Page 28 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘Really?’ He raised his eyebrows, grinning cheekily. ‘Insanely hot isn’t your type?’
‘Oh, shut up. I panicked, okay? I was trying to save your life. I’d have said anything in that moment to stop you from—’ She broke off, startled as Evan started chuckling.
‘What? Jumping into a stream?’
‘It’s not a stream! I’ll have you know, that is officially a river. You can look it up on a map. You could have—’ She broke off as laughter bubbled up inside her. ‘You could have ruined your boots,’ she finished, as the absurdity of the situation hit her.
And just like that, they were laughing together. It might be a stretch to say they were having a moment, but it definitely felt like a break from hostilities.
‘So you didn’t even mean it when you said I’d find love again?’ Evan asked in a dramatic forlorn tone.
‘I’m not sure you have it in you. I suppose you could lure them in with that face, but your personality needs work,’ she said, but her tone was devoid of hostility. It was just friendly banter between them and it felt good.
Evan sighed. ‘Well, I suppose I should be grateful to you for trying to save my boots. I’m very fond of them.’
‘They’re very nice boots.’
‘Okay, you can stay – provided we keep out of each other’s way from now on. There’ll be no repeat of… whatever that was this morning.’
‘I won’t even put you out if you’re on fire, I promise.’
‘That’s all I ask.’
‘Thank you. How long are you here for anyway?’
‘I’m flying home on the twenty-ninth. You?’
‘Same.’ She tried not to let her disappointment show. It would have been nice if their dates hadn’t overlapped completely and she could at least have the house to herself for a day or two. Still, even sharing with the Grinch was preferable to staying with Creepy Conor and Caroline’s girls.
She skipped out of the room, taking it as a good sign that she left Evan smiling to himself behind her. She decided to quit while she was ahead and not risk broaching the subject of Christmas dinner at the O’Sullivans’ just now. Besides, maybe she could get them out of it. Or at least convince her mum and Carmel that Evan couldn’t make it for some reason and go on her own. She’d come up with something, but that could wait until later. One step at a time…
11
However, resisting the combined force of her mother and Carmel was trickier than Mary had anticipated. She ought to have known better by now. That evening, before she’d had a chance to make up an excuse for Evan to cry off, her mother messaged her to tell her that everything was arranged with Carmel and both of them were expected at the O’Sullivans’ for Christmas dinner. Then just as she was trying to formulate a reply, Carmel herself rang wanting to know if Evan had any food allergies or was on any special diet, and going through a whole checklist of his preferences for Christmas dinner.
‘Does he drink, do you know? I hope so because I have a very nice wine picked out for dinner, but I can stock up on some of that zero per cent stuff instead if he’s teetotal.’
‘I don’t know. But you could still have your wine, even if he is.’
‘Ah no, I wouldn’t want to make him uncomfortable.’
Mary tried to remember if she had ever seen Evan drinking. ‘Oh, yes! I’ve seen him drinking beer, so he’s not teetotal.’
‘Great, well find out what his favourite tipple is. Now, I’vemade my own personalised place settings this year, so I’ll get to work on an extra couple for the pair of you.’
‘There’s no need to go to all that trouble, Carmel.’
‘It’s no bother. I enjoy it.’ That was true. Carmel was very crafty and was always playing around with glue guns and glitter. ‘Besides, we don’t want Evan to feel like he was an afterthought.’
She was being so kind, Mary didn’t have the heart to turn down the invitation on Evan’s behalf. In the end all she said was, ‘Thanks so much, Carmel. It’s really nice of you to have us at such short notice.’
She spent the rest of the night in her room, keeping out of Evan’s way and trying to think of a way of persuading him to go to the O’Sullivans’ with her on Christmas Day.
She woke early the next morning, but heard Evan moving around downstairs, so stayed in bed reading and emailing for another hour to give him space – and, if she was honest with herself, to put off breaking it to him that he was expected at the O’Sullivans’ for Christmas dinner.
Seeing that Aifric was online, she called to tell her that she’d persuaded Evan to let her stay.
‘Good for you! I knew you could do it. You should bring him along to the pub tonight. Or get him to come with you in the morning, so we can all have a look at him.’
