‘Yeah, well, you know, you hear them,’ Dan said.
Half an hour later, he was still dancing with Evie and Sasha, and more because he was having fun than because he wanted to be sure to avoid his father. He twirled a laughing Evie under his arm and looked down – quite a long way down, because she was dancing shoeless again – and, as the twirl finished, their gazes caught. And suddenly it was only the two of them. He was still holding her hand. He could draw her in. It would be so easy, so natural now to kiss her. Her eyes were on his. She smiled a little and there was that dimple again. So beautiful. He moved his head slightly closer to hers. He couldn’t look away from her. He knew how good it felt to hold her, taste her. Memories.
And she was engaged to another man.
He let go of her hand and started a bit of half-hearted clapping with everyone else.
Fourteen
Then – October 2016
Evie
Even having to share a taxi home with her mum and the man she’d met at the wedding – Grant, a newly divorced friend of Lucie’s new father-in-law and the landlord of the pub in Little Bishop, a neighbouring village – didn’t dent Evie’s mood.
‘My other daughter’s staying with my sister for the night and not due back until ten tomorrow.’ Evie’s mum ran her hand up Grant’s thigh while Evie tried not to gag and wished that her mum had stopped drinking a lot earlier in the evening. And then she thought about her own evening and started smiling again. She’d had fun; her mum had had fun. It looked like her mum’s night was likely to end with sex, and Evie’s clearly was not, but it would have done if Euan hadn’t got injured. Although then, if she was honest, she’d have had a lot less fun at the wedding.
That was something to think about.
It was actually something she didn’t want to think about.
Another thing she did and didn’t want to think about was what had happened at the end of that dance with Dan. They’d had a definite moment. Engaged people weren’t supposed to have moments with third parties. They weren’t supposed toadoredancing for hours with another man.
Her mum and Grant were looking into each other’s eyes. Eviereallydidn’t want them to kiss until she wasn’t there.
She needed somewhere to look that wasn’t at them or their reflection in the windows backed by the dark country night. Her phone. She pulled it out of her bag and discovered that Euan had finally replied to her last text asking how he was doing. He’d saidFine. Okay, well, good. You couldn’t expect him to send a long text. He’d had a bad day.
When the taxi finally arrived at their house – thank goodness; Evie’s mum and Grant were nowwaybeyond the limit as to how much canoodling you could happily be around – Grant hopped out first and opened the door wide for Evie and her mum.
‘Hang on a minute, mate,’ he said to the taxi driver. ‘I’d love to get your number,’ he told Evie’s open-mouthed mum, getting his phone out.
Wow. So he wasn’t coming in.
Evie started letting herself into the house to get out of their way and as she went in heard Grant say, ‘I’d love to take you out for dinner.’ Wow. This was unusual.
Her mum came in very soon afterwards, definitely within under a minute, and said, ‘So that was weird. I thought he really liked me.’
‘Well, maybe he does. Maybe he just wants to take things slowly.’ Maybe Grant was interested in more than just sex, unlike the vast majority of men her mum was attracted to.
‘Hmm. I’m not sure.’
* * *
Evie went round to see Euan a couple of days later, after work. When she arrived, he opened the front door, wrapped in a blanket, led her into his sitting room and sat himself down on the sofa. The contents of his side table – three remote controls, two books (onFinancial ManagementandGetting Ahead in Business), an empty coffee mug and a plate with two empty fruit compote tubs and a spoon placed neatly in the middle, the biggest mess Evie had ever seen in his house – indicated that he’d been on the sofa for a while.
‘How are you feeling?’ Evie asked.
‘A little bit delicate,’ he said. He touched his mouth very lightly and moaned a little.
Evie nodded. ‘I’m really sorry. Can I get you something to eat?’
‘Thank you. Maybe some soup. Or perhaps an omelette for some strength. Could you go and buy me some eggs? And I think perhaps some tomatoes and a little shredded ham. Perhaps some cheese. Stilton. All in the omelette, not on the side. Chopped and well-cooked so that I can manage them. Maybe with some chives. Fresh, obviously, not dried.’
‘Of course.’ Evie wasn’t as particular about her herbs as Euan was. ‘So shall I buy all of that for both of us? And then we can eat together?’
‘If you like.’ Euan leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
Not that romantic for people who were supposedly engaged, but it was understandable that he’d be feeling rough with all that tooth pain.
