Finn Part 4

Alex was more or less surprised Finn was fully dressed when he arrived. Very casually, joggers and a sweater, but dressed never the less. He’d half expected her to still be in her pyjamas.

He noticed the small bruise above her eye and kissed it. “What have you been up to now?”

“Hit my head on a beam. No worries. I’ve not been fighting this time.”

He checked her up and down to be sure. She wasn’t an aggressive person. But he had raised her not to take shit from anyone. He had to. It was the only way for her to survive as a child.

“I know you only fight if you see no other way out. Still, I’m not sure if that’s a comforting thought.”

“You taught me to.”

“I did. I’m not sure if I should regret it.”

She shook her head. “You shouldn’t. I would never have been able to keep standing in a man’s world if you hadn’t.”

“That’s what I mean.”

“Oh, dad. I don’t think I would have been any happier with a desk job.” Admittedly, a lot of her work was done at a desk. With Cameron, she was the main designer on the team. It was an odd business they were in. Designing, planning and executing, there was no other branch of engineering where the designers were responsible for the physical implementation as well. And she loved it. That from beginning to end responsibility.

“No, but I may have been.” That made her laugh.

He put the groceries he’d brought on the kitchen counter. “If you make one of your fancy coffees for me, I’ll make lunch.” He suggested. She took the bait.

He used the relaxed air to restart the conversation from the night before. “Aunt Abigail found papers of a fund for you.”

“A what?”

“Money.”

“No, shit. I don’t want it, dad. I don’t want anything from that side of the family.”

“I know, sweetheart. But it’s yours, whether you want to or not. There’s not declining it. It’s in your name.”

“Crap. How much is it?”

“She couldn’t tell. Your grandmother left it at a notary’s office. I tried to get if for you, but they wouldn’t let me handle it.”

Finn grumbled. “You have it. I don’t need it.” She said.

“Find out what it is first. The notary was very specific about your grandmother’s wish that they could only tell you. I asked.”

“After all these years? What has Aunt Abigail been doing all that time?” He couldn’t answer that one for her.

Her grandmother had passed away when Finn had still been a young child. Her grandfather over fifteen years ago. Shortly after Finn’s mother had.

“When are you off again?”

She shrugged, not willing to tell him that she had nothing lined up for the rest of the year. At least nothing that would force her to travel. There were a few design jobs Cameron had sent her. Two of them had already been commissioned and needed planning, and parts ordered. A few other things needed an estimate on the costs to get a bid on them. Cameron was the man with the big ideas. Finn was the person who filled in the practical, tactile parts.

She’d be home at least until Christmas and New Year’s.

“Tell me about Jaime. How did you meet him?” Finn was desperate for a change of subject. Alex watched over the buildings. Finn had bought an amazing apartment. It wasn’t big, but since it was one big open space, it felt very roomy.

“A lot less spectacular than the way you met him.” He said laughingly. Finn blushed when he said it. He nearly dropped his plate at seeing it. She actually blushed.

“Oh, he told you.”

“He did. He was very impressed with your cool attitude under pressure.” She heard her father’s undertone and decided she wouldn’t have it. “So, how? The two of you?” Alex told her about them meeting and having drinks. And Jaime’s suggestion on doing the house. “I had been scared to ask it.”

Finn invited her father to tell more about his partner in crime. He, in turn, realised that the more Finn would know about Jaime, the easier it was for her to accept him in her existence.

“He lost his wife a few years ago. She was seriously ill, and before her condition got too painful and embarrassing, she killed herself. He was much undone by it. As I understood, they loved each other very much.”

Finn flinched. A widower. That she’d not seen coming.

“Anyway, he always had an interest in restoring old furniture and buildings. Before it had always been a hobby, next to his carpentry job. After his wife's death, he inherited quite a fortune and after a full mental breakdown decided to apply himself to restoration completely. He has a house on High Street he fully did himself.”

“One of those gloomy seventies houses?” Alex nodded. “He did an awesome job. No more seventies left in them.”

She was quiet for a minute, to let it all sink in.

“What are his plans?”

Alex drank his coffee, to find time to verbalise an answer properly.

