‘Getting anything nice?’
‘A few new books. Something for Dad.’
‘Something for Thora?’ Finn asked, raising his eyebrows.
‘Wh-what?’ Lucas stepped back.
‘I know what happened, Lucas. It’s all good.’ Finn was grinning at him and Lucas looked over at his father, but the elderly man was engrossed in a book about lifeboats.
‘I’m not sure what you mean.’ Lucas rubbed the back of his neck.
‘Lucas, Thora told me. She’s trying to process everything, but she really cares about you. She said you’ve been spending time together since the … kiss… but that she feels you’re both holding back.’
‘It’s kind of hard to get time alone with her.’ Lucas sighed. ‘She works two jobs. We both have parents and she has the children and then there’s Barry.’
‘That’s life though, right? You have to make the time to be alone. And that applies even if you’re married and living together.’
Lucas licked his lips. ‘I guess so.’
‘Look … I’ve been wanting to catch up with you, but as you said, life is busy. However, I’d hate to see you and Thora not try to work this out. I’m not into meddling but I care about her and I want her to be happy and I think she could be happy with you. I believe you two have something special that could be lost if you don’t explore it.’
‘I agree.’ Lucas coughed, embarrassed to be discussing this with Thora’s ex-husband.
‘Anyway … between us, I’m planning a proposal for my boyfriend, Titus, and I’d love your help.’
‘You would?’ Lucas asked.
‘Yes. It will give you and Thora an excuse to spend some time together as she’s helping too, plus I’d like to get to know you better again. We used to get on well when we were kids, didn’t we?’
‘I thought so.’ Lucas nodded. He’d always liked Finn, and while he was surprised to hear Thora had married him, he understood that Finn was a nice guy. Clearly he was because he wanted Thora to be happy and was trying to help.
‘What, uhm … What are you planning for your proposal?’ Lucas asked. ‘I don’t have much experience of proposing, so I don’t know how much help I’ll be.’
‘Well, maybe in the future we can rectify that.’ Finn winked. ‘But for now, you can help and I’ll explain how.’
Then Finn leant in close and told Lucas what he was planning for his Christmas proposal and Lucas smiled because it sounded like an excellent idea.
18
THORA
One week later, Thora, Rosie, and Reggie were in Finn’s car on the way to a shop situated in a sprawling industrial park, an hour away from the village. Finn had spoken to Pearl, and she’d agreed to help him with the proposal too. They planned it for the following Sunday evening, when the café would be closed, enabling them to prepare everything.
‘I hope they have what I need in stock,’ Finn said.
‘So do I.’ Thora glanced at the list on her phone. It was quite ambitious, but if Finn could pull it off, it would be amazing.
Finn pulled into the carpark and cut the engine. ‘OK, team, you all know what you’re looking for?’
In the back, Rosie and Reggie nodded. ‘Yes, Dad! We know what we need to get.’
‘Ah look, there’s Lucas.’ Finn pointed at another car and Lucas waved at them from the driver’s side window.
‘I didn’t know Lucas was joining us.’ Thora’s stomach somersaulted.
‘Well he’s involved in the proposal plans so I thought he could help us today too.’ Finn grinned at her. ‘The more the merrier.’
Thora narrowed her eyes at him but kept quiet. Whatever she said would come out wrong, so she was better off saying nothing at all on the subject of Lucas. She told Finn about the kiss with Lucas, and he was delighted, urging her to pursue her former boyfriend. He said she’d only regret it if she didn’t give it one more chance.
