Chapter 24
They spent the rest of the morning in bed, and were just contemplating getting up for food, when the doorbell rang.
‘Who could that be?’ Mary got up and pulled on a dressing gown, then ran downstairs to answer the door. Hilary and Charlie were standing in the porch.
‘Oh! Sorry to get you up.’ Hilary’s eyes widened. ‘I didn’t think you’d still be in bed.’
‘Oh, yeah.’ Mary blushed. ‘Jet lag.’
‘Right. We’re going back to Dublin today, and Charlie just wanted to say goodbye to Evan, if that’s okay. Is he around?’
‘Yes, he’s just… I think he’s in the shower. Come in.’ She waved them inside, then raced upstairs to get Evan.
He threw on some clothes quickly and followed Mary downstairs. Mary noticed Hilary’s sly smirk as Evan appeared behind her, barefoot and running a hand through his tousled hair.
‘Hey, buddy!’ He grinned as Charlie ran up to him and gave him a hug. ‘You came to see me?’
‘Do you want tea? Or coffee?’ Mary asked Hilary as Charlie engaged Evan in a last game of Mario Kart on his Nintendo.
‘No thanks. We’re setting off shortly. Just one game, Charlie,’ she called to her son.
Mary sat beside her on the sofa. ‘Please don’t tell your mother about this.’
‘About what?’ Hilary asked innocently.
‘About… you know, me being in bed at this hour.’
‘Your jet lag you mean?’ Hilary smiled. ‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know.’ Her gaze drifted to Evan. ‘I mean that’s enough to give any woman jet lag.’
Mary laughed. ‘Thanks, Hilary. I owe you.’
When Charlie had beaten Evan at Mario Kart and taken a round of selfies with him to show his friends in Dublin, they waved him and his mother off.
‘You think they know we were boning?’ Evan asked as Mary closed the door.
‘I don’t think Charlie suspected a thing. His mother’s a different matter. But don’t worry, I’ve sworn her to secrecy.’
After a lunch of smoked salmon with some of Evan’s soda bread, they went for a walk on the beach.
Evan said he needed the exercise – ‘I have to get back into that Spidey suit soon’ – and Mary decided she could do with some fresh air.
The rest of the day was spent mostly in bed, only getting up to eat.
They grazed on sausage rolls, toasties and mince pies – anything that was quick and that they could eat with their hands because they didn’t have time to waste cooking or setting tables.
In between bouts of energetic sex, they talked and talked – about books and bands and New York restaurants – and found they loved so many of the same things.
They’d both seen Taylor Swift in Madison Square Garden on the same night, though Evan had gone backstage afterwards and actually met her.
They both loved the novels of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, and agreed that Katz’s still made the best pastrami sandwiches in New York, that The Empire Strikes Back was the best Star Wars movie, and that hanging out in Central Park was their favourite way to spend a summer’s day in the city.
Evan talked about growing up as an only child in Portland and losing his parents when he was thirteen.
They’d died in a car crash on the way home from a friend’s wedding.
His mother had been a librarian and his father an art teacher.
They’d passed on their love of literature and the arts to him and encouraged his interest in acting.
Mary told him what it was like growing up in Dingle, and the fun and frustration of being one of five siblings grappling for space and attention.
‘I had a very happy childhood – until Mom and Dad died – but I was always a little envious of big families.’
‘Would you like to have kids?’
‘Yeah, definitely more than one.’
‘Me too. I think the pros definitely outweigh the cons.’
They talked and talked until they drifted off to sleep.
In the morning they had soft, drowsy sex when they were both still half asleep, and Mary started to believe that this could be more than a holiday fling.
When Evan said: ‘You’ve never been? We have to go,’ about one of his favourite diners, it felt like the start of something.
And when he told her he was having some friends over on New Year’s Eve and asked her to come, she didn’t mind so much that he was leaving this evening, because this was just the beginning.
Evan’s car was picking him up at six, so when he was packed, they had a late lunch of pasta carbonara, sitting at the table like grown-ups, but constantly touching, unable to keep their hands off each other like a pair of teenagers.
They spent the rest of the afternoon nestled together on the sofa, the buzzing of Evan’s phone a constant background irritant.
‘Maybe you should take that,’ Mary said, breaking a kiss as it vibrated across the coffee table yet again.
‘Um, I think that’s yours,’ he said, glancing at it. ‘It’s your mom.’
Mary picked up the phone. ‘No, it’s definitely yours.’ But she could see why he’d assumed it was hers as her mother’s face filled the screen. That was weird.
Evan frowned as she handed him the phone. ‘Hi, Sheena! Is everything okay there?’
‘Yes… well, yes and no.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘It’s just… there’s someone here to see you.’ She swung the phone around and Mary’s heart plummeted as she saw Olivia Mills standing there, her eyes pleading.
‘She just let herself in, and she refused to leave unless I phoned you.’
‘Sorry, Sheena.’ Evan frowned, throwing a furious glance in Olivia’s direction. ‘She shouldn’t have done that.’
‘She says you’re not answering her calls. If you don’t want to talk to her, that’s fine. I won’t hand over my phone. But I said I’d try—’
‘No, it’s fine. I’ll talk to her.’
‘I’m sorry, Evan,’ Olivia said, appearing on the screen as Sheena handed her the phone. ‘I thought you’d be here. I came over because it was the only way I could think of to make you talk to me. Please, you have to talk to me.’ She sounded desperate and her big green eyes pooled with tears.
