Page 72 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘I had a very happy childhood – until Mom and Dad died – but I was always a little envious of big families.’
‘Would you like to have kids?’
‘Yeah, definitely more than one.’
‘Me too. I think the pros definitely outweigh the cons.’
They talked and talked until they drifted off to sleep. In the morning they had soft, drowsy sex when they were both still half asleep, and Mary started to believe that this could be more than a holiday fling. When Evan said: ‘You’ve never been? We have to go,’ about one of his favourite diners, it felt like the start of something. And when he told her he was having some friends over on New Year’s Eve and asked her to come, she didn’t mind so much that he was leaving this evening, because this was just the beginning.
Evan’s car was picking him up at six, so when he was packed, they had a late lunch of pasta carbonara, sitting at the table like grown-ups, but constantly touching, unable to keep their hands off each other like a pair of teenagers. They spent the rest of the afternoon nestled together on the sofa, the buzzing of Evan’s phone a constant background irritant.
‘Maybe you should take that,’ Mary said, breaking a kiss as it vibrated across the coffee table yet again.
‘Um, I think that’s yours,’ he said, glancing at it. ‘It’s your mom.’
Mary picked up the phone. ‘No, it’s definitely yours.’ But she could see why he’d assumed it was hers as her mother’s face filled the screen. That was weird.
Evan frowned as she handed him the phone. ‘Hi, Sheena! Is everything okay there?’
‘Yes… well, yes and no.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘It’s just… there’s someone here to see you.’ She swung the phone around and Mary’s heart plummeted as she saw Olivia Mills standing there, her eyes pleading.
‘She just let herself in, and she refused to leave unless I phoned you.’
‘Sorry, Sheena.’ Evan frowned, throwing a furious glance in Olivia’s direction. ‘She shouldn’t have done that.’
‘She says you’re not answering her calls. If you don’t want to talk to her, that’s fine. I won’t hand over my phone. But I said I’d try?—’
‘No, it’s fine. I’ll talk to her.’
‘I’m sorry, Evan,’ Olivia said, appearing on the screen as Sheena handed her the phone. ‘I thought you’d be here. I came over because it was the only way I could think of to make you talkto me. Please, youhaveto talk to me.’ She sounded desperate and her big green eyes pooled with tears.
‘Okay, okay.’ Evan sighed heavily, raking a hand through his hair. ‘But give Sheena her phone and I’ll ring you back. I promise.’
‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Mary said softly, getting up.
‘Sorry,’ Evan mouthed at her as she crept from the room.
She made herself a mug of tea and went to hide out in her bedroom while she waited for Evan to be done telling Olivia they were over and he couldn’t forgive her. But as time passed and Evan didn’t come looking for her, she was more and more sure that wasn’t what was happening. After half an hour, she tiptoed downstairs to check on him, but she heard his voice drift out from the living room. He wasstilltalking to Olivia. Feeling like an eavesdropper, she went back to her room and decided she may as well use the time to start packing.
As she threw things into her case, she fretted about what was being said downstairs. Were they patching things up? Was Olivia winning Evan back? It seemed likely. They’d been talking for almost an hour now. Surely it didn’t take this long to tell someone it was over.
She tried to imagine how she’d feel if Greg told her he still loved her and begged her to forgive him. Would she take him back? She couldn’t see it, but it wasn’t a comparable situation anyway. If she was honest with herself, she’d never been all in with Greg. She’d known he was constantly looking over her shoulder, hoping for someone better to come along, so she’d always held back a little with him. She hadn’t allowed herself tofree-fall because deep down she’d known he wouldn’t be there to catch her.
She closed her case and glanced at her watch. Evan’s car was due to arrive in fifteen minutes. If he didn’t end the call soon, she wouldn’t get to speak to him at all before he had to go. When she went back downstairs all was quiet. But as soon as she went into the living room, it felt like everything had changed. Evan was sitting on the sofa staring into space, his phone on the table in front of him. Mary sat beside him.
‘Um, your car will be here soon.’
He glanced at his watch vaguely. ‘Oh. Yeah.’
‘How did that go?’ She nodded to his phone.
‘Okay. Better than I expected.’ He blinked and turned to her as if noticing her presence for the first time. ‘Sorry. I needed to talk to her. I should have done it sooner.’
‘Of course. Have you… made it up between you?’
