Chapter 16
Mary woke at five on Christmas Day, like she used to when she was a kid, only now it was down to jet lag rather than excitement – though she did feel the familiar tingle of magic that Christmas Day always brought in the split second before she remembered her situation.
At least she didn’t have to spring out of bed and dash downstairs to see what Santa had brought.
Instead, she turned over and tried to get back to sleep.
When that didn’t work, she switched on the bedside light, sat up and read.
A couple of hours later, she got up, had a quick shower and dressed in joggers and a sweatshirt.
She pulled her hair into a loose ponytail – there was no point washing it now, she’d only have to do it again after the swim.
She picked up Evan’s gift-wrapped sweater and padded downstairs.
She was going to feel like an idiot giving it to him when he’d have nothing for her, like she was some crazed fan.
But there was no shame in doing something nice for someone, she reminded herself, even if it wasn’t reciprocated.
She didn’t want to embarrass Evan now that he was being nice to her, but she could pass it off as a thank-you gift for letting her stay in the house with him.
She was surprised to find Evan already up. He was sitting at the table in the dining room with his back to her, gazing out over the sea where a pale sun was edging over the horizon, casting a silvery glow across the water. Light danced and flickered on the surface like thousands of tiny diamonds.
She tiptoed over to the Christmas tree and placed his present beneath it, feeling shy about giving it to him now. It could wait until after breakfast.
‘Good morning! Happy Christmas!’ she called.
‘Happy Christmas!’ He twisted around in his seat and smiled at her.
‘Oh, you’ve had breakfast already?’ she asked as she walked over to him and saw that there was a spoon and an empty bowl in front of him.
‘Just the first course,’ he said, nodding to the bowl. ‘Owen said I should have a hearty breakfast before the swim, so I’m following orders.’ He yawned and stretched sleepily. ‘Anyway, happy Christmas!’ He picked up a slim red envelope she hadn’t noticed sitting by his mug and handed it to her.
‘For me?’ She raised her eyebrows in astonishment as she took it from him.
He nodded.
‘I didn’t think you’d be into exchanging gifts.’
‘What on earth gave you that idea?’ he asked with a teasing smile.
She shrugged. ‘Considering you grudged even giving me the time of day…’
‘Well, I thought better of it, so…’
‘Thanks.’ Dazed, she slid into the seat opposite him. She opened the envelope and took out a piece of A4 paper.
‘Sorry it’s not more… glamorous. It was kind of last minute.’
Mary’s eyes widened as she read what was printed on the sheet. It was a printout of a voucher for a helicopter tour of New York for two with complimentary champagne.
‘Oh wow, this is amazing!’ She grinned. ‘Thank you. I’ve always wanted to do this.’
He smiled smugly. ‘I know.’
‘But how—’ Then she remembered him talking to her mum when she’d come back from Dingle yesterday. ‘Oh God, I hope Mum didn’t put you up to this. You could have just got me a box of chocolates or something.’ This must have cost a fortune.
‘She just gave me some ideas.’
‘She shouldn’t have—’
‘Calm down,’ Evan interrupted. ‘I asked her.’
‘Oh! Well, thank you. It’s perfect.’
‘I’m glad you like it.’ There was a warmth in his eyes as he smiled at her that set her stomach fluttering. She was so relieved she hadn’t got him a leprechaun hat. That would have been mortifying. As it was, a sweater seemed a bit pathetic next to this.
‘I’ve always wanted to do that too,’ he said, nodding to the sheet she was still holding, his eyebrows raised suggestively. ‘Just saying.’
‘Really?’ Was he seriously saying he’d like to do it with her?
‘Yeah, it’s one of those things, isn’t it, that you don’t do when you live in a place.’
‘Yeah. Tourists have all the fun.’
‘But you can take whoever you want, of course.’
‘Hang on, I got you something too.’ She went over to the Christmas tree, retrieved his present and handed him the bulky parcel.
‘Wow, thank you. I honestly wasn’t expecting anything.’ The way his face lit up made Mary wish she’d bought him more presents.
He made short work of the gift wrapping. ‘Oh, it’s cool. I love it!’ he said, holding up the sweater in both hands. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome. You can change it if you want. I can take it back for you later in the week if it doesn’t fit or anything.’
He held it up against his chest. ‘I think it’ll fit perfectly.’
‘Well, time for breakfast round two,’ Mary said, getting up. ‘What did you have?’ She nodded to his bowl.
‘Granola and blueberries with Greek yoghurt.’
‘Ugh, so healthy. So, what’s the next course?’
‘You tell me. I’m completely at your mercy. What do you usually have on Christmas Day?’
‘Well, it has to be a treat. How about smoked salmon and scrambled eggs?’
‘Sounds awesome. With some of that wheaten bread of your mom’s?’
‘And lashings of butter. We need to keep our strength up.’
Evan joined her in the kitchen and they made breakfast together. Mary was surprised how relaxed and friendly it felt between them already. Evan was proving to be very easy company.
When the food was ready they brought it back to the table and chatted as they ate. Evan asked Mary to tell him about the O’Sullivans.
‘Carmel’s an author. She’s a bit of a local celebrity. She writes historical romance – mainly Regency stuff.’
‘Like Bridgerton?’
‘That kind of thing, yes. Very sexy.’
‘And this religion of hers doesn’t have a problem with that?’ he said with a smirk.
‘Okay, laugh it up.’ Mary smiled. ‘Her husband Sean is a solicitor – he’s lovely. And their daughter Hilary will be there too with her husband and their son Charlie. He’s five.’