‘Okay, okay.’ Evan sighed heavily, raking a hand through his hair. ‘But give Sheena her phone and I’ll ring you back. I promise.’
‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Mary said softly, getting up.
‘Sorry,’ Evan mouthed at her as she crept from the room.
She made herself a mug of tea and went to hide out in her bedroom while she waited for Evan to be done telling Olivia they were over and he couldn’t forgive her.
But as time passed and Evan didn’t come looking for her, she was more and more sure that wasn’t what was happening.
After half an hour, she tiptoed downstairs to check on him, but she heard his voice drift out from the living room.
He was still talking to Olivia. Feeling like an eavesdropper, she went back to her room and decided she may as well use the time to start packing.
As she threw things into her case, she fretted about what was being said downstairs. Were they patching things up? Was Olivia winning Evan back? It seemed likely. They’d been talking for almost an hour now. Surely it didn’t take this long to tell someone it was over.
She tried to imagine how she’d feel if Greg told her he still loved her and begged her to forgive him.
Would she take him back? She couldn’t see it, but it wasn’t a comparable situation anyway.
If she was honest with herself, she’d never been all in with Greg.
She’d known he was constantly looking over her shoulder, hoping for someone better to come along, so she’d always held back a little with him.
She hadn’t allowed herself to free-fall because deep down she’d known he wouldn’t be there to catch her.
She closed her case and glanced at her watch.
Evan’s car was due to arrive in fifteen minutes.
If he didn’t end the call soon, she wouldn’t get to speak to him at all before he had to go.
When she went back downstairs all was quiet.
But as soon as she went into the living room, it felt like everything had changed.
Evan was sitting on the sofa staring into space, his phone on the table in front of him. Mary sat beside him.
‘Um, your car will be here soon.’
He glanced at his watch vaguely. ‘Oh. Yeah.’
‘How did that go?’ She nodded to his phone.
‘Okay. Better than I expected.’ He blinked and turned to her as if noticing her presence for the first time. ‘Sorry. I needed to talk to her. I should have done it sooner.’
‘Of course. Have you… made it up between you?’
‘Yeah, I think so.’ He frowned, looking confused. ‘We kind of have to, you know? We’re going to be working together for the foreseeable future.’
‘Yeah.’ How could she have forgotten? Olivia would still be Mary Jane to his Spidey. She’d be in his life, no matter what happened between them.
‘It’ll be super awkward if we don’t clear the air before shooting starts again. I’m seeing her tomorrow when I get home.’
Did that mean they were getting back together? But just as she was trying to come up with a way of asking without sounding needy and demanding, the doorbell rang.
‘That’ll be your car.’
‘Shit!’ Evan stood, looking panicked. ‘He’s early. I could make him wait?’
Mary shook her head. ‘No need for that. You should go.’
He nodded and she followed him out to the hall, where his bags stood by the door.
‘Well, thanks for everything,’ he said, opening his arms for a hug. He seemed more relaxed again now that he was going. What did that mean? Was it relief?
‘Thank you,’ she said, stepping into his embrace.
‘Thanks for the bread-making lesson, and all the Chocolate Kimberleys and the make-out sessions.’ He squeezed her tight. ‘I’m glad I let you stay.’
‘Me too. Thanks for coping with my Greg meltdown and not freaking out. And for all the baseball tuition – especially for that.’
He grinned. ‘Yeah, that was fun.’ He kissed the top of her head. ‘And I’ll see you soon, yeah? New Year’s Eve?’
‘Oh! Yes,’ she said, brightening.
‘Unless you already have plans.’
‘No, I’ll be there. Definitely.’
‘Call me when you’re back in New York.’ He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and then he was gone.
Mary returned to her room and resumed her packing, trying to cling to the promise of that kiss.
But once she was alone, her confidence ebbed away and doubts started to creep in.
She couldn’t shake the image of Olivia standing in Evan’s apartment.
It had been a wake-up call, and put the time she’d spent with him into perspective.
Olivia had shared his life for two years, she had a key to his home, while Mary was someone he’d known for a few measly days.
He’d probably have forgotten her by the time his plane touched down at JFK.
Which was fine, she told herself, trying to be rational and grown-up about it, and to quell the raging jealousy that burned in her gut.
She was just disappointed because she’d thought it was the start of something new and exciting.
But the more time that passed since Evan had left, the more distant and unreal it all seemed – and the more convinced she became that what they’d had was just a holiday fling, nothing more – fun while it lasted, but now it was over and they’d both go back to their real lives.
There was something else niggling at the back of her mind as she folded clothes and arranged them neatly in her suitcase.
Then it hit her: she couldn’t call Evan.
They’d never exchanged numbers. She flopped onto the bed, stunned, the wind knocked out of her.
What an idiot! But there had never been any reason to.
They’d been in the house together the whole time.
She could get his number from her mother, of course, and he could get hers.
But what if he didn’t want to? What if he hadn’t given it to her on purpose because he didn’t want her to contact him?
She heaved an exhausted sigh. She was probably being paranoid and overthinking this.
It hadn’t occurred to her that they didn’t have each other’s phone numbers and it was probably the same for him.
She couldn’t help holding on to a last vestige of hope. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but she couldn’t let go of the way he’d hugged her so tightly before he left, how casually he’d said he’d see her again soon. Surely he wouldn’t have done that if he was planning to get back with Olivia.
She was still clinging to that hope the next morning as she made her way to Dublin on the train, and all through the flight to New York. Until she switched on her phone again as she stood by the luggage carousel at JFK and she was brought back down to earth with a thud.