by Lovett, Jo
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘See you later.’
Sasha’s text with the details pinged through. It was in an upstairs function room at a pub in Kew. He could drive out there.
Would Evie be there? She might be. Did he want to see her? It depended. It was always nice to catch up with her but he wasn’t really up for watching her with her boyfriend.
By the looks of things, i.e. the one empty seat at their table of eight, Dan was the last to arrive. There was no sign of the blond guy Evie had taken to Sasha’s engagement party. Maybe they weren’t together any more.
‘Thank you for coming,’ Sasha said. ‘You can only ask a sibling at really short notice. Evie’s boyfriend got a migraine. We couldn’t really ask anyone else because it would have sounded rude, like they weren’t our first choice.’
‘I can only say I’m honoured,’ Dan said, rolling his eyes at her, more pissed off than he should be at being the stand-in for Evie’s boyfriend.
‘Yeah, you should be,’ Sasha said. ‘We could have decided an empty seat was better than you.’
‘Might well be,’ Dan said. ‘I might feed you all the wrong answers.’
‘I’m Josh, Evie’s flatmate,’ said a man on the other side of the table. ‘We have beers, red and white.’
‘A beer would be great, thanks.’ Dan remembered Evie talking about Josh at a picnic last year.
‘Sorry, I should have introduced you,’ Evie said, passing a bottle of beer and a glass to Dan. ‘This is Josh’s partner, Tom. And these are my colleagues and friends Priya, Claire and Sara. How are you on dingbats?’
‘I want to say I’m a genius but I can’t actually remember what they are and I’m fairly sure I’m not.’
‘You have to make well-known phrases from pictures,’ Evie said, pushing a piece of paper towards Dan. ‘Josh is really good at them if they involve sex.’
‘I’m really good at anything if it involves sex.’ Josh did a suggestive pout in Evie’s direction and she laughed and made a face back at him, looking a lot more relaxed than she had just now talking to Dan. Maybe she’d sensed his initial irritation about the boyfriend.
‘Okay.’ A sound like gunshot came over the speakers and a lot of people, including most of their table, half-screamed. ‘Apologies. I’m Dr Blue, your quizmaster, and apparently I just clapped too loudly. Time to start the questions.’
Three rounds out of eight down, they were coming third out of about twenty tables, they were all taking it a lot more seriously than possibly any of them had been expecting, and Dan was loving Evie’s quiz persona.
‘No, no, no,’ she was saying, waving both her forefingers at the others for emphasis. ‘We need to think it through. We can’t just waste our joker. This could be the difference between winning and losing. I mean, it probably will be.’
‘I just think sport’s safer than music,’ said Dan. ‘Music could be anything. It could be classical. It could be country and western. Can we cover all of that?’
‘But can we cover every sport?’ Evie said. ‘Like, who here knows who the current dodgeball world champions are?’ They all shook their heads. ‘Exactly. I think we go music.’
‘Or,’ said Dan, ‘and I know this is controversial, but maybe we go world capitals.’
‘Dodgy,’ Evie said.
‘You’re a bloody geography teacher,’ Josh said. ‘What do you teach kids at school now?’ Evie glared at him and he said, ‘Sorry.’
‘I think we should go music,’ Evie said.
* * *
Music turned out to have been a good call – although they’d done equally well on sport, Dan kept reminding everyone – and two hours, a very nice chicken biryani followed by choc ices and a lot of questions later, they were the winners.
‘This is literally like a village pub,’ said Sasha when they piled out with their victory case of wine. ‘Apart from the planes. It’s lovely.’ It was near Kew Green and surrounded by a surprising number of trees. ‘I’m going to hug you and leave you so that I don’t get home too late.’
‘Text me when you arrive,’ Evie said.
‘And me,’ Dan agreed. Sasha was driving back to Melting this evening. It should be fine, under two hours, on a Sunday evening, but you wanted to make sure that people were okay.
‘We’re going to head off too,’ Josh said. ‘I’m staying at Tom’s tonight, Evie.’