‘So when are you exchanging presents with your family?’ Evan asked, pushing his plate away when they’d finished eating. ‘Your mom told me you’re going to Zoom.’
‘Around one-thirty – after the swim and before we go to the O’Sullivans’.’
‘That’ll be kinda early for them, won’t it?’
Mary shrugged. ‘It’ll be eight-thirty, which is reasonable enough. They’ll be up early anyway – Bo will see to that.’
When they’d cleared up after breakfast, they went their separate ways to get ready for the swim.
It was only a short walk downhill to the beach, but Mary elected to drive so that she could load the car with supplies – towels, blankets, hot water bottles, flasks of tea and a change of clothes.
When Evan joined her, he was wearing a grey hoodie with jeans and chunky boots, and looked ruggedly handsome as he slid into the passenger seat beside her.
They joined the crowd streaming onto the beach as they drove onto the sand.
Mary was glad Evan had decided to come too.
This beach was one of the most beautiful places in the world in her opinion, and one of her absolute favourite places.
She had such happy memories of long days spent playing on the sand with her brothers and sisters, the five of them splashing around in the sea until their skin turned blue and their teeth chattered.
Then they’d wrap up in jumpers and padded jackets, and warm up over picnics of crisps, lemonade and sandy sandwiches.
‘It’s so beautiful here,’ Evan breathed as they got out of the car.
The sky was pale grey, shot through with rays of bright, piercing light. Mary shielded her eyes against the sun to gaze across the wide expanse of sand and the shimmering water to the mountains that rose in the distance. ‘You’ve been down to the beach before, right?’
‘Sure. For one of my moody walks.’ He grinned at her.
Rolling waves washed onto the beach with a hiss of foam, and cries of ‘Happy Christmas’ carried on the breeze as spectators huddled in groups, chattering and laughing, clouds of breath mingling in the air with the steam from cardboard coffee cups.
Swimmers were scrabbling out of their clothes, and Owen was walking among them, barking out last-minute instructions.
He waved to Evan and Mary and indicated it was time to get ready.
‘Well, here goes nothing!’ Mary said. She and Evan returned to the car and stood on either side of it to change.
When she’d stripped down to her swimsuit, she folded her clothes neatly and piled them on the driver’s seat.
As she slammed the door closed, Aifric appeared at her side and handed her a Santa hat.
‘Wow, not bad,’ Aifric murmured under her breath, jerking her head towards the other side of the car, where Evan now stood in his new swim trunks.
That was an understatement, Mary thought.
He was fitter than she’d expected – not too ripped, but lean and toned.
There was a light sprinkling of dark hair across his broad sculpted chest that she found very sexy.
She let her gaze drift over the defined muscles of his abdomen and the tantalising line of his happy trail.
‘It’s rude to stare,’ Aifric whispered in her ear as he approached them, and Mary blushed, realising she’d been caught ogling him. But when she focused on his face again, he was totally checking her out too. A slow smile spread across his face as their eyes met.
‘Here.’ Aifric handed him a Santa hat as they joined the shivering group of swimmers lined up on the sand, mottled thighs pimpling in the breeze off the sea.
‘Thanks.’ Evan pulled on the hat.
‘You’re going to wear that?’ Mary asked in amazement. She thought he’d draw the line at looking ridiculous.
He shrugged. ‘When in Dingle…’
‘Mary!’ a voice called from behind her. She turned to find her Aunt Caroline shivering on the sand, arms wrapped around herself.
‘Hi, Caroline. Happy Christmas.’ Mary introduced her to Evan.
‘Fair play to you for coming out this morning,’ she said to him. ‘Freezing, isn’t it? The girls aren’t liking this one bit,’ she added in an undertone to Mary.
But Evan had obviously heard and dropped his head to hide his amused smile.
‘Wow, I even got to meet the famous girls,’ he said to Mary when Caroline had moved away. ‘They don’t seem so bad to me.’
Mary rolled her eyes. ‘You would think that.’
‘Okay, here goes!’ Aifric said, as they lined up and Owen began counting down, yelling to be heard over the crash of the waves. The supporters joined in loudly and enthusiastically.
When Owen shouted ‘One,’ everyone charged towards the sea, squealing and roaring, while behind them the gathered crowd cheered them on with shouts of encouragement and hoots of laughter.
Mary gasped for breath as she ran into the waves and the icy cold water sent spikes of pain shooting up her legs.
But she’d never felt so alive as her friends and neighbours splashed around her in the foam, laughing giddily at the craziness of it all, the tangy sea air filling her lungs and the taste of salt on her lips.
She saw Owen dive under the water and come up, shaking his head and spraying droplets of sparkling water all around him, his blonde hair now dark and plastered to his head like a seal.
She didn’t get further into the water than her waist, but she noticed Evan had got down and managed a few strokes, looking surprisingly at home.
She was amused to see Ryan spot him and follow suit, not to be outdone.
Mary contented herself with frolicking around in the shallows with Aifric.
After a few minutes, all but the hardiest swimmers began running back to the cars to change and get warm. Evan and Mary stood facing away from each other while they quickly towelled dry and got into their clothes.
‘That was awesome!’ Evan turned to her grinning when they were dressed again. Droplets of water dripped from his hair onto his face and his eyes sparkled.
‘I’m glad you enjoyed it,’ she said. They were both still shivering, and Mary fought the urge to throw her arms around him and snuggle into the warmth of his body.
She settled for standing extra close to him as they warmed up over cups of tea and coffee doled out by the little beach café. Everyone lingered for a while, chatting and congratulating each other. Then they began to disperse to their warm houses, appetites sharpened for a well-earned feast.