Page 13 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘How did you know we were here?’ her mother asked her now. ‘Did one of you tell her?’ She looked from one to another of them suspiciously.
‘That guy you did a house swap with told me.’
‘Oh, you’ve met Evan Prentice!’ Cara’s face lit up. ‘What’s he like?’
‘Kind of an ass, so far.’
‘Ah, no. He seemed lovely when I spoke to him,’ Sheena said.
‘Did you know he’s Batman?’ her father said.
‘Spider-Man,’ Mary corrected him.
‘Oh, right. I knew he was one of those fellas from the comics anyway.’
‘And now you get to spend Christmas with him!’ Cara said. ‘Want to swap places?’
‘In a heartbeat. But I don’t thinkyoudo.’
Cara smiled sympathetically. ‘No, I don’t. Hot and all as he is, I’d rather be here with my family.’
‘Besides, he wants me out, so I don’t think anyone will be spending Christmas with him.’ She looked to her sister Abbie. ‘I thought I could stay in your place, if Aifric’s okay with it.’
Abbie winced apologetically. ‘I’m sure Aifric wouldn’t mind, but I told Tom he could have my room once we decided to go to New York. Their parents have the whole Galway clan staying for Christmas, so it’s going to be a bit manic and he needs to get some study done over the break.’ Aifric’s brother Tom was studying law in Dublin. ‘I could take it back, but…’
‘No, don’t do that. I can stay at Finn’s or Aidan’s.’
‘I’ve got a locum down from Dublin staying at my place,’ Finn said. ‘Sorry.’ He gave an apologetic shrug.
‘It’s fine. I’ll stay at Aidan’s, then. You have keys in the house, don’t you, Mum?’
‘Yes, we’ve keys for all the—’ She broke off with a gasp, slapping a hand to her forehead. ‘We never got keys for the new door, did we?’ she asked, turning to her husband, who shook his head.
‘Aidan got a new door a few weeks ago,’ her father told her. ‘It’s a real beauty – fibreglass, so it’ll hold up to the elements, but it looks just like real wood. I installed it for him myself.’
‘He’s been meaning to get us spare keys ever since,’ her mother said, ‘but he’s never got around to it.’
‘Nana, nana, it’s time!’ Bo appeared again, tugging at her granny’s sleeve.
‘Sorry, we’ve got a slot booked for skating,’ Sheena said to Mary.
‘Yes, go!’
‘But I’ll be home in about an hour or two. I’ll call you then and we’ll have a proper chat, and sort everything out, okay?’
‘Okay. Talk to you later. Enjoy yourselves!’ she called as they all waved goodbye.
7
When they’d ended the call, Mary went straight to Google and did a search for accommodation. As she’d expected, most of the smaller B&Bs in the area were closed for Christmas and anywhere that was open was booked solid. One of the larger hotels in Dingle had a few vacancies, but she really didn’t want to spend the holiday on her own in an anonymous hotel. If she couldn’t be with her family, the next best thing was to be here in her own home, surrounded by her friends and neighbours.
She braced herself to go down and break the news to Evan. She found him sitting in the big armchair by the windows, reading a book. She had to admit she could see what all the fuss was about. She wasn’t sold on his personality so far, but there was no denying he was good to look at. He was wearing reading glasses now, which were cute. She’d always had a weakness for men in glasses, and there was something very hot about a guy who read books.
He glanced up as she entered.
‘So listen,’ she said, ‘I can’t get a room anywhere around here.There’s nothing available. Anywhere that’s open within a five-mile radius is booked out.’
He placed his book on the arm of the chair, splayed open. ‘That’s kind of funny,’ he said with a smirk.
