Page 10 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘Mary, yes,’ she said impatiently. ‘So where are they?’
He gave a crooked smile. ‘They’ve gone to spend Christmas with you.’
6
‘Oh God, how is this happening?’ Mary buried her face in her hands. She’d cleaned up the remnants of the smashed mug from the floor, while Evan made them both coffee. ‘I can’t believe they’d do something so idiotic! Without even telling me!’
‘It was supposed to be a surprise.’ Evan put two steaming mugs on the table and sat opposite her. ‘I expect they’re saying the same thing about you right about now.’
Well, this explained why her mother had been so weirdly complacent about her not getting home for Christmas. ‘But how are you involved in all this? What are you doing here?’
‘They’re staying at my place.’ He took a sip of his coffee. ‘We did a house swap.’
‘Ahouse swap? How on earth did that happen?’
‘Long story.’ He rolled his eyes.
Mary groaned in frustration, clutching her forehead as if it ached. ‘Is it all of them? My whole family?’
He nodded. ‘As far as I know. Your parents, two sons and two daughters. Oh, and a little girl.’
‘My niece. That’s all of them, then.’ Damn! Her eyes welledwith tears. All that wearisome travelling for nothing. If only she’d stayed in New York. It would have been a wonderful surprise to have her family turn up unexpectedly to support her when she was at her lowest ebb, and all of them spending Christmas together in Manhattan would have been so much fun.
‘Your mom said you couldn’t make it home for the holidays, so they decided to go over there and surprise you.’
‘Great minds think alike,’ she said drily, simultaneously annoyed that they’d got their wires crossed, but touched that that they’d all rushed to be by her side in her hour of need. ‘Sorry I thought you were a burglar.’
He shrugged. ‘A simple enough misunderstanding.’
Mary gave a bitter hoot of laughter.
‘Okay, a very convoluted misunderstanding. But no major harm done.’ He leaned back in his chair, stretching out his long legs. ‘So, what do you plan to do now?’
‘Me?’
‘I mean, you’re welcome to finish your coffee, but?—’
‘What?’ she gasped. ‘You think you can kick me out of my own house?’
‘But it’s not your house, is it? Right now it’s actuallymyhouse. I mean, I can hardly go back to New York for Christmas at this stage, can I?’
‘Neither can I!’
‘No, but… I’m sure you’ll find somewhere.’ He drained his mug and stood. ‘You must know lots of people around here you could stay with. And if the worst comes to the worst, you do have enough money in your purse upstairs to get a hotel for a couple of nights.’
‘Oh, that’s— I was being nice!’ she spluttered. ‘I can’t believe you’re using that against me.’
Evan ignored her, calmly rinsing his mug under the tapbefore loading it into the dishwasher. He seemed to have made himself at home already.
‘So, how long have you been here?’ she asked him, deciding she should play nice. There was no point in antagonising him. If they got along, maybe he’d let her stay and they could make the best of it. They might even manage to have a nice time together.
‘I arrived a couple of days ago.’
‘And my parents have been in New York since then?’
He frowned. ‘Since yesterday, I guess, Eastern time. They had an early morning flight, so they stayed in Dublin the night before.’
Mary gave a groan of frustration. They must have missed each other by hours. They were probably arriving in Manhattan while she was making her way to the airport. She finished her coffee. ‘So what are your plans?’ she asked. It was occurring to her that he probably had a whole entourage of famous friends arriving to spend Christmas with him. It was a big house, but there may not be room for her, even if he was willing to let her stay.
