Page 24 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘But plenty more where he came from, right?’
‘Totally,’ Mary said, smiling. Aifric wasn’t the sort to waste time or energy on unrequited love. She had the same cheerful, pragmatic approach to relationships as she had to the rest of life. She liked men and always seemed to have a boyfriend on the go, but when they split up, she bounced back with remarkable ease and moved on to the next one. Mary wondered if she’d ever been in love.
‘And now you’re free to get off with Evan Prentice!’ Aifric grinned. ‘So that’s some consolation.’
‘Hah! I don’t think that’ll be happening. I’ll be lucky if he even lets me stay in the same house. I don’t think he’ll be inviting me to share his bed anytime soon.’
‘Course he’ll let you stay. Just work a bit of that McBride magic on him. Resistance is futile!’ Aifric took a sip of her coffee. ‘And a little holiday fling would be a nice diversion for you both, wouldn’t it?’
Mary let her mind drift to that for a moment. ‘There’s no denying he’s seriously hot.’
‘And we already know he’s an amazing kisser.’
‘What? How do we know that?’
‘Duh! We’ve seen it on TV.’
‘Oh. Right. I’ve actually never seen thatSpider-Manshow.’
‘Oh my God, you have to get on that. It’s brilliant! Wait, I’ll show you.’ She picked up her phone and thumbed through it. ‘Here – they won Best Kiss at the Teen Picks Awards last year.’ She held her phone out to Mary and pressed play on a clip of the awards show. Mary took the phone from her and watched Evan and his co-star accepting the award for their prizewinning snog while internally rolling her eyes at the concept. But then it cut to a clip of the kiss that had beat out all the competition and… oh my God! She felt a fluttering deep inside her as she watched. The kiss was long and deep and soft, Evan holding Olivia’s face between his hands, angling his head this way and that, working his beautiful jaw, with just a glimpse of his tongue slipping into Olivia’s mouth.
‘Wowsa!’ Mary handed the phone back to Aifric. ‘Lucky Olivia.’
‘Right? Horny enough to give it a go now?’
Mary laughed. ‘I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice. But there’s no way that’s going to happen. He doesn’t even want me in the same room as him.’
‘I think it’d be worth putting in a bit of effort to get on the receiving end of a snog like that.’
Mary mused. Itwouldbe nice – and it’d be some compensation for missing Christmas with her family. Then she shook her head. Olivia was – had been – his girlfriend. Of course they’d have chemistry together. He probably wouldn’t be that good with everyone. That was what she’d tell herself anyway.
Michael wandered over to their table as they finished their coffee.
‘Will you stay for a bite of lunch, Mary?’
Mary glanced at her watch. She hadn’t noticed the time passing. The pub had begun to fill up while they’d been chatting. ‘Actually, that would be lovely. But don’t you have to get back to work?’ she asked Aifric.
Aifric looked to her father.
‘No, you’re grand. Stay and have lunch with Mary. I’ll get your brother to come down to help out with lunch.’
‘In that case, yes please.’ It was cheering being with people who knew and liked her, and it would be nice to stretch out the time here before going back to the house. Besides, if she ate hermain meal now, she could avoid having to use the kitchen or dining room and disturbing Evan.
‘I’ll bring you a menu.’
‘I already know what I want,’ Mary said, nodding to the blackboard where the day’s specials were chalked up. ‘I’ll have the fish and chips, please.’
‘And I’ll have the lasagne,’ Aifric told her father.
They ordered a bottle of sparkling water to share and Michael delivered their food to the table.
‘That’s on the house, Mary,’ he said, sliding her plate in front of her.
‘Oh, that’s so kind. Thank you.’
‘Abbie seems to be enjoying New York anyway,’ Aifric said as they ate. The food was delicious, the batter on the fish thin and crisp, and the chips the perfect combination of crispy outside and soft and fluffy inside.
‘Yeah. She’s sorry to be missing Christmas here, though.’ Mary took a sip of water. ‘Is Ryan back?’
