The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett
Then – July 2021
Evie
‘Are you joking?’ said Evie. ‘After months and months of only being able to see people outside, you want to have a picnic? Why can’t we go to the pub for lunch?’
‘We’ve been able to go inside a pub for two months now. You should be used to it.’ Sasha stuffed Evie’s picnic blanket into a beach bag. She was staying with Evie for the weekend, without Angus, who was away on a stag.
‘You couldn’t get a table for the first few weeks and I’m still over meeting outside,’ grumbled Evie.
‘It’ll be really nice.’ Sasha grappled with the Amazon parcel she’d had delivered to Evie’s flat that morning and then triumphantly held up an orange circle. ‘The boys will like it.’ They were meeting Dan and Max and Greggy.
‘Is that a frisbee? You had a frisbee ordered to my flat?’
‘Yep. If you’re going to do a picnic, do it properly. The food should be here in a minute.’
‘You’re having food delivered to my flat?’
‘Picnic food. Because if I hadn’t, you’d have wriggled out of it. I thought it would be nice.’
‘It’s freezing for July.’
‘Wear a jumper.’
* * *
Two hours later, they were wearing jumpers, and jackets, sitting on the picnic blanket in the middle of London’s Richmond Park, next to Max and Greggy, who were sitting on their own picnic rug.
‘The deer are amazing.’ Sasha angled her phone and took more snaps of the herd grazing only a couple of hundred metres away. ‘Soooo gorgeous.’
‘You know they cull them every year?’ Max said.
Greggy nudged him in the ribs and Sasha told him to shut up. ‘Bloody brothers,’ she said.
‘Speaking of whom,’ Greggy said, ‘there’s Dan.’
Sasha sat up straight and waved her arms above her head, and Dan, in the distance, waved back.
Evie felt her heart quicken. She hadn’t seen him for eighteen months since the car journey back to the Cotswolds that they’d shared the Christmas before lockdown. He was getting closer and she could see him better now. He was dressed in beige cargo shorts, a navy jumper and Adidas shoes, gorgeously, reliably conservative, just, so, Dan-like.
‘Hey.’ He’d wound up in front of them and was grinning down at them all. Evie felt her stomach dip as his grin widened. ‘I would say sorry I’m late, but, bloody hell, the roadworks.’
‘OMG,’ Evie said, ‘I know.’
‘Although at least I had my phone to guide me. Was Sasha directing you?’ Sasha had form on getting distracted mid-directions.
‘Yup. We’re still bickering about it. Right instead of left at a crucial point.’
‘I got distracted by that man on the golden, feathery bike,’ Sasha said.
‘Famous around Wimbledon,’ Evie explained.
‘Interesting.’ Dan caught sight of the open picnic bag. ‘That’s a serious-looking feast there, Sasha.’
‘If you’re going to do something, do it properly.’
Max and Greggy both stood up and the three men did a lot of hand-shaking. Dan looked pretty open and relaxed with Greggy but the second he turned to Max he visibly tensed slightly, his shoulders suddenly tauter and his jaw a little clenched. Evie had noticed before that Dan wasn’t always at ease with Max. Obviously some brother thing. Maybe something to do with their father.
‘Why don’t we try out my new frisbee before we eat?’ Sasha asked.
‘Sure.’ The others all followed her, Evie not totally up for it. The others were all a lot better at sport than she was.
‘Yesssss!’ she shrieked five minutes later, having just done an amazing catch, if she said so herself. ‘And owwwwww.’ A frisbee thrown from a distance was hard.
‘Why’s everyone better than me?’ Greggy yelled. ‘Evie, you said you were rubbish. But you aren’t.’
‘Okay. I’m going to show you.’ Max jogged over to Greggy and positioned himself behind him and held his throwing arm. Greggy leaned backwards into Max and Max planted a kiss on his neck. Evie went off into a little fantasy about Dan showing her how to throw the frisbee. Max and Greggy were pressed right up against each other. She’d love to be pressed up against Dan like that.
Sasha shouted, ‘Stop smooching and throw the frisbee,’ and Evie looked away from Max and Greggy, and over towards Dan. He was looking at her, a half-smile on his face. She shivered, allowing herself to imagine, just for another moment, the feel of his hard body against hers. His smile grew, and she felt her own lips turning up in response. It was like all her nerve ends were responding to him even though he had to be at least twenty feet away from her.
‘Evie,’ Sasha screeched, and Evie turned just in time to avoid being decapitated by the frisbee that Greggy had apparently just thrown. Okay. That would teach her to lust after her friend’s brother.
They ate a huge lunch and then lay back on the rugs, chatting lazily.
‘I could stay here forever,’ Max said. ‘Although I wouldn’t mind working some of those calories off. Footie?’
Greggy and Sasha both stood up. Leapt up, in fact. How could they do that on full stomachs?
‘Definitely in a few minutes’ time.’ Evie might explode if she ran around right now. ‘I might just carry on lying here for a bit. I ate a lot and I need more digestion time.’
‘I’ll join you in a few minutes’ time too,’ Dan said, sounding oddly formal. And there was that slight tension again.
The others wandered off towards the middle of the large expanse of grass they were next to. Evie suddenly felt really self-conscious, alone with Dan, and yet not alone because the others were all very much within sight.
He was lying on his side, facing her, propped up on his elbow. They were close enough to each other that she could see that he now had a couple of grey hairs at his temples, which just made him look even sexier. Neither of them was speaking and suddenly the silence seemed too heavy.
Evie sat up so that she was cross-legged and began to pick some of the daisies next to her. ‘I haven’t made a daisy chain for years,’ she said.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever made one. How do you even do them?’
‘You make holes in the stalks and thread them through.’ Evie could feel Dan’s eyes on her fingers as she threaded, and, God, it was like her hands felt self-conscious now.
‘You’re very good at that,’ he said, his voice sounding deeper than usual. She looked up and caught him watching her intently, a lopsided smile on his face, and her heart properly squeezed and her mind went blank, too full of wonder at the gorgeousness and closeness of him to be able to operate normally. He’d definitely just said something. What had he said? That she was good at daisy-chain-making.
‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘It’s incredibly difficult and I’m very gifted at it.’
Dan laughed. Such a nice sound. Very deep and rumbly and infectious.
‘I think you should have a go,’ she said, actually feeling slightly breathless.
‘Okay.’
She passed the chain and a new daisy to him, and their fingers brushed, and, Christ, it felt intimate. She looked up from their hands to his face and their gazes caught, and Evie’s breath caught in her throat.
Dan coughed slightly and said, ‘So what do I do?’
‘You make a hole here.’ Evie leaned forwards and her hair fell into his face. ‘Oops, sorry.’
‘No problem.’ His smile was slow and it felt like it held some kind of promise, which was mad, because of course it didn’t really.
‘And then you thread it through,’ she said.
Dan took the daisies back from her and their hands brushed again. He lifted a finger and brushed her cheek.
‘There was a small insect,’ he said, his voice husky.
‘Thank you,’ Evie said, her voice pretty husky too.
His eyes had gone to her mouth, like they did the time they kissed outside her house. Oh, God. Every part of her was aware of him. If he actually touched her again she might jump a mile. Or melt.