“Depends on you. He could fix what needs fixing and update things. Or, if you want in on it, the two of you could kind of redesign things. You know about sustainable energy and new building materials. He knows everything about respecting the original structure. I’d say the two of you can do a lot of good together.”

“I already have a job.”

“I know. And I’m not asking you to give it up. I’m not asking you to spend weeks or months at the house. Just that you take the meeting with him and see where the two of you can meet each other, design-wise.” That surely wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

“This is far more adulting than I’m ready for.” She said.

“I know, right?” Her father admitted.

“I brought a few new DVDs from the US. How about escaping reality for a while.”

“Not until you’ve answered.”

“Yes, dad. I’ll take a meeting with the notary next week. And with Jaime. And I’ll see how I can be involved in the house. Might only be on paper, mind you.”

“That’s okay.” It told her that it was already more than he dared hope for. Maybe she was becoming an adult, after all.

Before dinner time Alex left her again. He loved how she was his daughter, but in a way, they were also best friends. Neither of them ever needed loads of friends. Sure, he had people he met in the pub. Or an occasional dinner at someone in town. But like Finn, he loved his alone time. They were alike in so many ways. Apart from the fact that he had majored in English, become an editor and had a few books out, and she had gone the opposite direction by becoming a mechanical engineer. From very early on she’d always been interested in how things worked. Nothing would please her more than being given a broken appliance for her to take apart. Still, he’d hoped she would pick a career closer to home. But from the very beginning, shortly after taking her postgraduate courses, she got an invite for an internship in Seattle. She’d spent several months there.

Being away from Dumbarton had done her loads of good. She’d come back a different girl. More carefree. And she’d refused to move back into their home. At first, she shared an apartment in Glasgow with two guys she knew from Uni. And within a year after that, she could afford her own. She did loads of different things within her field. It made her versatile. And employers saw that she wasn’t afraid to do dirty or dangerous work. Engineers, who were willing to do that, were scarce. Most professionals trained at her level preferred clean workstations and desks. Within years she was an established name. The company she worked for offered her a cool job. She’d started as the junior member of a large, close-knit team. And when there was an opening in Cameron’s team, she asked if she could switch there. A decision she’d not regretted.

Alex had met the guys and was happy that they had her back when they were god knew where. He still worried though. She was his little girl. He was supposed to.

Finn spent her Sunday catching up with her paperwork and a look at the work Cameron had sent her. Good in-depth knowledge of the hardware made that she could easily make an estimate on the bids. The materials weren’t as alien anymore as when she’d first started.

Monday she only abandoned her desk to get some groceries. She knew she should call the notary’s office. It tore her up inside. She didn’t want anything if it came from her mother’s side of the family. The house was bad enough, but at least that was of use to her father.

On the other hand, she was incredibly curious about what her grandmother would have left her. She’d hardly known the woman. The women in her family didn’t get to reach old age. That should probably worry her.

It wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that she caved and made the call. She could come by the very next day. For a moment she considered calling her father to come with her. Pretty adult she made. 36 years old and wanting to call her daddy to hold her hand at the scary notary’s office.

Dressing for the occasion, black pantsuit this time, she walked into the office the next morning at ten. At least she could get it over with quickly.

A senior woman received her. She got to sit down in the old and impressive looking office. The woman looked nice enough though.

“I remember your grandmother.” She said. “And your mother. Weird creatures.”

At least they could agree on that, Finn thought as she smiled. “Indeed. I don’t want anything from that side of the family, and yet I’m curious…”

“What she would think important enough to leave you. I’d be too.”

From a filing cabinet came a paper folder. Julia, as she’d introduced herself, sat down and slowly opened it. Finn couldn’t see what was in it.

Julia handed her a few pictures. Woman with a baby. It wasn’t hard for Finn to recognise herself.

“Your grandmother always said that you being born was the most beautiful day of her life. But she realised you had quite some challenges ahead.”

Finn blinked. Until now she assumed only she and her father, and probably in a way Aunt Abigail and her family knew about things. She’d never considered anyone had confided in someone on the outside. “Sadly she passed away before she could navigate you through them.” Suddenly Finn was glad she’d not asked her father to join her. The last thing he needed was any more guilt shoved on his plate.

