Chapter 26
‘So, Evan’s girlfriend wants him back,’ her mother said that night when Mary FaceTimed her. She gave a frustrated sigh. ‘You know she cheated on him?’ she said indignantly.
‘Yes, I know. I think everyone knows that.’
‘It’s a disgrace. A lovely man like that.’
Mary smiled. ‘You don’t even know him, Mum.’
‘I do so! Haven’t I spoken to him on this thing?’
‘You’re right, though. He is a lovely man.’
‘Do you think he’ll take her back?’
‘I think maybe he already has. He seems prepared to give her a chance anyway.’
‘More than she deserves, if you ask me,’ her mother sniffed disapprovingly. ‘I’m not at all sure she’s right for him, Mary,’ she said, worry creasing her brow.
‘Well, I guess that’s for him to decide.’
‘She seems very hard-edged to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a cruel streak in her.’
‘Maybe he likes that about her.’
Her mother raised her eyebrows. ‘You think he’s some kind of masochist? She might be the one for him in that case.’
‘No, but… he has a bit of a thing about people being nice to him out of charity, because he’s an orphan. He doesn’t like people feeling sorry for him.’
‘Well,’ Sheena said, pursing her lips. ‘I don’t think he’d need to worry about that with this madam.
She doesn’t seem very remorseful about the cheating.
In fact, she was almost blaming it on Evan, saying he spent too much time away, he left her alone too much, what did he expect?
She actually said that – what did he expect? !’
‘Well, you can’t know what goes on in other people’s relationships,’ Mary said blandly, determined not to take sides. ‘Maybe they’re perfect for each other.’
‘Why don’t you go over to his place – just to check on him, make sure he’s okay?’
‘No, Mum. I can’t do that.’
‘Why not? You spent Christmas together. From what I’ve heard it sounds like you were getting on very well.’
‘What do you mean? What did you hear?’ Oh God, had Hilary blabbed to her mother after all about what she’d seen?
‘Carmel told me the pair of you couldn’t keep your eyes off each other on Christmas Day.’
‘Oh, that’s just Carmel’s overactive imagination.’
‘You know she has a sense for these things. She said there was definitely something going on between you.’
Mary had to concede her mother was right. Carmel had an uncanny knack for sniffing out any hint of attraction.
‘So were you just planning never to see each other again?’
‘Yeah, that’s exactly what we were planning.’
‘But why? You’re friends now, if nothing else. You both live in New York.’
‘Lots of people live in New York. You don’t stay friends with everyone you’ve ever met in your life.’ Even as she said it, she realised that wasn’t necessarily true for her mother. She turned almost every single person she met into a lifelong friend.
‘Well, you should at least go over one day and say hello to Arnold.’
‘The doorman?’
‘I told him all about you and he’s dying to meet you.
You’re the only one of the family he doesn’t know.
And you should drop in on Magda while you’re there.
She has family, but they don’t get into the city often enough.
I’m sure she’d love the bit of company. She agrees with me about Olivia, by the way.
She never liked her. She said Evan’s always been such a good neighbour to her, but Olivia resented him helping her out. ’
‘What about Arnold? What does he think?’ Mary asked drily.
‘The same,’ her mother replied promptly and Mary rolled her eyes. She should have known her mother would be well informed on Arnold’s opinion. ‘He said she was very demanding, and treated him like her personal servant.’
She sounded horrible. Why would Evan be with someone like that? Did he think that was all he deserved? Was he so afraid of anyone feeling sorry for him that he’d rather they were mean and thoughtless?
‘Anyway, I suppose you’ll be going to his New Year’s Eve party tomorrow?’
‘How do you know he’s having a New Year’s Eve party?’
‘Magda told me. She’s going.’
‘When did she tell you this?’
‘This morning. We had a Zoom.’
‘Anyway, no, I won’t be going.’ His girlfriend would be there, so of course she couldn’t go.
‘Do you have any plans for tomorrow night?’
‘No. There are a few things I could go to, but I don’t think I have the energy. I’ll see how I feel, but I’ll probably just have a quiet night in.’ She was considering binge-watching Spider-Man – because apparently she was a masochist.
‘Well, I left something in your apartment for Evan. Did you find it?’
‘That present under the tree? Yes. Why did you leave it here? You could have left it in his apartment.’
‘I meant to. But I’d already given back the keys to his place when I realised I still had it in my bag. And I was near yours, so I decided it’d be safest to leave it there. Would you go over to his place at some stage and give it to him for me?’
‘Okay. I’ll leave it with Arnold.’
‘No, you need to hand it to Evan yourself.’
‘Why?’
‘Because. You’ll see when you give it to him.’
‘Fine. I’ll go over later in the week.’
‘You should go tomorrow night when he’s having his party. That way you know he’ll be in. It starts at eight. Here, I’ll send you the address, in case you don’t have it.’
Mary sighed as her phone pinged with a message. ‘Okay, Mum. I’ll see what I can do.’