Love for Scale

by Michaela Greene

  He seemed very perplexed. “Your neck seems very bare.”

  Rachel’s hand rose to touch her neck. The blouse was a bit open, but she didn’t think it was too revealing. She wore the same blouse to the library to read to kids and she’d always thought it was appropriate. She began doing up another button.

  Finn’s lips turned up into a lopsided smile as he stilled her hands with his own. “That’s not what I meant.”

  Rachel blinked at him, waiting for him to explain. He let her hands go and reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a long velvety jewelry box.

  Rachel gasped.

  He opened the box toward her and inside was the most beautiful diamond pendant necklace she had ever seen. She looked from the necklace back up to his face. His smile was as stunning as the stone before her. “I can’t.”

  “Well then let me help you,” Finn said, taking the necklace out of the box.

  “No, I mean…”

  He wasn’t listening. “Turn around.”

  Rachel did and as she fought tears, Finn put the necklace over her head and clasped it at the back of her neck. “Okay, let’s see.”

  Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Rachel turned around and looked at him.

  He was smiling. “It looks great. Go have a look.”

  Rachel proceeded to the bathroom and flicked on the light. It did look good. The chain was just the right length and although she was no jeweler, the diamond definitely wasn’t a tiny chip.

  Her mother was going to plotz.

  Leaving the bathroom, she walked right up to Finn and gave him a kiss. “Thank you so much. It’s beautiful.”

  Finn beamed. “I was going to give it to you later, but I’d rather see it on you than have it sit in my pocket all night.”

  “Good call.” Rachel nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get you anything.”

  “You’ve given me a lot already. But come on, let’s go.”

  He helped her into her coat and led her downstairs.

  As she got into his car, Rachel wondered what other surprises Finn had in store for her.

  Chapter 42

  Once they got to the restaurant, Rachel and Finn were seated right away, thanks to his reservation and the restaurant’s adherence to their two seating times. It was a nice enough place, understated in its placement in a suburban strip mall. Rachel had probably driven by it a hundred times and had never noticed it. It wasn’t quite like the hundreds of roadhouse type places that seemed to be cropping up in malls and big box complexes; this seemed to be more like a family-run restaurant where every meal was prepared on the premises with care.

  “Can I get you a drink while you decide?” the waitress asked as she handed Rachel and Finn their special ‘New Year’s Eve’ menus.

  Rachel looked to Finn for guidance.

  “Have whatever you like,” he said, all smiles.

  Rachel thought back to their Weight Watchers meeting last week, the one right before the Christmas when the topic had been ‘Surviving the Holidays.’ It had been quite an eye-opening experience when the Christmas dinner confessionals had begun. “I’ll have a white wine spritzer, please.”

  Finn looked up at the waitress. “Sounds good. Same for me.”

  Once the waitress was dispatched, Rachel looked down at the menu. It was set for the evening, so she had her choice of several starters, entrees, and desserts. She decided on a salad (dressing on the side), cedar plank salmon and fruit sorbet for dessert. Once she had chosen, she placed her menu down on the table and looked around at the restaurant.

  “I’ve never been here before. It’s nice.”

  “I hope you weren’t expecting anything too fancy. I hate so much of the hype around New Year’s. They make good food here and I figured it would be okay.” Finn shrugged.

  Rachel smiled. “It’s perfect. I’m not really comfortable in fancy places.”

  “Me neither. I’m very low maintenance.”

  The waitress returned with their drinks and they ordered dinner.

  “So do you really like the necklace?” Finn asked once the waitress left the table.

  Rachel exhaled. “You know, flowers would have been just fine. Actually just bringing yourself would have been just fine. This is quite a first date gift; you’ve set quite a precedent, Finnegan.”

  “It was my mother’s.”

  What? Rachel felt her jaw go slack as her fingers rose to touch the necklace. “I can’t take this from you.”

  “Why not?” Finn looked hurt.

  “It’s too much. It was your mother’s, it’s too special.”

  “It is special. That’s why I want you to have it.”

