The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett
Now – December 2022
Dan
‘It’s the village carol singing this evening,’ Dan’s mum said, handing him the cup of tea she’d made him while he unpacked his car.
He looked at her. Village carols were a big thing and the date was arranged weeks in advance. She was very over-nonchalantly putting biscuits on a plate for him.
‘Did you happen to forget to mention them to me on purpose so that I wouldn’t postpone my arrival until tomorrow?’ he said.
‘Well, obviously,’ she said, laughing. ‘But since you’re here, you might as well come if you have no other plans?’
Dan rolled his eyes at her but said, ‘I’d love to.’ He did not particularly love carol singing and he did not love the interrogation about every minute aspect of his life from people like Mrs Bird – if you sang carols for her she would chat to you on her doorstep for ages – but he did love his mother and he knew she’d love him to go.
He wondered if Evie would be there. They’d had a brief text conversation in response to his letter, and had agreed to meet for a walk tomorrow, but he didn’t know what else she was doing over Christmas.
Evie, Jenny and Autumn turned up a few minutes after Dan and his mum had joined the others under the mistletoe tree in the middle of the green, just as Dan was starting to think that they wouldn’t be coming.
Evie – looking gorgeous in a beret-style hat and scarf – gave Dan a small smile and put her hand up in a half-wave greeting but stayed on the other side of the group of about twenty people and began to talk very animatedly to Autumn. Sasha and Angus turned up shortly after them, and Sasha wanted to say hello to both their mum and Dan and Evie, which forced Evie and her mum and Autumn somewhat in Dan’s direction, but Evie still managed to stay far enough away from him that they couldn’t speak.
As they made their way from house to house singing all the old favourites, Dan was reminded several times of carols he and Evie had sung in the car together that time, and when he was nearish to her in the group, heard snatches of her clear voice ringing out. She was good on the high bits in ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’.
When they got to Mrs Bird’s house on the corner, Dan manoeuvred himself to the back of the group so that, hopefully, she wouldn’t see him and start with one of her interrogations. He looked round to see Evie fairly close to him, having clearly had the same thought. He smiled at her and she smiled back, and they just stood there, smiling stupidly, for ages.
Eventually, Dan took a step towards her and said, ‘So…’ and then Autumn popped up, having wriggled through the others, and said, ‘Evie, I’m cold.’
Evie looked down at her and then at Dan, and then said, her voice sounding a little bit odd, ‘Shall I take you home for some hot chocolate and a snuggle to warm you up?’
‘Yes, please.’
‘Why don’t I take her?’ Jenny’s friend Grant stepped forward.
‘That’s really kind,’ said Evie, ‘but, honestly, I’m very happy to. I’m going to enjoy our hot chocolate.’ Maybe she was glad of the excuse to get away from Dan. Or maybe that was really self-obsessed of him and she really did want hot chocolate now, or she wanted to give her mum and Grant the opportunity to spend some time together. Everyone had been waiting – in vain – for years for Jenny and Grant to realise that they were the perfect couple. Evie took Autumn’s hand and said, ‘Come on. Night, everyone. Sing your hearts out for us. Happy Christmas in case we don’t see you.’
And then off they walked up the lane, and Dan felt ridiculously disappointed even though he knew he was seeing her tomorrow for their walk.
* * *
Dan clapped his hands together and stamped his feet. It was a lot colder than it had been yesterday evening and it now looked like the forecasters were right and there was a very good chance that there was going to be a white Christmas. Evie would have to be well scarfed-up in this weather.
What if she didn’t turn up?
She would turn up.
He checked his phone. She was three minutes late.
God, maybe she actually wouldn’t come. No, Evie would never do that. Probably just busy choosing which scarf would be the best for this exact temperature.
Seriously. He was smiling just thinking about her. He shouldn’t smile. At best, they were going to have a lot of talking, sorting things out, to do. There was a good chance things wouldn’t work out between them.
Right. He was going to walk round the green while he waited.
One full lap. He really hoped she was coming.
Nearly a second full lap. But maybe that was her coming round the corner of her lane. Yes, it was.
