Page 36 of A Merry Irish Christmas
Almost as soon as she’d gone, Evan regretted not going into Dingle with Mary. He read some of his book and looked through a script he’d been sent, but he quickly found himself getting twitchy and restless knocking around the house on his own. He tried calling Max again, with no joy. He suspected Max was deliberately dodging his calls. He was bored and lonely, he admitted to himself. He should have bundled up in his ‘cat burglar outfit’ as Mary called it, to avoid being recognised, and gone shopping with her. It would have been nice to have a change of scene and be a little sociable. He was surprised how disappointed he felt that she seemed intent on leaving him alone from now on, and he realised he didn’t really want her to keep her promise to stay out of his way. The truth was, moping around on his own wasn’t as much fun as it sounded – and it sounded like no fun at all.
How bad could it be to be holed up with a cute, cool girl for a couple of days? Mary was quick and funny, completely unimpressed by his fame, and he enjoyed sparring with her. In fact, he sometimes found himself getting pissy with her for the sake of it, arguing just to see what she’d come back with. And that ridiculous incident on the bridge yesterday was the most fun he’d had since the whole thing with Olivia blew up. She’d made him laugh so hard he could hardly catch a breath, and it had felt good when she joined in and they were chuckling together, like friends.
Mary seemed like she’d be good company, and it’d be nice to have someone to pass the time with and chat to over lunch or dinner. There was definitely no need for them to eat their meals separately. He wandered over to the noticeboard on the kitchen wall where Mary had pinned her chart. Obviously, he couldn’t join her at the pub or on the Christmas morning swim. Fun as that sounded, it was way too public. But she’d said he waswelcome to join her on any of her activities, and he could extend the same invitation to her. She could slob out on the sofa with him and they could watch movies together and go for walks on the beach.
Maybe it was time for him to get over himself and stop being an ass. He was in this situation whether he liked it or not, so he may as well enjoy it as much as possible. And it would be a welcome distraction from brooding over Olivia. He’d been ignoring her constant calls and messages since her affair was made public. He wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. He needed time to work out how he felt first and what he wanted. Caught up in the swirl of mixed emotions that arose when the story broke, it had been hard to sort out exactly what he was feeling – shocked, of course, and hurt by the betrayal. But was he heartbroken? He’d been too blindsided by the whole thing to think straight. He was mostly angry with her for the public humiliation and for turning their relationship into tabloid fodder. He hated that his personal life was being picked over and dissected in public forums and it was mortifying that they were a trending topic onX.
TheSpider-Manfandom was hugely invested in the relationship – more than Olivia was, it turned out – and devastated girls were posting videos of themselves on social media, sobbing hysterically over the news and pleading with the two of them to patch things up and get back together. Olivia had made it clear she wanted that too. But did he? He wasn’t sure he could feel the same way about her now. The trust had been broken and he didn’t know if he could get it back.
His gloomy thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing, vibrating on the kitchen table. Probably another call from Olivia. Or maybe Max had finally grown a pair and was going to speak to him, he thought, as he went to get it. But when he looked at thescreen, he was surprised to see it wasn’t Max calling at all. It was Sheena McBride.
Lingering over a delicious bowl of seafood chowder with warm soda bread and feeling bolstered by good food and the festive atmosphere around town, Mary steeled her nerve to finally look at Greg’s messages. There were a lot of them, but they all said basically the same thing. He was sorry for how things had happened, he knew he’d handled it badly, but he was caught off guard by Juanita turning up like that and couldn’t think straight. He hadn’t been fair to her, he was sorry, he hoped she could forgive him. She thought of a dozen bitter, scathing replies, but couldn’t summon the will to send any of them. There was one from this morning saying he hoped she’d have a happy Christmas, despite everything… She tossed the phone aside angrily, tears pricking her eyes.Yeah, thanks a lot, Greg. Not much chance of that now, thanks to you.
She felt deflated again as she loaded up the car and drove back to Inch. As she got out of the car her phone pinged with a message and she seethed when she saw that it was Greg. He must have seen that she’d read his messages and was hoping she’d reply to him now. Well, he could go hang. She shoved her phone back into her bag and stomped into the house feeling weary and defeated. At least she’d see all her friends at the pub tonight, she consoled herself, as she opened the door. And dinner at the O’Sullivans’ tomorrow would be nice. She wouldn’t let Greg ruin Christmas for her completely. She was determined to keep her spirits up and have a nice time despite him and Evan.
She was surprised to hear voices in the kitchen as she opened the front door.
‘I don’t know,’ Evan was saying. ‘I just don’t feel?—’
She stilled in the doorway, cocking an ear. Evan being… loquacious? Talking about his feelings? She wanted to hear this. She closed the door softly, straining to hear as she unwound her scarf and hung up her coat. She stashed the bag containing Evan’s sweater under the coat stand, then picked up the rest of her shopping and tiptoed slowly down the hall towards the living room. The other person was talking now, their voice a low murmur. She could tell it was a woman, but it was impossible to make out what she was saying. She stopped halfway down the hall, waiting for Evan to speak again.
‘Okay. Thanks, Sheena. I appreciate it.’
Sheena! Damn, she’d missed a call from her mother. She darted the rest of the way down the hall.
‘I’m here!’ she called as she pushed the living room door open with her shoulder. But she was too late. Evan had already closed out of the Zoom screen, ending the call.
Evan looked up at her, startled. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Was that Mum?’ She nodded at the screen. ‘I, um… thought I heard her voice.’ She didn’t want to admit outright that she’d been eavesdropping.
‘Yes, it was.’
‘Is everything okay?’ She pulled her phone from her pocket, wondering if her mother had been trying to reach her, but there were no missed calls. ‘Is there some problem at your place?’ she asked as Evan stood and took some of the bags from her. They lifted them onto the counter and he began unpacking the groceries alongside her.
‘No, she just called to chat,’ Evan said from the depths of the fridge as he put the champagne in to chill.
‘Toyou?’
‘Yeah.’ Evan closed the fridge door. ‘You have a problem with that?’ he asked, frowning.
‘No, of course not. It’s just a bit…’
‘What?’
‘Well… weird. I mean, you don’t even know her. What does she have to talk to you about?’ What was she saying? It was as if she’d never met her mother. She could talk for Ireland to just about anyone, and would.
‘Just… stuff. You know, this and that.’
‘Yeah.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I know my mother. Sorry.’
‘You don’t have to apologise for her. I like her. She’s a nice lady.’
‘She is. But where do you get off talking to her? She’smymum. First you take over our house and now you’re moving in on my mother!’
Evan laughed softly, his eyes lighting up like she’d said something funny. ‘Just because she’s your mom, doesn’t mean you own her.’
‘I know that,’ Mary said sulkily. ‘What were you talking about anyway?’