  Rachel took a sip of her drink, conscious that she needed to nurse it so it wouldn’t go to her head. Although she was feeling a bit drunk already, but not because of the booze. “But it was your mother’s.”

  “Rachel?”

  She looked into his eyes. “Yes?”

  “I know what it’s like. I know that it’s hard to finally believe that someone could like you. I lived it, remember. We’ve been friends…I guess more than friends though we haven’t really talked about it…for a little while now. I really wish you’d let me in; I think we really could have something special.”

  Rachel took another gulp of her drink, unable to formulate words yet.

  “Do you think you could do that?”

  Rachel looked down at the cloth napkin on her plate and picked it up, unfolding it and draping it over her lap, buying a couple of moments. “I really want to. But this is foreign territory for me.” She looked up at him again. “No one has ever given me a gift like this. It’s really meaningful.”

  “Okay, maybe it’s a bit soon, but I feel a real connection with you, Rachel. I really like you and maybe I just got ahead of myself. I shouldn’t have given you this.” He cringed. “Maybe you were right about the flowers.”

  Rachel reached around to undo the clasp of the necklace.

  Finn’s eyes widened. “No, no don’t take it off. That’s not what I meant.”

  She felt silly. She was acting like a moron, but she was so new at this. She didn’t know what to do, how to navigate all these feelings she wasn’t used to. She felt good around him, but it was so foreign to her. Maybe they were moving too fast.

  “Listen,” Finn began, “I just really like you. I am trying to not screw it up, but it looks like I’m not doing a very good job at that.”

  Rachel shook her head. “No, it’s me. I’m just…I don’t know. Can we maybe start again?”

  Finn sighed. “That’s a great idea. But you’re going to keep the necklace, right?”

  “Well,” Rachel exhaled, her fingers lightly touching the pendant again. “If you insist. By the way, your mother had excellent taste.”

  “Actually, my father did. He bought it for her for their twenty-fifth anniversary.”

  Oy God. Seriously? “You’re not making this easier, Finnegan!”

  He cringed. “I’m sorry, forget I said that. He bought it at a garage sale, I’m pretty sure.”

  Rachel laughed. “I think my mom got a turkey roaster for her twenty-fifth.”

  “Your parents are great,” Finn said.

  “You’re on drugs. My parents, no, my mother actually, is a freak.”

  “She obviously cares about you a lot. Nobody’s perfect, but just be very thankful you have parents that care about you so much and are still around to show it, even if it’s in their own weird ways.”

  Rachel fingered the stem of her wine glass, wishing she didn’t constantly put her foot in her mouth. “I do love them, I think I just need some…distance.”

  Thankful the waitress had returned with their salads, Rachel avoided Finn’s eyes and picked up her salad fork.

  “Hold on, Rach.”

  She looked up having a moment of panic that he was going to do a blessing over the mean.

  “It’s New Year’s. I’m sorry if it’s weird, but can we make a toast?”

>   Rachel put her fork down. “Of course. Not weird; I think it’s nice.” She picked up her glass. “Go ahead. I’m hoping that after all this you have something in mind. But it had better not be a proposal speech.”

  “Too soon?” he asked, feigning innocence.

  She just gave him a look and he grinned.

  “I do have something in mind and not a proposal.” Finn picked up his own glass. “I would like to make a toast to us. And to what I know is going to be a great year ahead.”

  Rachel tinked his glass with her own and took a sip. “Not weird at all.”

  He nodded and lowered his glass. “Good. Now let’s eat, I’m starving.”

  * * *

  The rest of dinner was filled with the kind of good conversation Rachel had gotten used to. Finn wanted to hear all about her promotion at the library. And although Rachel didn’t think it was much to talk about, Finn seemed very interested to hear all about the inner workings and politics which ran rampant throughout the city’s library system.

  “My friend Steve’s wife works at the university and I get the impression it’s the same sort of dog eat dog world. What is it with you booky types?” Finn laughed.

