‘There’s hardly anything to tell and you’re right, Ireallydon’t want to. I mean, I can’t even remember most of it because we were so drunk,’ Evie lied.
‘Okay, great,’ Sasha said. ‘So no more Evie-and-Dan chat then.’
The other three nodded, with some eye rolling.
It would probably be best to stick to Sasha like glue for the rest of their stay so that the others wouldn’t ask her anything else. Evie wasnevergoing to want to talk about last night. Because it was Dan.
Against all the odds, she really enjoyed their afternoon getting massages and pedicures together. She did stick glue-like to Sasha, and through alotof gossip none of the others mentioned Dan more than about five times each. Evie ignored them every time and Millie continued to look as though her cheeks were going to burst.
Evie had a lot more messages on her phone when she checked it again as they left the spa. One of them was from Dan saying maybe they should have a quick chat about getting an annulment or a divorce. And happy birthday again. Evie was so physically relaxed after her last massage that she just kind of thought,Yep, when she read his message.
* * *
Evie was the last down to meet the others in the hotel foyer in the evening because she’d been on the phone to her mum for a long time – it had taken ages to move the conversation on from theOMG you did WHATexclamations about the Vegas marriage thing – plus she had to re-do her make-up because she was seeing Dan this evening. And it was actually always better to arrive last to a tricky group situation, so that you could choose who to stand with.
She stepped out of the lift and immediately saw Dan on the other side of the foyer, waiting with all the others. Either he was much more noticeable than every other person around, or she had some serious Dan-radar going. She also had serious butterflies going, the ones she always got when she saw him for the first time after a while, except now massively magnified by the memory of last night.
She smoothed her jumper down and, pretending to have her attention drawn by the extravagantly decorated Christmas tree next to the reception desk, started to walk towards the others. The tree’s baubles were genuinely very striking, if not tasteful, in various neon shades. It wasn’t that hard to find it interesting.
Aaargh. Her heel caught in something and she went flying.
Dan, Rav and Anita all dived forwards at once to catch her, so they ended up in an awkward four-way hug. And, weirdly, it was like she knew, without looking, that Dan was the person holding her arm and waist.
‘Thank you,’ she said, moving towards Anita and away from Dan. ‘Don’t know what happened there.’
‘I think you were stunned by the tree,’ Anita said.
‘Yeah, or still ridiculously hungover,’ Sasha said. ‘Come on. I think our taxis are here and the light show starts in half an hour. Happy birthday again, lovely Evie.’ She put her arm round Evie’s waist and gave her a squeeze.
Evie managed to manoeuvre herself into a taxi with Sasha, Angus and Millie, definitely helped by some similar manoeuvring in the opposite direction from Dan, and they were on Fremont Street about ten minutes later.
The light show was amazing, actually, and Evie would have been completely absorbed by it if she hadn’t spent the whole time being far too aware of Dan, standing on the opposite edge of their little group.
They took taxis back in the same two groups as before, and got back to the hotel just before eight thirty, in time for the table they had booked in the hotel’s restaurant.
‘Your birthday dinner,’ said Sasha as they got out of the cab. ‘We have to have something sparkly.’
Evie’s stomach rolled. There was no way she was drinking this evening. Hair of the dog never worked for her.
The others’ cab pulled up next to them and Tola, Anita, Rav and Dan spilled out. And Evie’s stomach rolled some more, but this time because her entire mind and all her senses seemed suddenly to be filled with Dan again.
Right. Enough was enough. It was herbirthday.She didn’t need this torture. What she needed was a little break from Dan and the others this evening and a lot of sleep, so that she could pull herself together and get over last night. She was going to pull a social sickie.
‘Last night was my real birthday dinner, and I’m feelingrough,’ she told the others. ‘Turns out thirty’s too old for getting reallyplastered. I think I need to go and crawl into bed and watch TV with a room service sandwich, and then sleep for a very long time. As a little birthday present to myself.’
‘You can’t do that on yourbirthday,’ several of the others said at once.
‘I really can.’ Now she’d thought of it, Eviereallywanted to do it. She held her arms out to hug her friends goodnight. ‘I’ll see you in the morning for Christmas Day and Secret Santa. Don’t eat and drink too much tonight. Make sure you save space for your Christmas lunch tomorrow.’ She gave Tola and Millie, the two nearest to her, a final squeeze, and started a purposeful walk towards the lift, watching where her feet went this time.
Up the escalator and inside her room, with the Do Not Disturb sign on and the door double-locked for the second time that day, she sank into her armchair and put her head in her hands.
Her phone rang about ten seconds later. It was Dan. She stared at the screen for a second and then swiped. She was going to have to talk to him at some point.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘I’ve left the others to it as well. Do you have time for a quick chat about next steps now? I totally understand if not, obviously.’
Evie looked longingly at her bed and the TV and thought about the awkwardness of talking to Dan. It would probably be better to get the chat out of the way, though, to get things back to normal.
‘Yep, great,’ she said. ‘Want to come to my room? Number one-thirty.’ They didn’t need to have this talk in the bar and risk the others joining them.
