Insincerely Yours

Chapter 9: I'm on Fire

Cairo hadn’t seen much of Finn since the kiss and dash, so was very surprised to see him standing at her classroom door waiting for her two days later.

His hair was pushed into a baseball cap and his t-shirt was baggy giving flashes of tattoos whenever he lifted his arm.

                “Hello trouble”. He said with a grin as she came to the door keys out to lock up.

                “Trouble indeed, that’s the pot calling the kettle black”. She said with a small smile as she locked the door and waved goodbye to her students. “I can assume this isn’t a social visit.”

She threw her bag over her shoulder and looked up at the sky. The heat wave had been broken for two days- much to the joy of local farmers- but not for Cairo.

The air was cold now making her bare legs shiver.

                “You hurt me with these accusations. I consider you an esteemed friend whom I can call on for light banter and cucumber sandwiches”. He said sounding shocked and a little too innocent.

Cairo made a noise that said that she didn’t believe one word of that. “Cut the shit”.

                “Fine. I need a lift somewhere.” He answered putting on the puppy dog expression that didn’t move Cairo at all.

                “Doesn’t your brother have a car?”. She asked tucking her arms into each other to protect her torso from the chill, her cobalt blue jumper not helping in the slightest.

                “He’s not a very willing chauffeur”. He replied walking alongside Cairo.

                “And what makes you think that I will be?” Cairo asked with a smile looking at Finn who was wearing the saintly expression once again.

                “I’ll give you food and you get to meet someone highly entertaining”. He replied and Cairo laughed.

                “I already know you Finn”. She said cutting down her shortcut.

                “I’m touched, but alas it is not me. It’s my Grandmother; I guess Jed told you about her during your rendezvous the other night.”

Cairo’s interest spiked. “Ok, I’ll give you a lift, but by god your food better be worth It.” she replied getting her keys out of her bag.

                “Oh it will be. Granny may be eccentric as hell but boy does she make good food”. Finn said sounding like he was salivating already.

Cairo laughed her stomach rolling like a JCB’s engine and hoping to god Finn wasn’t wrong.

The drive to Belcourt nearly made Cairo turn around and forget all about the wonderful food.

                “No wonder Jed doesn’t want to drive you.” she muttered through clenched teeth. Finn looked up at her, a cigarette glued between two pouty lips.

Cairo fought back a whimper as the road came increasingly close to the cliff face on her left. Instead focused on looking straight ahead- something that wasn’t much better with all the twists and turns.

                “Oh it’s not because of the drive. Jed and Grandmother have a mutual agreement where he doesn’t beg money off of her and she doesn’t try to set him up with horsey looking granddaughters of her friends”. Finn said- the rim of his baseball cap was now back to front, his t-shirt stripped to a baggy vest that showed even more of the ink doodles on his arms.