Dan coughed slightly and said, ‘So what do I do?’
‘You make a hole here.’ Evie leaned forwards and her hair fell into his face. ‘Oops, sorry.’
‘No problem.’ His smile was slow and it felt like it held some kind of promise, which was mad, because of course it didn’t really.
‘And then you thread it through,’ she said.
Dan took the daisies back from her and their hands brushed again. He lifted a finger and brushed her cheek.
‘There was a small insect,’ he said, his voice husky.
‘Thank you,’ Evie said, her voice pretty husky too.
His eyes had gone to her mouth, like they did the time they kissed outside her house. Oh, God. Every part of her was aware of him. If he actually touched her again she might jump a mile. Or melt.
Twenty-Five
Then – July 2021
Dan
Dan’s heart rate had picked up way more than playing with daisies warranted. Right now, he’d kill to be able to reach out and kiss Evie. But Sasha, Max and Greggy were right over there and of course neither of them wanted to kiss or anything else in front of them.
Evie moved herself backwards slightly, and glanced over her shoulder at the others, presumably struck by the same thought at the same moment.
‘So now that you’re a flower-necklace-making expert,’ she said, ‘maybe we should go and join in with the others.’
‘Absolutely.’ Dan didn’t like doing any kind of exercise with Max, but just now it felt like the lesser of two evils. He jumped to his feet and held a hand out to Evie. Her hand fitted so well in his. He could ask her if she’d like to meet up some time, and he was pretty sure that, if she said yes, they’d have a great time together.
He was also pretty sure that he could get to like her far too much – maybe already did – and that there’d be huge potential to get hurt if they started something. Far too big a risk.
‘Race you over there,’ he said, indicating the others with his head.
‘Are youjoking?’ Evie said. ‘That is so unfair. I’dsmashyou if we had a race.’ She started joggingveryslowly. Dan laughed – you couldn’t grow up in the same village as Evie and not know how much she hated running – and joined her.
‘Yasssssssss,’ crowed Evie half an hour later, dancing gleefully around the goal they’d made with jumpers.
‘That was a total mis-kick,’ Dan said from the middle of the goal, folding his arms across his chest.
‘It was not,’ said Evie, still dancing. ‘It was pure calculation. Either I’m very talented or you’re a rubbish goalie. Or both.’
Dan laughed and shook his head. What hewantedto do was join in with her ridiculous dancing, because it just looked so much fun.
Evie finally stopped the dancing and said, ‘I think we might need to get going soon, Sasha, otherwise we’ll be late for the theatre, unless the journey home’s alotshorter than it was on the way here.’ She looked at the others and said, ‘We’re going into town to seeHairspray.’
‘Wow,’ said Greggy. ‘How did you get the tickets? I hear they’re like gold dust. I mean, are you sleeping with the producer?’
‘Yeah, totally,’ Evie said, and, even though he knew it was a joke and that her love life was nothing to do with him, Dan felt a stab of pure jealousy at the thought of Evie sleeping with anyone. Insane. ‘Friends inveryhigh places. No, it was a present from all the parents at school at the end of the year.’
As they packed all the picnic gear away, Dan reflected that this had been the most relaxed he’d been around Max for years. That would be the presence of Greggy, and also Evie.
They all wandered back to the car park together, chatting and laughing.
‘So this is us,’ said Evie, stopping in front of a remarkably clapped-out green Renault Clio parked expertly in a tiny space. ‘You’ll be astonished to hear that this is the car that broke down that time you gave me a lift to Melting.’
‘I am astonished,’ said Dan, laughing. Astonished that the car still worked at all. It made his own ten-year-old VW Golf look like a high-performance luxury sports car.
‘This car,’ said Evie, ‘is remarkable. It’s actually one year older than me. And still genuinely drives like a dream, occasionally.’
