When the others had gone, Sasha said, ‘There’s something I thought I should tell you, about Dan.’
‘Mmm?’
‘He’s expecting a baby with his ex.’
Evie choked on her Pringle and Sasha whacked her hard on the back.
‘Ow,’ Evie said.
‘Sorry. Are you okay?’
‘Yes, you didn’t hit methathard.’
‘I meant about Dan,’ Sasha said. Yep, Evie had known that she’d meant about Dan. And she was not okay about it but she didn’t want to say that. Because why wouldn’t she be okay? It was nothing to do with her.
‘So, um, what’s the due date and how long were they going out and… everything, really?’ she said, trying to sound normally gossipy rather than suddenly desperately miserable.
‘I’m not sure about dates. And apparently they only went out for a few weeks, so it was a huge shock. And Dan wants to be involved in the baby’s life but the mother, Hannah, might move to New York.’
‘Wow,’ Evie said.
‘Yeah, bit of a nightmare for him. Not how you want to start a family in an ideal world.’
‘Happens to a lot of people, though.’
‘Yes. Oh, God, Evie, I’m sorry,’ Sasha said. Evie’s mum had never known who Evie’s father was and Autumn’s father, Jack, wasn’t exactly around.
Eviereallydidn’t mind about Sasha saying that wasn’t the way you wanted to start a family. She was right; it wasn’t. She reallydidmind about the fact that Dan had had a relationship straight before he came out to Vegas by the sounds of it. Or maybe even while he was there. No, surely not.
‘Honestly, nothing to be sorry about. I know you didn’t mean that in a bad way. Of course it isn’t what he’d have planned. So when did he and Hannah split up?’
‘Definitely before Vegas. I think that might have been why he was keen to go.’
Right.Right. So Evie had been a rebound one-night stand. And there wastotallyno reason that she shouldn’t have been. He’d been single. She’d been single. Nothing wrong with itwhatsoever. Clearly there was nothing wrong with it.
She was stillreallypissed off, though.
Why, though?
They’d both been single. He’d done nothing wrong. End of.
She shouldn’t be pissed off.
‘Game of darts for old time’s sake?’ she said.
‘Wow,’ Sasha said ten minutes later. ‘You’re chucking those darts like they’re murder weapons.’
Evie nodded. Yup. She was feeling murderous. She flung another one.
‘OMG,’ she squealed. ‘Bloody bullseye.’
‘You’re a darts superstar,’ Sasha said. ‘We’re going to have to get you back from London as a secret weapon.’ Sasha had periodically been putting serious effort into trying to persuade Evie to return to the Cotswolds from London ever since she moved a couple of years ago. ‘Maybe you should have drunk more Prosecco when you were playing regularly.’
Nope. It wasn’t the Prosecco. It was anger. And the anger, Evie realised as she pulled her darts out of the board, was fuelled by hurt. That Dan had had something big with someone else. Jealousy, maybe. Which was absolutely ridiculous, because she was with Matthew and he was lovely. And any jealousy wasn’t just ridiculous, it was stupid. Nothing serious was ever going to happen between her and Dan, so she couldn’t let any feelings she might have for him ruin her relationships with other people.
* * *
‘Close the curtains, Autumn,’ Evie groaned the next morning. ‘What time is it?’