“Anyway, what she left you was an account with quite an amount of money on it. You’d have to see at the bank how much it is, with interest and everything, but thirty years ago it was about a million pound.”

Finn blinked. She’d assumed most of the money of her grandparents had evaporated before she was even born. “She wanted to make very sure you were the only one being able to get to the money. It was mainly meant to get you through a university of your choice and stuff. She was scared there wouldn’t be any money left by that time. Your father wasn’t that big an earner.” He wasn’t. He got by.

“I went on a scholarship.”

“She would have been so proud of you, I’m sure.” Finn didn’t know how to react. It was all too much for her. She didn’t remember her grandmother, and yet this lady had made plans for her. Big plans.

“There’s also this.” Julia had gotten up again and handed Finn a small wooden box. It contained a few pieces of jewellery, really old looking and a notebook.

“She very specifically said you needed to get this.” Julie cleared up.

“Ehm…” Finn tried to find words.

“It’s a bit overwhelming, I guess.”

She nodded. “I never expected anything from that side. And I’m not sure…”

“How to handle this?” Julia was a very kind woman.

“I’d say take it home. Let it rest until you’re up to dealing with it. Get used to the thought.”

That might be a very good plan. Finn finished her tea as she invited Julia to tell about her grandmother. It seemed she was the only source, except her father, who was as reluctant to speak about the past as she was.

Confused and emotional Finn got home. Mechanically she changed out of the suit and put on her joggers and a sweater. The box stood on her dinner table. From the couch, she stared at it, while her hands held her coffee cup tightly.

The phone called her from her musings.

It was the secretary of the company she worked for. “Cameron wonders if you’re available for a rush job. You’d leave Friday, back by Monday. It’s in Italy. He can’t make it himself, but it’s an installation the two of you worked together on before.

“Sure.” Tuesday she’d meet up with Jaime and her father. After that, she could do with some time away again.

“Cool. I’ll mail you the details and make the travel arrangements. Let me know what luggage to book for you, okay?”

“As always.”

She was happy with the distraction. Everything was closing in too much on her that week. Responsibilities she’d always run away from were now threatening to flood her.

Tuesday she dressed with extra care. She didn’t want to give Jaime the wrong impression. As to why she thought that was so important, she didn’t stop to think. He was a friend of her father’s. A friend with an extremely hot body that wouldn’t escape any woman’s notice, she defended herself.

She went a bit earlier on purpose. While she was still processing her visit to the notary, she’d not told her father anything. He saw it in her face the second she walked in though.

“You look worried. What’s wrong?” They sat down in his library, about the only room in the house she felt at home at.

She explained that she’d been to get the papers. “There’s a ton load of money. I don’t know. I don’t want it.”

“I can imagine.”

“What was my grandmother like, I mean, I don’t remember.”

“Your grandmother was a very warm, open woman. Sadly she was married to your grandfather.”

Her grandfather she remembered all too well. A big, strong, mean man.

“Hello!” Sounded from the back of the hall.

“We’re here,” Alex called back. Jaime came in, carrying a large bag. He was dressed very much like last time Finn had seen him. Only this time he wore a warm sweater. It was getting cold.

She got to her feet and held out her hand.

“Finn, good to see you.” He smiled. He tried not to check her up and down. The jeans she wore gave her hips an extraordinary nice shape. He had always adored women with hips.

“Jaime. I’m so sorry about last time. What must you have thought of me?”

“That you knew about tools. And valves.” He admitted.

Alex looked from one to the other as if he stared at a tennis match.

“You’ll be wanting tea, I’m sure. It’s cold out.” Finn pointed him to the chair she’d vacated. He sat down to give her room to move around him.

“Coffee, please. If you don’t mind.” He was bold enough to say. She liked bold people.

“Of course. Dad, another cappuccino?”

She got the coffee from the pantry. The big kitchen was on the lower ground floor, stemming from the days that there always was staff around the house. Finn could still smell the delicious apple pie their cook made on occasion. Hear the hurried footsteps on the stairs. “Ah, fantastic.” Jaime took the cup from her. He’d pulled up another chair.