  It was at that exact moment that Rachel realized how little she knew about Finn. This was the first time she’d ever heard Finn mention any of his friends. “Who’s Steve?” she asked conversationally.

  Finn wiped his mouth with his napkin. “He’s a friend from the hospital. We go pretty far back. Speaking of which, he and Anna, his wife invited us over for dinner.”

  Rachel blinked. “Us as in you and me?”

  Finn nodded.

  That meant he was telling his friends about her. Wow, that gave their budding relationship a level of legitimacy she hadn’t expected. They were an ‘us.’ An ‘us’ that other people knew about and wanted to have dinner with.

  “But Anna is a terrible cook, I’m afraid.”

  “Finn!”

  He looked up from his sorbet. “What? It’s true. Steve even says so. Anyway, she also doesn’t how to make anything that’s not slathered in butter or oil so I suggested they come to my place for a little dinner party.”

  He was so resourceful. Rachel liked the idea of dinner parties. She would probably feel more comfortable if she knew the other couple or if it was say, Sheri and Brian, but nonetheless…

  “And I’m counting on you to help me.”

  Rachel put her spoon down, cursing the loud clank it made on the side of her plate. “I’m not much of a cook.”

  Finn smiled. “You’ve got a few weeks and access to lots of cookbooks at your job. I’m not worried.”

  I am. Sheesh, Finn what have you signed me up for?

  “So this dinner party will be at your place?” she asked.

  Finn nodded, pushing his dish away.

  “I don’t even know where you live,” Rachel said. It seemed strange that he’d been not only to her parents’ house but also her apartment and she had no idea where he even lived.

  “I’d love to show it to you.” He smiled. “You need to meet Dave.”

  “Who on earth is Dave?” Rachel asked, racking her brain to try to remember if he’d ever mentioned a roommate.

  “Dave is my cat.”

  Rachel laughed. “What kind of name is Dave for a cat?”

  Finn shrugged. “It seems everyone on the planet has a good friend named Dave. I didn’t, so I figured that was as a good name as any.”

  “You are pretty cute, Finnegan Schwartz.”

  It was Finn’s turn to blush. “Want another drink?” he nodded toward Rachel’s empty wine glass.

  “No, let’s finish up and get out of here. Unless you have plans for us after here…”

  He shook his head.

  “Good,” She said. “I’m very eager to meet this cat of yours.”

  Not to mention see his home. Rachel was suddenly very curious to see where Finn lived.

  Chapter 43

  Extraordinary was not a word Rachel would have used to describe Finn’s home. More like: ‘Oh my God, you live here?’

  It wasn’t the size of the home that impressed her, but it just seemed so…grown up. When Rachel thought of the homes of people she knew, she thought of her apartment, Aaron’s two bedroom condo (which was going on the market since he couldn’t afford it anymore) or at the high end, Brian’s townhouse. But nothing like Finn’s three bedroom ranch set back in one of the best neighborhoods in town.

  A “wow,” escaped her as he pulled into the driveway, the garage door opening before them.

  “It was my parents’ house,” Finn explained, sounding apologetic.

  She felt like she should have been surprised, but wasn’t. “It’s really nice.”

  “Thanks, I had considered selling it after the accident, but my sisters wanted to keep it in the family. They both had their own places with their families so I sold my condo and moved back in.”

  They got out of the car and Finn led Rachel toward the inner door. Before Finn had even turned the knob, they heard a plaintive meowing.

  Finn turned and smiled at Rachel. “That’s my Dave.” He opened the door and bent down to scoop up the little brown tabby cat. “Come on in.”

  Rachel followed Finn deeper into his house, looking around to take it all in. “My shoes…”

  “Don’t worry about it, the cleaners come tomorrow.” He turned and stared at her. “Oh God, that sounded so pretentious, didn’t it?”

  “I’ll let it slide as long as you don’t follow it up with something about your butler.”

  Finn rolled his eyes and put the cat down on the hardwood floor. Dave unceremoniously left them, his tail disappearing around a corner.

