Chapter 13
Dingle was full of Christmas cheer, bustling with revellers and last-minute shoppers.
Lighted decorations strung across the streets twinkled overhead, and the pubs and restaurants were festooned with fairy lights and garlands.
Festive music drifted from bars, mingling in the crisp air with carol singers accompanied by the jingling of coins in collection buckets.
It felt warm and comforting despite the cold, and made Mary miss her family all the more.
She paused to listen to a choir, trying to get into the festive spirit, and tossed a five-euro note into their bucket before moving on.
Maybe buying a present for Evan wouldn’t be so hard after all, she thought as she strolled along the brightly lit streets, checking out the shop windows.
He was American, after all, and there were plenty of shops here aimed at the tourist market.
She smiled mischievously as she stopped in front of a big souvenir shop, taking in the window display.
She could get him a leprechaun hat and a shillelagh – perfect!
It’d serve him right for being such a grouse, not to mention his stereotyped ideas about Ireland.
Then her gaze drifted to the wool shop next door, her eyes falling on a beautiful Aran jumper in a charcoal grey colour.
She couldn’t help picturing Evan in it, and she knew it would suit him.
She could see him wearing it on a snowy winter day in Vermont, sitting by a roaring fire in an upmarket bed and breakfast. Perhaps she should take her mother’s advice and get him a proper present.
It was Christmas after all – season of goodwill to all men, even Evan Prentice.
Just because he was being hostile to her, she didn’t have to sink to his level.
She’d be the bigger person and do something nice for him anyway.
She felt better as she entered the shop, pleased with her decision.
There was no getting away from it – she was her mother’s daughter, and being mean or spiteful was never going to sit right with her.
Besides, maybe the jumper would remind Evan of her and he’d think fondly of her whenever he wore it.
Not that she cared about him liking her, of course…
The sales assistant made small talk with Mary as she gift-wrapped the sweater. ‘Did you hear Evan Prentice is staying somewhere around here?’ she asked, snipping a length of ribbon.
‘Really?’ Mary gave her an excited smile. ‘Have you seen him?’
‘No, afraid not. He seems to be keeping himself to himself. Which is understandable. I suppose he’s come here to get a bit of peace, the poor thing.’
Mary hummed noncommittally in reply.
‘He’s had a time of it, hasn’t he?’ the woman continued. ‘It must be awful with reporters chasing you around all the time.’
Mary just nodded. Evan’s break-up with his girlfriend was obviously bigger news than she’d realised.
Maybe he was justified being so paranoid.
She decided to do some more googling of him when she got home.
She bought champagne and flowers to bring to the O’Sullivans tomorrow, along with some small gifts – a set of handmade soaps, some Christmas tealight holders made by a local potter, a crystal tree decoration, and a jigsaw and selection box for their grandson Charlie.
When she’d finished her shopping, she went for a walk along the seafront.
She passed Abbie and Aifric’s little kiosk, all shut up now, with a sign saying they’d be open again in the second week of January.
Seabirds swooped and hovered over the water as she followed the curve of the bay around to her brother Aidan’s restaurant.
It was in a spectacular location on the seafront, with glass walls and a wide terrace with outdoor seating making the most of its views.
To the side, there was a separate entrance to the flat above where Aidan and Bo lived, with the new door her father was so taken with. She had to admit it was lovely.
A wave of loneliness engulfed her as she cupped her hands and peered in the restaurant windows.
Christmas Eve lunch service was one of Aidan’s busiest times of the year, and the place would usually be buzzing by now.
It was sad to see it dark and empty, but she was touched that he’d put her before business and closed it so that he could go to New York.
The Christmas decorations were tasteful and pretty, and she imagined how inviting it would be when the hundreds of fairy lights strung around the ceiling were lit and the place was full of steamy warmth, delicious aromas, the clatter of glasses and crockery, and the buzz of conversation as friends and families celebrated together.
She could see Aidan weaving between the tables chatting to happy customers and receiving compliments on the food with his megawatt smile.
She turned away, feeling more desolate than she had since she’d first come home to an empty house.
She missed her family so much and was more reluctant than ever to return to her grumpy housemate who didn’t want her there.
Not ready to deal with Evan’s hostility again just yet, she decided to put off going back a little longer and treat herself to lunch in a café.
Almost as soon as she’d gone, Evan regretted not going into Dingle with Mary.
He read some of his book and looked through a script he’d been sent, but he quickly found himself getting twitchy and restless knocking around the house on his own.
He tried calling Max again, with no joy.
He suspected Max was deliberately dodging his calls.
He was bored and lonely, he admitted to himself.
He should have bundled up in his ‘cat burglar outfit’ as Mary called it, to avoid being recognised, and gone shopping with her.
It would have been nice to have a change of scene and be a little sociable.
He was surprised how disappointed he felt that she seemed intent on leaving him alone from now on, and he realised he didn’t really want her to keep her promise to stay out of his way.
The truth was, moping around on his own wasn’t as much fun as it sounded – and it sounded like no fun at all.
How bad could it be to be holed up with a cute, cool girl for a couple of days?
Mary was quick and funny, completely unimpressed by his fame, and he enjoyed sparring with her.
In fact, he sometimes found himself getting pissy with her for the sake of it, arguing just to see what she’d come back with.
And that ridiculous incident on the bridge yesterday was the most fun he’d had since the whole thing with Olivia blew up.
She’d made him laugh so hard he could hardly catch a breath, and it had felt good when she joined in and they were chuckling together, like friends.
Mary seemed like she’d be good company, and it’d be nice to have someone to pass the time with and chat to over lunch or dinner.
There was definitely no need for them to eat their meals separately.
He wandered over to the noticeboard on the kitchen wall where Mary had pinned her chart.
Obviously, he couldn’t join her at the pub or on the Christmas morning swim.
Fun as that sounded, it was way too public.
But she’d said he was welcome to join her on any of her activities, and he could extend the same invitation to her.
She could slob out on the sofa with him and they could watch movies together and go for walks on the beach.
Maybe it was time for him to get over himself and stop being an ass.
He was in this situation whether he liked it or not, so he may as well enjoy it as much as possible.
And it would be a welcome distraction from brooding over Olivia.
He’d been ignoring her constant calls and messages since her affair was made public.
He wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. He needed time to work out how he felt first and what he wanted.
Caught up in the swirl of mixed emotions that arose when the story broke, it had been hard to sort out exactly what he was feeling – shocked, of course, and hurt by the betrayal.
But was he heartbroken? He’d been too blindsided by the whole thing to think straight.
He was mostly angry with her for the public humiliation and for turning their relationship into tabloid fodder.
He hated that his personal life was being picked over and dissected in public forums and it was mortifying that they were a trending topic on X.
The Spider-Man fandom was hugely invested in the relationship – more than Olivia was, it turned out – and devastated girls were posting videos of themselves on social media, sobbing hysterically over the news and pleading with the two of them to patch things up and get back together.
Olivia had made it clear she wanted that too.
But did he? He wasn’t sure he could feel the same way about her now.
The trust had been broken and he didn’t know if he could get it back.
His gloomy thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing, vibrating on the kitchen table.
Probably another call from Olivia. Or maybe Max had finally grown a pair and was going to speak to him, he thought, as he went to get it.
But when he looked at the screen, he was surprised to see it wasn’t Max calling at all. It was Sheena McBride.