“I don’t know any more Lukes.”
“Finn…”
This time, frustration peppered his sigh. “I want you to be happy. I feel you’d be less salty about Cillian and me if you had someone to go home to.”
“I promise you I wouldn’t. Not unless he’s a magician. A real one. Not a crackpot.”
“Don’t you get lonely?”
“No.”
“Don’t you sometimes wake up in the morning and wish you had someone to share breakfast with?”
“No.”
“Don’t you—?”
I held a hand up. “Stop. Because whatever you say, the answer will be no, so you may as well save your breath. I don’t need another person to make me happy. And history has taught me that getting involved in a relationship would be more likely to make me less happy, not more.”
“That’s a defeatist attitude. You just haven’t met the right man yet.” Finn snapped his fingers like a brilliant idea had just come to him. “Or woman. Maybe that’s where we’ve been going wrong.”
“It isn’t.”
Finn fished his phone out of his pocket. “Let me call Amrita and get her on the case.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re going to call your boyfriend’s personal assistant and tell her to drop whatever it is she actually does, which is probably stroke Cillian’s ego all day, to find someone to date me?”
Finn had already pressed the button to call before I finished speaking. I shook my head, but left him to it. If nothing else, it should be an interesting conversation. After less than a minute, Finn pulled a face. “Voicemail.”
“Don’t leave a—”
“Hi Amrita, it’s Finn. I was just wondering if you knew of any eligible women. Not for me, obviously, for Laurent, my friend in Paris. He’s bisexual, and he’s decided that he’s been focusing too much on dating men, and that’s why his dates aren’t working out.”
“Ihave decided no such thing.Youdecided that. The reason the dates are not working out is that I don’t want to go on them, and I keep letting myself get talked into them. Either by you, or by the Irish monstrosity in the other room, who is either trying to stop me from spending time with you, attempting to bankrupt me by making me pay for dinner every single night of the week, or more likely both.”
“If you know of anyone suitable, call me. Not too young.” He shot me a look to say,see, I listen and respect your wishes.“I can give you a fact file on Laurent. You know, likes, dislikes, quirks, that sort of thing.”
“Oh, you can, can you?” I frowned. “And what do you mean by quirks? I don’t have any quirks.”
“Bye Amrita. Speak soon. I’m looking forward to seeing you next time you come to Paris.”
When Finn ended the call, I let out a string of swearwords, all of them French. He simply raised an eyebrow. “I caught bastard, son of a something, and fuck. The rest is a mystery.”
I gave up. For tonight, anyway. At least Finn and Cillian were going on holiday soon. That would give me some respite from their meddling. I dropped my gaze to Quasimodo, who’d dozed off. “Have you got this one’s holiday home sorted?”
Finn pulled a face. “Nope. The cattery is full. We’re trying to find another one.”
“I can look after him.”
“Your landlord would have a coronary if you had a cat in your flat.”
“Not there. Here. You can give me a key and I’ll drop in to feed and play with him. Maybe spend the occasional night here, so he doesn’t get lonely.”
Finn contemplated my words for a moment. “We wouldn’t want to impose.”
“You’ve just finished telling me how lonely I am. Therefore, my wanting to hang out with your cat while you’re gone shouldn’t surprise you.”
Finn laughed. “That’s true, and it would solve a problem. I’ll talk to Cillian and see what he says. It would definitely put our minds at rest to know he’s in safe hands.”
