?’
She was looking out the window, but he saw her cheeks rise and heard the smile in her voice. ‘Yes, Finn. You have special permission.’
She spent the next ten minutes trying to guess where they were going. When Finn pulled into the car park of the ice-skating rink, she swivelled in her seat to face him.
‘We’re going ice skating?’
‘Yep.’
‘Finn!’ Her hand shot out and grabbed his arm, and he had to resist the clutch of her hand on his sleeve to hold the car steady. ‘I looove ice skating!’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I remember.’
He backed the car into a spot and turned to face her. She looked puzzled.
‘What do you mean, you remember?’
‘Well,’ he looked across at her. ‘I overheard you talking about how much you loved ice skating when we were at college. You were talking to Anna, saying you could hardly ever go because all the good skate sessions were in the evenings when we had rehearsals. So,’ he shrugged.
‘I thought that maybe you still like ice-skating.’
Violet was staring at him, her lips slightly parted. She didn’t say anything. He was suddenly worried he had got this very wrong. Maybe she didn’t want to skate.
‘Vi? Is everything okay? We, uh, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I just thought that it might be fun if we —’
‘Finn,’ she said, staring at him. He couldn’t tell which way she was going to react at all. She pressed a hand to her chest. ‘I can’t believe you remember that conversation. I don’t even remember that conversation!’
‘But, you do like ice skating?’ he asked.
‘Yes! Oh my god, yes! I haven’t been for years because I was so often on tour or working evenings and weekends.’ She yanked on her woolly hat and grinned at him. ‘I am very happy that this is why I needed to be dressed up warm.’
Finn looked at her, curls sticking out in all directions from under her blue woolly hat.
‘Violet,’ he said. ‘Would you like to be my date for Old Skool night at the ice rink?’
She grinned at him. ‘Let’s go.’
Once they got onto the rink, Finn quickly realised that Violet’s enthusiasm for ice skating was not matched by any talent for it.
Either the lack of opportunity to go had eroded her skills, or she had never been very good in the first place.
She looked like Bambi learning to walk, pulling her way around the barriers at the edge.
Finn, who hadn’t skated much, nonetheless found it relatively easy to stay upright, unlike Violet, whose centre of gravity seemed absent.
She lurched backwards once more, limbo style.
‘I thought you loved ice skating,’ Finn said, skating up to her.
‘I said I loved it,’ she gasped. ‘Not that I was good at it!’
‘It’s just…’ he bit his lip. ‘You don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself.’
Violet glared at him. ‘It’s these hire skates, they’re faulty!’ she said. ‘But I’m having so much fun!’ One leg shot forward and the other backwards, and she was stuck in the splits. ‘Just you worry about yourself and leave me alone!’
Okay, well, that was more like Violet.
‘Let me help you.’
She batted him away. ‘I can do it! I just need to —’ Her right foot shot out from under her, and she swung forwards, then backwards, then face planted star-fish style against the barrier. I Want it That Way by the Backstreet Boys belted out over the speakers.
Finn doubled over, hands on his knees and pressed a hand over his mouth to smother his laughter. Violet was still clinging to the plastic barrier. He skated up to her and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her back to him. This time, she didn’t protest.
‘Hold on to me,’ he said softly, fitting her into his side.
Violet said nothing but wrapped an arm around his waist, and he felt her grab a handful of his jacket to hold on to.
Slowly, he started to move, the momentum taking them both unsteadily forwards and around the edge of the rink.
Experienced skaters flew past them, and little kids tottered along, arms flailing, and slowly, they fell into the same rhythm.
As Finn slid his left foot forward, so did Violet, feet and bodies moving in sync until they managed to complete a full circuit of the rink.
The music changed, and the strains of Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing pounded through the speakers, and the lighting dimmed.
A glitter ball kicked into action overhead, and the rink was covered in sparkling lights.
Violet shifted, moving slightly away from him, letting go of his coat and finding his hand.
She held on tightly. He could feel the pulse in her wrist against his finger.
They picked up a little speed, legs still in sync.
He felt her grip soften or tighten depending on how steady she felt on her feet.
He glanced down at her for a second as they started another lap, picking up speed.
She had taken off the hat, and her wild curls were flying back from her face, her chin was lifted, and she was grinning joyously.
Abruptly, the glittery lights disappeared and Pump Up the Jam started pounding around the rink.
Violet started laughing and looked up at him, face flushed.
‘This is so much fun!’ she said.
Unfortunately, as they gazed at each other instead of concentrating on their skating, they fell out of sync.
Finn’s right foot clashed with Violet’s left skate, and suddenly they were falling.
Violet’s arms were windmilling, and she reached for Finn’s hand even as his legs attempted the splits and he felt a pain shoot up towards his groin.
He leaned forwards then felt Violet grab the back of his coat as she tried not to fall, and he lurched backwards and down.
He hit the ice, and a split second later, Violet hit him, landing diagonally across his front and punching half the air out of him.
‘Oof!’ she gasped as she sprawled across his torso. ‘Sorry, Finn, ooof.’
She tried to wriggle her way off him, but her skates weren’t helping her get any grip. Finn’s arms reached up and grabbed her, holding her to him and pulling her slightly up his body.
‘Don’t rush,’ he said.
He could feel the cold of the ice against his head, and the rush of air from other skaters as they sailed past, but all he could think about was Violet.
He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, tugging gently to bring her down to him.
Her lips met his, and immediately everything else in the world fell away.
He slid his hand behind her neck, pulling her closer, and she moved her mouth on his, slipping her tongue into his mouth.
Some ice sprayed against Finn’s face, and he heard a voice.
‘Excuse me,’ a steward on skates said to him. ‘Do you mind moving off the rink, please? This is a family venue.’
Violet dissolved into a fit of giggles and buried her head in Finn’s chest, as Finn nodded and started to sit up.
It took them another five minutes to get off the ice. Every time they pulled themselves together enough to attempt to stand, one of them slipped, and they collapsed into laughter, no strength in their limbs.
They resorted to crawling towards the edge of the rink. They sat with their backs to the wall of the rink.
‘That’s the best ice-skating session I’ve ever had,’ Violet said, panting and wafting her jumper away from her body. Her face was flushed and there were tiny smudges of mascara under her eyes. ‘My face hurts from laughing,’ she said, rubbing at her cheek.
Finn reached for her hand. ‘You look beautiful,’ he said.
Violet stopped wafting and stared at him.
‘You always look lovely,’ he said. ‘But you look especially beautiful tonight.’
A young boy in an oversized padded jacket face-planted the ice a few feet in front of them and was quickly swept up by his father as he started bawling. The steward skated slowly past, staring at them, lips pursed, one eyebrow raised.
‘Come on,’ Finn said, pulling himself upright and offering a hand to Violet. ‘This is just the first location.’
***
Finn pulled open the heavy oak door and stepped back to let Violet pass. Ducking under the old low beam, he followed her. It was dimly lit inside, wall lights illuminating the wooden panelling, and light from the open fire reflecting off the stone flags, so old they had been worn smooth and shiny.
‘Wow,’ Violet said in a soft voice.
Finn stepped beside her and placed a hand in the small of her back, guiding her forward. He loved that he could touch her like this, loved the way she leaned into his side.
He steered them to the bar, itself several hundred years old, and bent his head to see under the beam that ran across it.