Page 63 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘Home Alonemight be a bit close to the bone for you in the circumstances.’
She laughed. ‘But I’m not home alone as it turns out.’
‘AndDie Hardis more of an evening movie.’
‘Yeah, let’s keep that for after dinner.It’s A Wonderful Life, then?’
‘Bring it on!’
Mary brushed tears from her eyes as the movie drew to a close.
‘I hope you’re not thinking about your ex again,’ Evan said, putting an arm around her.
She shook her head. ‘At least this is one movie he and Juanita can’t ruin for me. Greg totally would have let George Bailey go bankrupt.’ Greg wasn’t mean, but he was very big on fiscal responsibility and didn’t believe in debt forgiveness. She turned to Evan. ‘Actually, I haven’t thought about Greg once all day.’
Their eyes met and he smiled. ‘Ditto.’
‘You haven’t thought about Olivia?’
‘Actually, that’s not true.’ He sighed. ‘I’ve been thinking about her pretty much non-stop, unfortunately.’
‘Oh!’ Mary tried to ignore the twinge of disappointment she felt. After all, it was nothing to her.
‘But only because she’s been ringing and messaging me constantly,’ Evan said, pulling his phone from his pocket. Now that he mentioned it, she had noticed it buzzing numerous times throughout the day. She hadn’t seen him answer it once, however; he’d just frowned down at the screen and shut it off.
‘You haven’t spoken to her, though?’
He shook his head. ‘I’m not answering her calls.’
‘Good. Let her stew.’ Unfortunately, Mary knew exactly what Olivia wanted to say to Evan. Thanks to her googling of him earlier, and reading stories online about the split, the algorithms now had her pegged as an avid fan and were keeping her updated on news about the famous couple. This morning her feed had been full of stories about Olivia Mills and Adam Wright making tearful public apologies and begging their partners (a wife of seven years in Adam Wright’s case) to take them back. Both referred to their fling as a mistake and a fleeting indiscretion, and pleaded forgiveness for their momentary lapse of judgement. Mary had fumed on Evan’s behalf. Not only had Olivia cheated on him, but she’d chosen to compound his embarrassment and humiliation by going public about it, when she must know how much Evan valued his privacy and how excruciating he’d find it having her air their relationship problems so publicly.
‘Let’s forget about them,’ he said, tossing his phone onto the coffee table. ‘They don’t deserve us.’
‘Agreed.’
‘Hey, Mary.’
‘Yeah?’ She turned to him to find him gazing at her thoughtfully.
‘I have an idea.’ He leaned forward and ran a thumb along his bottom lip. ‘Do you mind if I make a quick change to the chart?’
‘Go ahead.’ She frowned, puzzled.
‘Great!’ She felt cold as he jumped up from the sofa and headed for the kitchen. ‘It’s an activity that only works with two, though, so we’d both have to agree to it.’
Intrigued, she got up and followed him into the kitchen, where he was making some amendments to the chart tacked on the wall. When he stood back so she could see, her startled gasp was partly surprise, but mostly delight as she saw he’d crossedout ‘slob’ and replaced it with ‘make’ so that it now read ‘MAKE out on the sofa’.
‘What do you think?’ he asked her, grinning. ‘You up for it?’
‘Hmm.’ She twisted her mouth, pretending to consider for a moment, while her heart was pounding with excitement. ‘Yeah, okay,’ she said finally. ‘If that’s what you want to do, I’m game.’
‘It really is.’
‘I’m not sure what exactly “making out” covers, though. I mean, I don’t think we should sleep together?—’
‘Strictly first base only,’ he said firmly.
‘You know, I’ve lived in New York for four years, but I still haven’t got the hang of the whole bases thing.’