  “Ungrateful cur!” Finn yelled goodheartedly after Dave. He turned to Rachel, wearing a big smile. “Want the royal tour? You’ll have to excuse the mess.”

  Rachel shrugged. “I won’t hold it against you since I know the cleaners are coming tomorrow.” She winked.

  “I hate cleaning. And you know what? I’m just not good at it. My mom always had a cleaning service and it just makes sense for me.”

  Rachel smiled. “You do not need to justify having a cleaning service. Believe me, I think it’s great.”

  “See? You’re a smart girl, that’s what I like about you.”

  Finn grabbed Rachel’s hand before he turned and led her through the house, one room at a time. It wasn’t just a quick tour of the home, but more of a room by room expedition through his life.

  They started in the living room and Rachel stepped up to the mantle, inspecting all the photographs of Finn and his family.

  She turned to look at him as he watched her. “You look a lot like your dad.”

  He nodded, sadness in his eyes though he was smiling. “He would have really liked you. He was a fun guy.”

  Rachel returned to the pictures, eager to move on before the mood got really heavy. “Which sister is this?” she pointed to a wedding photo.

  “That’s Sarah and her husband, Phil. Come on, there’s more to see.”

  Unsure what his rush was, Rachel tore herself away from the photos to continue the tour into the dining room.

  “This was my grandparents’ dining room set. He actually built it himself. I wish I was into woodworking but I’ve never had a knack for it.”

  Rachel eyed the hutch at the other side of the room. She moved toward it, noticing something that caught her eye.

  Inside was a place setting of Royal Doulton Bunnykins, exactly matching the one in her top dresser drawer. She turned to Finn. “Was this yours?” she pointed at the dishes.

  He looked embarrassed. “Yeah. My mom said I demanded everything be served to me on those dishes.” He smiled, the nostalgia all over his face.

  “They’re classics. I have a set, too.”

  “Really? That’s very cool. The rest of these dishes were my mom’s too. My sisters didn’t want them, they said they already had their own.” He shrugged. “I guess someday I’ll
impress a lady with my dowry.”

  “They’re beautiful. Any lady would be lucky to get your dowry,” she said, dying to open up the hutch and look at the underside of the china plates inside to see who made them, but manners dictated she should keep her hands where they were. She consoled herself with the realization that it was not going to be the last time she would be in Finn’s dining room. In fact, she would get a chance to play hostess in just a few weeks. She turned back toward the table, imagining what it would look like, set with a beautiful linen tablecloth and the fine china. Playing house at Finn’s was going to be fun.

  “Thanks. And through here is the kitchen. Oh, hello, Dave. Nice of you to join us.”

  The slim tabby who had appeared from nowhere followed them nonchalantly into the kitchen. “Sorry again about the mess.”

  Finn’s mess consisted of a few dishes and some cutlery in the sink. Hardly anything to be embarrassed about.

  Rachel had no doubt that if she had a kitchen like this one to be inspired by daily, she would become a great cook in no time. From the cork floor inlays to the dark cherry cabinets, professional, stainless steel appliances, and the black granite countertops, Rachel was very impressed. “Wow, this is beautiful.”

  “Thanks. This I can take credit for. My mom had always wanted a kitchen like this but she wouldn’t spend the money. After they died, I had it done and spared no expense as a tribute to her. I wish she’d done it for herself—she would have loved it.”

  “I guess so. Cooking would be a pleasure in a kitchen like this.”

  “It is, but it’s nowhere near as much fun cooking for one.”

  Rachel nodded. She was beginning to know firsthand what he meant.

  “Do you want to see the bedrooms?” Finn asked.

  It was a loaded question.

  Rachel pushed her purse strap up her shoulder and shrugged, hoping he didn’t detect her nervousness at the mention of bedrooms. “I don’t know, a bedroom’s a bedroom, isn’t it?”

  He seemed to accept her answer; perhaps she had been reading too much into the situation.

  “You’re right.”

  Relieved, she smiled at him, waiting for what came next.

  “What?” he asked. “Why’re you staring at me?”