“So, the plans,” Finn said after Alex and Jaime had chatted for a while.

Jaime straightened out. “Oh, right. Maybe it’s easier if we do a tour of the house so that I can show. And maybe you can give your input right away.”

They started in the attic. The wardrobe Finn had taken the clothes from she’d given him before was still open. No one had been there since. Jaime showed what needed replacement. “Most of the wiring needs to be redone. It’s corroded. And depending on the budget, I’d go for double glazing. The roof was redone a few years ago, so that’s solid.” He saw her gaze go through the room and stop at the door to a built-in closet in the back. 

“We could place solar panels on the roof at the back side of the house. No one can see it from the front, and it’s a pretty good angle to catch the sunlight.” Finn contributed.

“Good plan.” He wrote it down with his notes. “Water pipes here seem fine. All in all, I think stripping the wallpaper and redoing it should be enough. I wouldn’t do major renovations in this part, because well, it’s the attic.”

“Probably the next owners want to be able to change this to their comfort,” Finn said what he wasn’t willing to. She saw her father flinch. Dammit, that was insensitive of her.

Jaime swallowed and merely looked at her. She averted her gaze. Why couldn’t she have kept her mouth shut?

“Stairs are solid. Sand down, a fresh coat of paint should do it. I’d use cream on the walls to lighten it up.” They walked down to the bedrooms.

“This floor is probably where the most work is. The person in charge of maintenance here has been winging it for the past 25 years. Only fixing what immediately needed to be done.” He told his plans for the bathrooms and bedrooms. Only two were currently in use. Her father’s and a guestroom. Her room was pretty much as she’d abandoned it 18 years ago.

“Bathrooms need major updating. Waterworks and everything is highly outdated and possibly dangerous. If there’s budget, I’d completely redo them.”

“There’s budget,” Finn said curtly. She had a million pound in a bank account she wasn’t very willing to use. “There are very good water systems on the market that use wastewater from showers and washers and things to flush the toilet, or can be used to sprinkle the lawn and everything.”

“Would that be worth the investment?” Alex asked.

“Maybe not necessarily on the maintenance budget, but for the environment, it would make a huge difference.”

“Oh, cool.” Jaime interfered. “I suppose that you know best about those things. So if you want, we can put our heads together and see how to implement that.”

Crap, what had she said? It would require her physical presence. Unless she was willing to let someone else do the installation. And that would be incredibly cold-hearted because Jaime would work for free.

“I guess so.”

“I’m sure you have other ideas for the heating and electrics as well.”

She nodded. It became more of a dialogue. Alex mostly nodded and asked a few questions here and there.

“I’m sure my father has ideas too. He has to live here.”

Finn drew him into the conversation.

“Oh, I’m not that needy. As long as I have a place to sleep and shower during the renovation, I’m pretty much cool. And I’ll be sure to make my wishes for the rooms I use known.” He knew he probably wouldn’t have to. Jaime knew enough about the house to respect its integrity. It was Finn he had to watch out for. He vividly saw the wall in her flat in his mind’s eye, with the modern geometric wallpaper that would drive him crazy, if he had to look at it too long. Finn hated old things. That’s one of the reasons she couldn’t stand the house. Or maybe it was the other way around. That she hated the house so much, that she hated all older things in its wake.

The ground floor would get a makeover as well. The pantry would be opened up into the dining room, giving the feeling of a family kitchen. “I have to restore the old kitchen below, and I would suggest to keep using it as the main kitchen. It’s simply too beautiful to break down. But a microwave and jug in a cupboard hardly seem sufficient.” He challenged Finn to open her mouth again. This time she was wiser. If a family moved in, a kitchen on the same floor as the living room would be so much more practical than on the floor below.

On the lower ground floor, there was a sitting room, dining area, laundry room and another bedroom and bathroom. All were stemming from the age of live-in staff. It was the work-area of the house. They had been Finn’s mother’s quarters in the end. The bedroom had an accessible bathroom, and she could easily be wheeled out into the garden to catch some sun.

Shivers ran down Finn’s spine when they walked through the deserted rooms. It felt much colder down here than it should. She’d been in the kitchen a few times since moving out but had mostly avoided coming down here. She felt her father’s hand on her back. Startled she turned towards him. “Let’s get back up.” He suggested. In his eyes, Finn could see he was worried about her. Had she looked that bad?

