‘Thank you; we’d love one.’ Dan’s father smiled at her and she visibly fluttered while Dan gritted his teeth. His father held his arm out to escort her back to her house, while the rest of the family waited next to the tree.
Dan was laughing at something Lucie had said when a snowball landed squarely in his chest. Sasha cheered and Dan looked over to see Evie on the other side of the green at the corner of her lane, outside Mrs Bird’s house, doing what looked like a victory haka.
‘Seriously?’ he said, bending down to collect snow. ‘I don’t think so.’
Dan’s throw missed Evie, who was as good at dodging as she was at throwing, it turned out, and hit her mum, who’d just rounded the corner onto the green, holding hands with Jack.
‘Good God,’ said Dan’s father from behind him, having safely deposited Mrs Bird. ‘Three days. And only about fifteen years younger than her. For Jenny, that’s a serious relationship.’
Dan felt his shoulders go rigid. He was pretty sure that Evie and her mum would both have been really hurt if they’d heard his words. And his father’s patients would be very surprised by their dependable, lovable local GP being snide. Plus, the hypocrisy: how could a man who seemingly regularly cheated on his wife criticise someone who had a lot of short-term relationships where no-one got hurt?
Dan walked away from his father, towards Evie, her mother and Jack, and said, ‘Morning. Sorry about the snowball, Jenny. It was meant for Evie.’
‘No problem,’ Jenny said. Dan turned to speak to Evie in response to some boasting about how she’d been right about the snow, and Jenny whipped a huge snowball down his neck.
‘Okay. War,’ Dan said.
Twenty minutes later, they’d trashed the previously beautifully white-snow-carpeted green and they were all soaking wet and laughing except for Dan’s father, who was standing to one side, checking his watch and his phone.
And Dan had realised a few things. One, it was really nice to see his mother having actual fun. Two, even in the middle of a snowball fight he couldn’t help registering Max’s limp when he ran, and feeling the familiar crushing guilt. It was eight years ago now, when Max was eighteen and he was sixteen, and still he hated being reminded of the accident and its impact on Max. And three, Evie really didn’t seem like just his younger sister’s best friend any more.
Their pact from the other night popped into his head again and he wondered briefly what they’d both be doing on Evie’s thirtieth and whether they’d still see each other much by then.
Four
Now – Christmas Eve 2021
Dan
Dan stared at himself in one of the twin heart-shaped mirrors above the twin heart-shaped basins in the pinkest bathroom he’d ever been in.
God.
God.
He turned the, yes, heart-shaped tap on and splashed cold water onto his face.
Didn’t help.
He put his head down under the tap. Still didn’t help.
He lifted his head and shook water out of his eyes.
This was a very, very bad morning after.
He and Evie had definitely got married last night.Married,for God’s sake.
What a nightmare. Despite some phenomenal hangover brain-fog, he could still see that unravelling even a one-night marriage would involve a lot of hassle.
Also: sex. He’d had sex with Evie. And it had been amazing. Like he’d always known it would be.
But Evie was Sasha’s best friend. He and Evie were friends too. They’d had moments, but nothing physical had happened between them since that kiss years ago when they’d made their stupid pact, which had led to where they were this morning.
It wasn’t a good idea to sleep with your friends, especially a friend who youreallyliked and whose friendship you didn’t want to lose. He couldn’t see himself sustaining a serious relationship, even with someone as amazing as Evie; he messed up too often. He’d definitely rather stay single than end up like his parents several years down the line, with all the hurt that entailed. He didn’t want Evie to get hurt and he didn’t want to get hurt himself and he didn’t want to jeopardise his friendship with her any further, so it was a no-brainer. Nothing more should happen between them.
Actually, he was probably flattering himself. Evie probably wouldn’t be interested anyway.
He shook his head again. Quite painful. He could do with a couple of paracetamol.
