‘Night.’ Evie waited for him to close the door behind him before doing an enormous sniff to try to get rid of the tears that had suddenly formed. She really shouldn’t feel sad now, or bereft that Dan had left.
This was going to be fine.
She was totally going to get over last night; she just needed a little bit of space to process it, that was all.
Six
Now – Christmas Day 2021
Dan
At lunchtime the next day – Christmas Day – Dan dodged a couple of waitresses in – surely very demeaning – skimpy elf outfits, rounded a pillar covered in mini Santas climbing tinsel, and scoured the hotel dining room for the others.
They were all, including Evie, who was looking stunning in a sparkly green jumper, already sitting at a circular table on the far side of the room. Evie was directly opposite the one remaining empty chair, which was ideal because the table was big so they wouldn’t be able to talk much. His night with her had felt like a much bigger deal than your average one-night stand, and he’d enjoyed her company yesterday evening way too much for comfort. He didn’t really want to spend too much time with her again until things felt back to normal.
‘Happy Christmas,’ everyone chorused as Dan sat down. He’d opted for a lie-in and a swim this morning so this was the first time he’d seen any of the others today.
‘We’re thinking lunch now, obviously,’ Sasha told him, ‘and then Secret Santas in the lounge with coffees, and then a slow walk to work off some of the food.’
‘Great plan,’ Dan said. And he was going home tomorrow, and then next time he saw Evie they’d be divorced and have almost forgotten about this and be completely back to normal with each other. And why did that thought cause him a little twinge of misery? It would begreatto have forgotten about it. He’d moved on very easily from his last relationship, with a woman called Hannah who he’d gone out with for a few weeks in the autumn. A one-night thing was nothing. Not a relationship at all. Although it didn’t feel like nothing.
An hour and a half later, they’d all agreed that Vegas could definitely do a good Christmas turkey and that they were far too full to have pudding yet.
‘Crackers and joke-reading?’ said Angus.
‘We’re joke-reading?’ Dan said.
‘Yes, we’re joke-reading.’ Angus was looking at Dan like he’d grown two heads. ‘You have to treat Christmas crackers with respect or it isn’t a proper Christmas.’ Yeah, so Christmas lunch was probably a lot more relaxed and a lot less fraught in Angus’s family. The Marshalls had learned young that their father wasn’t that tolerant of weak jokes. ‘I hope you aren’t a cracker philistine, Sasha. I want us to do Christmas properly when we’re married.’ They all whipped their heads round to stare at Angus and he went bright red. ‘Sash, could I just have a word with you outside?’ Wow. It seemed like Angus had tripped himself into a surprise proposal right in the middle of Christmas lunch.
‘Oh-kay.’ Sasha mouthedOMGbehind Angus’s back as she stood up.
All the rest of them turned to watch Sasha and Angus make their way across the room, and then they all turned back to each other, with varying degrees of wide eyes and slack jaws.
No-one spoke for a couple of beats and then Evie said to the whole table, ‘So what are everyone’s New Year plans?’
‘Well,maybecelebrating Sasha and Angus’s engagement,’ said Millie.
Evie shook her head. ‘I don’t think we should talk about that,’ she said. ‘Just in case one or both of them comes back in here upset.’
Dan suddenly worried that might have a broader meaning, so he picked up his cracker and inspected it.
‘If anyone would like to join us,’ Evie persisted, ‘Sasha and I will be in the pub in the village on New Year’s Eve.’
‘And Angus too, I’m guessing,’ Millie said.
‘I’m not sure about this year but I often work on New Year’s Eve,’ Dan said. ‘It’s a busy night for us.’ You could always turn a conversation with a few medical anecdotes, and Evie was right; they shouldn’t gossip about what Sasha and Angus might be doing. He really hoped that Anguswasproposing and Sasha was accepting, because Angus was loyal and decent and they blatantly adored each other, and if anyone could make each other happy, it was those two.
He was busy fielding questions from Millie about cosmetic surgery and, specifically, boob jobs, and genuinely worried that she was about to lift her top and invite some very personal advice, when Sasha and Angus came back into the restaurant, holding hands.
‘We’re engaged,’ Sasha started squealing from about halfway across the room.
Through the, frankly, insane restaurant-wide congratulations and ring-viewing that followed, Dan focused all his attention on his sister and her new fiancé – again, wow, his younger sister was getting married, to a very nice man – and carefully avoided looking at Evie, in case she was finding the group chat about weddings anywhere near as awkward as Dan, ridiculously, was.
Angus was just finishing explaining how he’d been planning to propose during the trip, maybe later today, just not during Christmas-cracker-pulling or in front of an audience, so he’d handily had the ring in his pocket, when one of the waiters hurried over and pressed a card into Angus’s hand. ‘You get engaged in Vegas, you gotta get married in Vegas. This is the best wedding chapel in town. Run by my sister.’
‘Is that the one you two got married at?’ Millie raised her eyebrows and looked from Dan to Evie and back again.
Neither Dan nor Evie replied.
