Page 80 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘Hi,’ she said softly. ‘We didn’t exchange numbers.’
‘I know. What a pair of idiots.’
‘You could have got mine from my mum, since you’re such great pals now.’
He shrugged. ‘I didn’t think there was any need. I thought I’d just see you tonight. At my place. At the party I invited you to. Anyway, you could have got mine from her too.’
‘It was too embarrassing to admit I didn’t have it. I thought you might have done that deliberately.’
‘What?’ He shook his head, frowning. ‘No way.’
‘So you came to see me?’
He nodded. ‘You weren’t home.’
‘No. I went to see you.’
‘You did?’
‘I was at your apartment. I met Josh and Amy – and Magda and Arnold.’
‘All my people.’ He smiled. ‘Why did you come to see me?’
Damn! Why hadn’t she got the question in first. ‘Um… my mum wanted me to give you this.’ She held out the package to him.
‘Your mum, huh?’ A wide grin spread across his face.
‘Yeah.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m sure it was just an excuse. She wanted to make me go see you. She was worried about you.’
‘About me?’ He reared back in shock.
‘Yeah. She was afraid you weren’t eating your greens or that you were with the wrong girl or something.’
‘Right.’ He looked at the parcel in his hands. ‘So you just wanted to give me this?’
‘Yeah. And to check up on you.’ She sat on the stoop beside him. ‘Make sure you were eating your greens?—’
‘And that I wasn’t with the wrong girl?’
She smiled. ‘Josh tells me you’ve broken up with Olivia.’
He frowned, giving her a quizzical look. ‘You already knew that.’
‘Yeah, but I wasn’t sure…’ She trailed off, not wanting to admit that she’d been reading gossip about him online.
‘This is what I was afraid of,’ he said with a knowing smirk. ‘Have you been reading fake news about me? I know you have a bad habit of googling me.’
‘It’s not my fault the algorithms think I’m interested in your every move. But yeah, I may have seen something online about you getting back together,’ she admitted. ‘And you did tell me you’d made up with her just before you left,’ she added in her defence.
He shook his head. ‘We did make things up. We’re not fighting or anything. But we’re not back together.’
‘You couldn’t forgive her for cheating?’
‘It wasn’t that. I realised I just didn’t care.’ He lifted his head and turned to her. ‘I don’t feel the same way about her.’ He smiled. ‘And I couldn’t stop thinking about this cool girl I met in Ireland.’
Mary grinned happily. ‘Would you mind opening that now?’ she asked, nodding at the parcel in his hands. ‘Because I’m bursting with curiosity about what Mum gave you and why it was so important that I deliver it personally.’
‘Sure.’ He tore at the wrapping. ‘I don’t get it,’ he said with a bemused smile as he lifted out… ‘A used candle?’ He frowned. ‘I mean, I’m all for regifting, but… Is this some Irish thing I don’t know about?’
