Finn told himself not to jump to conclusions. He needed to understand her in order to keep a lid on this situation. To control it and to guide Tamsyn away from trouble. Trouble, in this case, being finding out anything to do with Ellen whatsoever.
He went through to the kitchen and pulled out Lorenzo’s favorite coffee cups and the imported Italian-branded coffee beans the older man swore by. Putting the required scoops in the grinder, Finn set the machine to work.
“My own personal barista, how did I get so lucky?” Tamsyn said a few minutes later from behind him, startling him with her arrival in the kitchen.
She’d taken a very quick shower, judging by the fresh soapy scent of her, and changed into the jeans she’d worn yesterday, teamed this time with a pale pink T-shirt.
“Well, the luck stops here. You’re doing the rest. I’m here to show you how, remember?”
She shrugged. “No problem. Let’s start with how many beans you measured into the grinder.”
Finn went through the steps. She was a quick learner, grasping the use of the machine easily.
“Let’s take these out the front and enjoy looking at your efforts in the garden,” he suggested when the cups were poured.
“It’s been a while since someone has worked in it, hasn’t it?” Tamsyn asked as they settled into a pair of cane-and-wicker chairs.
He just nodded, not really trusting himself to speak. The garden had always been Ellen’s domain, but in recent years it had become too much for her. Lorenzo, busy overseeing the staff who tended the vines on the joint property he shared with Finn, had little love for working in the rambling cottage garden Ellen had created and had done the barest minimum to keep the weeds at bay. Finn had frequently suggested they employ someone to help out around the house, but his business partner had adamantly refused.
Considering he and Ellen were still only in their late fifties it was an emotional outburst, but Finn respected that it couldn’t be easy for Lorenzo to slowly see the woman he had loved for so long slowly wither away physically and mentally. Lorenzo hadn’t wanted to admit that Ellen could no longer handle the tasks she’d once loved, like gardening. The early onset of her dementia had been devastating news for them all.
Finn and Tamsyn settled into an easy silence together, broken only when she finished her coffee and placed her cup back on its saucer on the small glass-topped cane table between them.
“That was pure gold. I feel like a new woman,” she declared with a happy sigh.
“Something wrong with the old one?” he queried, always ready to delve into what made Tamsyn Masters tick.
“A few things, but I’m working on them,” she answered vaguely. “I got a job, by the way. Not paid work, but I’m volunteering in town at the hall.”
“Seriously? Gladys is letting you help her out?” Finn’s eyebrows rose in tandem with the incredulous note in his voice.
Tamsyn laughed, the sound plucking at his chest. God, he loved it when she laughed.
“Oh, no, as tempting as it is to set her office to rights, I wouldn’t dare trespass on her domain. No, they needed someone to fill in for the seniors’ program coordinator. She hurt herself last week, apparently, and won’t be back until the new year.”
“You’re planning to stay here that long?”
Finn was surprised. Surely she intended returning home long before Christmas?
“I don’t have any other demands on my time.”
“But your family? They’ll expect you back for Christmas, won’t they?”
Tamsyn shrugged. “As far as my immediate family goes, it’s only Ethan and me and he’s recently engaged. I think it would be nice for him and Isobel to enjoy their first Christmas together without having to worry about me tagging along. The rest of my family is big enough and noisy enough not to miss me too much. Besides, I’m needed here now.” She gave him a bright smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
There was a note to her voice it took him a moment to place—she was feeling lost and vulnerable. He didn’t doubt for a second that her family would miss her over Christmas, but she obviously felt they didn’t need her. If anything, she needed the voluntary position here in the community more than they needed her.
The realization knocked his impression of her back a couple of notches. No matter which way he turned it, she was looking less and less like the spoiled little princess he’d built up in his mind. Had he been so determined to see the worst in her that he hadn’t opened his eyes to the person she really was? Obviously the scars that Briana had left had gone far deeper than he’d thought if he was incapable of seeing the good in a person anymore.