‘Hey, Evie.’ He started to walk towards her over the green, grinning as he went, even though maybe things weren’t going to be okay. It was just so good to see her.
‘Hi, Dan.’ God, he loved her smile, even when it was only a small one as it was at the moment. He hoped the smile was going to grow.
‘It’s great to see you,’ he said, when they got close to each other. ‘I like your scarf.’ It was a nice pale-blue colour and very soft-looking.
‘Thank you. Good to see you too.’
‘Shall we walk? To keep warm? The path by the stream?’
‘Lovely.’
Dan really wasn’t sure of the etiquette in this kind of situation. Go straight in with what he wanted to say or attempt a bit of small talk first? So far, it was all a bit weirdly polite.
‘Probably going to be a white Christmas,’ he said.
‘Yeah. I think so. Pretty sure you used to be cynical about white Christmases.’
‘Not all white Christmases,’ Dan said, pleased that Evie remembered that conversation. So did he. ‘Just ones when it’s fifteen degrees and it would take a miracle for snow to fall. Rational, not cynical. Today it’s bloody freezing and every so often we’re already getting a flurry of snow.’
‘And the weather forecast said it’s going to snow in the Cotswolds on Christmas Day.’
‘Exactly.’ Dan nodded. There was a bit of silence. ‘Not sure whether we’ll get a white New Year, though.’ So lame to be continuing with the weather chat, but he felt really awkward right now. He wasn’t sure how to start the conversation they needed to have, and he wasn’t sure what to say to make sure it went okay.
‘Probably not.’
‘Now who’s being cynical?’
Evie laughed.
They rounded the corner by the church and started down the path that led to the stream. Dan suddenly didn’t want to waste any more time. But he didn’t want to run the risk of being interrupted during their conversation, and he could see the vicar, Laura, in the distance. She held up a hand and waved, and they both waved back. And he carried on saying nothing and so did Evie.
A few minutes later, they were wandering along by the stream, and definitely alone.
‘So,’ Dan said. Oh, God, no. Now he was panicking. Although, she’d agreed to meet him after his letter. She wouldn’t have done, surely, just to tell him she didn’t want to talk.
He was just going to dive straight in. ‘You know when we made our mistletoe pact,’ he said. ‘I think I always knew, even then, that I wanted to be with you. I mean, yes, it was a joke, but there was something there. And the same when we got married in Vegas. Again, yes, we were drunk and it was a stupid thing to do, but from my side I don’t think I’d have done it if I hadn’t actually wanted to be with you. But I always thought that we couldn’t be together, because it was too scary. Because if you love someone you can both get hurt. But it really hurts not being around you. I love you, Evie. I’m so sorry for having messed up and got scared.’
He stopped talking and waited.
And nothing. For ages. Oh, God.
He couldn’t even see Evie’s face properly because they were walking next to each other and she was all wrapped up in her hat and scarf.
Then she said, ‘I love you too. I think I always have.’
Yessss. Yessss.
He really hadn’t expected her to say that.
‘Wow,’ he said. He stopped walking and Evie stopped too. ‘Can we try again?’
Evie looked at him for what felt like another near-eternity, and then she began to smile. And Dan’s heart began to beat a lot faster.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Let’s take it very slowly. One step at a time. Nothing scary.’
She took a step towards him. He put his arms out and she moved straight into them and, very slowly, his eyes on hers the whole time, he lowered his lips to hers. He was pretty sure that she was wrong about nothing scary. It would always be scary when you loved someone this much. But good-scary, rather than miserable-lonely.
* * *
A long time later, they were still there, and cold wet stuff was falling on them.
‘White Christmas,’ Evie said. ‘Just for us.’
Dan smiled at her. ‘Come on. Let’s walk.’
They walked along hand in hand, stopping fairly often to kiss. It was a great walk. No, better than great. Perfect.
They stopped again for another kiss under the mistletoe tree in the middle of the green.
‘I’m pretty sure Mrs Bird’s watching,’ Evie said eventually.
‘I don’t care,’ Dan said. He kissed her again. ‘I love you, Evie Green.’