Priya, Claire and Sara were walking to the train station together.
‘Evie must be pretty much on your way back, Dan,’ Sasha said, jiggling her own car keys.
‘Yes, pretty much,’ Dan said. Not really. ‘I’ll give you a lift.’ He wasn’t totally keen, if he was honest. He’d enjoyed her company this evening, as he always did, but there was something intimate about being alone in a car with someone, and they hadn’t been alone together since Vegas, and she had a boyfriend.
‘No, honestly,’ she said, looking about as thrilled as he felt, ‘I can get an Uber.’
‘Really not a problem,’ Dan told her insincerely. No option, because Sasha was looking at him.
‘Okay, well, great, thank you.’
Now that they didn’t have the quiz to talk about, silence stretched between them as he reversed out of his parking space and into the road. On Dan’s part, he was suddenly – ridiculously – thinking about Vegas again. Should he mention it, to break the ice? No, maybe not.
‘So that was a great evening,’ he said eventually. ‘Good to know that we’re quizzing superstars.’
‘You were very impressive on your weird niche sports,’ Evie said.
‘Ice hockey is not weird or niche. I will admit that bossaball is niche. As is knowing the names of every celebrity ever who’s had twins by a surrogate, though.’
‘Niche in a good way. I’m proud of my celebrity twins knowledge. And also my rice knowledge.’
Dan nodded. ‘That was seriously impressive.’ Their table had been the only one in the room who’d got full marks in the ‘Name what type of rice grain this is’ round, courtesy of Evie.
Dan slowed down for a red traffic light and the conversation slowed too. Stalled completely in fact. They’d never struggled to talk before.
‘I should have congratulated you before now on your baby news,’ Evie said after a few moments.
‘Um, thanks. Yeah. It was a bit of a surprise. But I’m obviously delighted now.’
‘Yes, wonderful news.’ More silence. Then Evie said, ‘What’s the due date?’
‘Late July or early August.’ Dan negotiated a right turn onto a main road followed by a sharp left.
‘Wow, so… wow.’ Her voice was suddenly very cold.
Dan could say nothing, or he could say something. It felt like this was another one of those make or break moments in terms of a friendship. If he said nothing, maybe Evie was going to think he’d still been with Hannah when he was in Vegas. He actually couldn’t let her think that.
‘Hannah, the baby’s mother, and I went out briefly in the autumn,’ he said. ‘We split up before I came to Vegas.’
‘Great,’ Evie said, very over-brightly. ‘I mean, I wasn’t suggesting you hadn’t.’
Dan gripped the steering wheel. He shouldn’t react to that.
He was going to react to it. He didn’t like the implication that she would think that he might do that.
‘You know, I would never cheat on anyone,’ he said. ‘Never have, and I’d really like to believe that I never will.’ When your father had cheated on your mother a lot, you knew you never wanted to be that kind of arsehole yourself.
‘No, I really wasn’t suggesting that you would.’ They’d slowed down for more lights, so Dan was able to turn to look at Evie. She was staring straight ahead. ‘I suppose I was a rebound thing.’ She turned slightly and looked at him for a moment before resuming her straight-ahead stare.
‘No.’ Dan shook his head. ‘No. Definitely not. No rebound. Hannah and I weren’t serious. I mean, we’re having a baby and that’s serious, but we weren’t ser
ious as a couple. I wasn’t upset when we split up. There was no rebound. You weren’t a rebound.’ He eased forward as the lights went green. ‘You, our night in Vegas, that was…’ What was it? Amazing? Perfect? Incredibly special? A complete one-off. ‘It happened. In the moment. Because, I suppose, at the time it felt… right.’ He should really not have said that. Except, he liked Evie. He liked her a lot. She was a lovely person. He’d known her most of his life and she was Sasha’s best friend and he didn’t want things to be awkward. ‘I mean, that was a great night. I really enjoyed it.’ Oh, God. What was wrong with him? Was he making things better or worse?