As Alex made them another cup of coffee and lighted the fireplace in his library, Finn and Jaime mapped out the work. The research to be done, the plans to be made.

“There’s no rush, I mean, it would be useless to start before winter is over,” Jaime said.

“Of course. Some of the things that need to be ordered have a three month delivery period though.”

“Hey, you do know your stuff.”

“I’m in charge of the logistics of my team.” She said it with a hint of pride.

“Cool.” They had divided the tasks.

“How soon do you think you can have something?”

She stared at the paper. Did people still work on paper these days?

“I have to go to Italy tomorrow. Won’t be back until after the weekend. Then I’ll put all of this into the computer.”

“Computer?”

“Yes. I have specialised design programs. So we can see in 3D how everything will look and if it will fit the way we want to.”

“Oh. I guess I’m pretty old school.”

“I guess so.” She shouldn’t say anything more. It choked her. Being here, undertaking this. Jaime, who tried to be a perfect gentleman, but couldn’t help getting under her skin. He was part of what she hated. Old things, old energies. In silence, she wished for her phone to ring, to be asked if she could be on a plane that evening. It didn’t.

“How about we try to get together after next weekend, to see where we stand?” Jaime felt her need for distance and tried to grant it. What was she so scared off? He had seen her face go white when they’d been downstairs. If Alex had not stepped in, he’d probably have swept her off her feet and carried her upstairs himself, out of fear she’d faint. Why was Finn so scared of this house and why was Alex so dead set on involving her, when clearly she didn’t want to be involved?

“Dad, is that okay with you?” Finn asked.

Alex nodded. “Sure, whatever suits the both of you. You don’t have to involve me in every little thing, you know. I trust you.”

“Probably,” Finn said.

She didn’t get out of dinner at the pub this time. Alex had a beer with the food. Finn would drive him home. Jaime lived in the opposite direction and still had to drive out there. In the summer he enjoyed the walks by the coastal route. But this time of year the weather was too dark and unpredictable. And at this stage in their precarious relation, he didn’t want to ask Finn to drive him.

The place had not changed at all since Finn had last been there. Even the faces of the regulars at the bar were the same. A bit older maybe, but other than that it was as if her years away had never happened.

Alex spared his daughter having to talk more about the house or her past. Instead, he invited her to tell about her current job. She related the job in Portland. “It was so cold and wet. I thought I’d never warm up again. And that contractor.” She rolled her eyes.

“I bet you get that a lot.” Jaime calmly said when she’d explained it.

Finn nodded. “Sadly it’s one of the truths about my job. That’s what you get for not having enough women in my position. Guys don’t get used to it.”

Alex chuckled. “Finn can take care of herself.”

“Of course. I have excellent self-defence skills. And I’m not scared to get a bruise or two.”

“Even shows up at her wedding with a bruise on her cheek, because she’d been defending a few girls.” Alex couldn’t hide the pride in her voice. Jaime saw the words didn’t have the desired effect. A shadow seemed to glide over Finn’s face. She’d not thought of her wedding in ages. It seemed so much longer ago than only last year.

“Wedding?” Jaime asked confused. He checked her hands. There wasn’t a ring. There wasn’t any jewellery whatsoever.

“I got dumped about five minutes before I was going to put on my wedding dress.” She calmly said. “For someone more beautiful, more appropriate and more…” She didn’t know how to say it, so she blurted it out “fertile.”

“Ouch.”

“Yes, very.” After all this time, that was probably the part that had hurt most.

Finn didn’t wait out dessert. She was tired and still had to pack a few things.

“Finn I appreciate you doing this.” Her father said in the car. “I know it’s not easy.”

“It’s not. But I owe you, after all this time.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” He knew she wouldn’t feel it that way. “Anyway, safe flight tomorrow. Italy, right?”

“Yeah, six a.m. flight. Ugh…” Because she did carry some of her gear herself, it meant she had to be at the airport well in time to check it all in. She quickly hugged him and waited until the door had fallen shut behind him, before driving on.