‘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 feltreallyawkward 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 hurtsnotbeing 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.