‘Yep.’ Yeah, she sounded very clipped. He’d made things worse. ‘Yep, no, it just sounded as though it was very soon after. But obviously you and Hannah had split up first.’
‘Yes, we had.’ It really annoyed him that Evie had thought for even a moment that he’d cheat on someone. Especially her, actually. Because it would have been cheating on her too if he’d already been with someone. He just wouldn’t do that. ‘Frankly, I can’t see much of a difference, if any, between me splitting up with someone and then sleeping with you, and you sleeping with me and beginning shortly afterwards to go out with Matthew. Assuming you weren’t going out with him at the time.’ Of course she hadn’t been going out with him at the time; he was being ridiculous. It was like he was trying to pick an argument with her for no good reason at all. Other than the fact that he really hadn’t taken to Matthew. Which wasn’t a good reason. She could go out with who she liked.
‘I wasn’t. And, yes, sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.’
‘No worries. Nor should I.’ Dan didn’t take his eyes away from the road.
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
When they got to Evie’s road, Dan stopped the car and double-parked.
‘Thank you for the lift,’ said Evie, only half-looking at him. ‘It was really kind of you. And thank you for coming to the quiz. That was kind of you too.’
‘I enjoyed it,’ said Dan truthfully. It was just the drive back here that hadn’t been so good. He turned so that he was facing her full-on, and she turned a little bit more towards him. God, he loved the line of her neck. So elegant. ‘I’m not sure what happened during that conversation, but I’m sorry.’
‘I’m sorry too.’ She looked up at him and he saw that her eyes were glistening.
They were sitting so close to each other that he could see her lips trembling, the rise and fall of her chest. He saw one tear dribble out. He lifted his hand and wiped it carefully away with his thumb. Evie bit her lip.
Oh, God.
He slid his hand into her hair and she leaned slightly towards him.
Their lips were only inches apart now. He loved her skin, the shape of her cheek, the feel of her hair. He leaned further towards her. He wanted to taste her again, learn the shape of her body again. He wanted a repeat of that night in Vegas, except sober.
She turned her head towards his. They were going to kiss. This had been building for years, really. He moved a little closer.
Evie sighed and parted her lips.
And then very suddenly pulled away from him.
And, Christ, rightly so. She had a boyfriend apart from anything else.
He let go of her and drew back and she shook her head and fumbled for the door handle behind her.
She practically fell out of the car in her hurry to get out.
‘Goodnight,’ she said. ‘And thank you again.’
Dan sat and watched until she was safely inside her front door and then smacked a palm to his forehead. What the hell had that been? Again, she had a boyfriend, for Christ’s sake. If you had a partner, you didn’t kiss someone else. And you didn’t kiss someone – however briefly – who you knew had a partner. That moment had almost become something that they’d both said they’d never do. God.
He wasn’t going to be giving Evie a lift anywhere again in a hurry. Far too intimate. There was something about him and Evie in a car together.
Eighteen
Then – Christmas 2019
Evie
Bloody London. Bloody car. Bloody British Rail. Bloody Christmas bloody presents. Bloody bloody everything.
Obviously, some might say that Evie should have checked that her car would start before she’d spent one and a half bloody hours traipsing backwards and forwards between her flat and the car parked two roads away in the bloody drizzle with bags-for-life full of presents and stuffing all those presents into the car. But it had never broken down before.
Obviously, if she hadn’t got a parking ticket last time she double-parked outside her flat she would have tried to start the car before she filled it to the brim with presents and suitcases, because she’d have tried to drive it round to the flat, and then she’d have found out sooner that the engine was just going to splutter over and over again during the dozens of times she turned the key in the ignition, sometimes coming tantalisingly close to making a proper revving sound, but never actually starting.
And, obviously, if she’d known she was going to break down on the twenty-third of December when all seats on all trains to anywhere near the Cotswolds were booked solid other than a few incredibly expensive first-class ones, she would either have booked a reasonably priced seat a long time ago or gone for premium car breakdown cover.
