Page 97 of Last Christmas in London

‘Evie Frost, open—’

I slammed it shut again. ‘I was trying to catch you before I left for Christmas.’

‘Ethan mentioned you spoke to Doug; I got your number off him, but Ethan said you talked.’

I laughed. ‘Yeah, it’s a long story, but I was looking for you and I found Doug and he told me you were visiting your mum – your mum’s grave, I mean. Sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ he laughed awkwardly. ‘I was.’

‘How was your dad?’ I asked stupidly but then, with a surge of sass, I added, ‘I’ve met your father by the way.’

‘You have?’ His voice practically rose an octave.

‘You didn’t say he was a broadcaster.’ I tried to keep my tone light. ‘I meet them all the time.’

‘Uh-huh, I can only apologise.’ We both chuckled. ‘Did he interview your boss?’ His voice had a touch of confusion.

‘Oh, God, no!’ I exclaimed, maybe a little too eagerly. ‘We had more of a run-in… a few run-ins, in fact. One of which went viral.’

‘Viral?’

I was unsure how to phrase it without it sounding like some ridiculous reality-show drama. ‘Yes… my boss and he have, erm, history. And it was caught on camera and went viral. It was all over the news.’

‘I don’t have social media,’ he reminded me.

‘But… no news alerts?’ I asked, still in disbelief, as Josh stopped rattling the door in the hope that I would release the door handle. He should know me better than that. ‘Even about your dad?’

I could practically hear Simon’s eyes rolling through the phone. ‘I don’t pay attention to what’s trending in celebrity culture. It’s just noise.’

‘Well, I guess that explains why you haven’t seen the video of your dad and my boss getting into it outside the BBC.’

Josh’s surprise attempt to open the door failed and I heard him cry out in a high-pitched tone as he stubbed what I assumed was his toe, kicking the door.

‘Hang on.’ I placed my phone against my chest and opened the door to Josh. ‘Stop it!’

‘I’m just going to listen.’

‘Fine, just… shut up!’

I shut the door again, shivering with excitement as I heard Josh pressing himself against my bedroom door. Only at the exact moment for the bedheads of Megan, Denise, and Bob to appear at their doors.

I opened my mouth to explain, but no sound came out. Instead, I walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

‘Fuck!’ I mouthed into the mirror silently, before sitting on the toilet seat and taking a calming breath. ‘Sorry about that, the whole house is awake.’

‘Oh, shit! Did I wake everyone up?’

‘No, no, that was mostly my fault – and Josh’s.’

‘How are the terrible twosome?’

‘That is not what they’re called!’ I laughed, enjoying the fact he had already given my friends a nickname.

‘Well, I can hardly call them Cindy Lou Who and John McClane for the rest of time.’

‘Yes, you can.’ I grinned. ‘And I’ll forever call you the Grinch.’

He groaned down the phone. ‘Supersexy!’