But she had not checked and she had filled the car and there was no chance of anyone coming to fix the car for days, if not weeks, and she did not have an affordable train ticket and what was she going to do? She didn’t want to spend Christmas by herself in London. She didn’t want to spend all her disposable income for the next six weeks on one return train ticket for a ninety-mile journey. If she did manage to go, she did want to take all the presents she’d bought for her mum and Autumn and everyone else. And some clothes and toiletries. So cycling wasn’t an option even if she was fit enough to cycle all that way and even owned a bloody bike.
What was she going to do?
Coach. There were coaches.
She got her phone out and googled. No. There were no seats on any coaches to anywhere vaguely near home before the twenty-seventh.
She really wanted to stamp her foot.
She did stamp it. Ow, ow, ouch. She’d stamped it far too hard. Owwwwww. Now she’d probably broken a metatarsal or something. Ow.
Right. Deep, deep breaths. First she was going to text Sasha and her mum and tell them that she would not be joining them for the Melting Bishop Christmas tree walk at 2 p.m. today, and then she was going to unpack the car and while she unpacked she was going to try to think of a solution.
A message from her mum pinged through just after she’d lugged her third lot of presents back into the flat.
Everything will be fine. Going to work something out and will come and get you by car by end of today. WE WILL RESCUE YOU. Love you. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU LATER xxx
Evie sniffed. She really wanted to get home today and even though she was going to be twenty-eight tomorrow she was going to have to let her wonderful mum do a big round trip to London and rescue her.
Her phone rang as she was typing out a thaaaaaank youuuuuu reply. Sasha.
‘I have a solution,’ Sasha said without any hellos. ‘All sorted. Don’t move. Just be ready. Dan’s coming to pick you up because he’s driving home today almost past where you live and it makes perfect sense. I’m going to send you his number now and yours to him and you’re sorted.’
‘Oh, wow. Does he mind?’ And also, was South Wimbledon really on anyone’s way to the Cotswolds?
‘Course he doesn’t. You’ll be company for him on the journey and I’ve Google-Mapped it and I really don’t think it’s that much of a detour for him. Anyway. I’ll see you later. Got to go now. Have a good journey.’
‘Thank you so much, lovely Sasha. Can’t wait to see you.’
‘Me too and nothing to thank me for. See you later.’
It was the perfect solution. Dan was always good company.
Right. She’d unpacked slightly under half the contents of the car so far. Should she leave things half-and-half as they were, or have them all in one place to make it easier for Dan, and in that case should she put everything back in the car or bring the more-than-half of her stuff back to the flat?
She wondered if Dan had a girlfriend at the moment. Nothing to do with her, of course. Yes, she was single, and yes, she’d love to meet someone nice and not boring but at the same time very sensible and tidy, and yes, she and Dan had made that pact and it had kind of felt like they’d sealed it with that kiss, and she’d thought about it every time that she’d ever seen mistletoe since, but in reality, of course, nothing was ever going to happen between them. Which was totally fine. She lived in London, and there had to be literally about a million men in approximately her age bracket here, so there were a lot of fish in the sea.
Anyway. Focus. The suitcases and the presents. It would be easier for Dan if they were all in one place and it would be better to bring them back to the flat because she didn’t need to have her car broken into on top of everything else.
By the time she’d schlepped backwards and forwards five more times between the car and her flat with overflowing present bags and her wheely suitcases, she’d broken two of her nails and had had to strip down to a vest top and was still slightly sweating. Hauling luggage around was a very good workout; her arms and lungs were both going to be in better condition after this. Right now, though, she maybe needed just to have a very quick shower and maybe also put some more make-up on before Dan arrived.
He rang her doorbell just as she was blotting her lips on loo paper having decided that she’d gone a step too far with all the lip gloss she’d applied on top of her lipstick. She did a final blot and thank goodness glanced in the mirror again as she made her way out of the room. She had a bit of the loo paper stuck to her lower lip. Very close shave. She pulled it off and reapplied just a bit more gloss, and then some more, didn’t blot this time, and made her way to the door.
