‘Oops, I haven’t chosen yet.’ Evie picked up the menu.
‘I have. I’m going cheese.’
‘I really can’t decide.’
‘I actually think I know what you’re going to have.’ Dan had been at enough dinners with Evie over the years to be pretty sure that he knew what she liked. Of the available options, she was going to go sticky toffee pudding, after alotof deliberation.
‘Hmm. I don’t think it’s a compliment when someone implies that you’re predictable.’ She narrowed her eyes at him.
‘Predictable in a very nice way.’
‘Hmm.’ She mock-pouted and, God, he felt something inside him actually lurch.
‘What would you like?’ asked the waiter.
‘Could you come back to me last?’ she asked. The waiter visibly blossomed in response to her smile. She sat back and stared hard at the menu and then at the wall opposite, like all the horse paintings hanging on it might give her pudding inspiration.
‘Okay, yes, I’ve decided,’ she said when the waiter finally came back to her. ‘The lemon tart.’ What? Maybe Dan didn’t know her as well as he thought he did. ‘No, sorry, sorry, sorry, I’m changing my mind. Sticky toffee pudding, please.’
‘You sure?’ asked the waiter, laughing with her.
‘Yes, certain. Definitely.’
‘I’m a genius,’ Dan said. ‘Iknewyou were going to go sticky toffee.’
‘It was the caramelised popcorn on the side that swung it.’
‘I knew that.’
Evie shook her head, smiling. He wondered if, like him, she was suddenly thinking about how well they knew each other in so many ways. And yet not in others.
When their puddings were placed in front of them, they both said in the same moment, ‘Wow.’
‘Those areenormousplates of food,’ Evie said. ‘I know now that I’m not going to finish mine, or we’ll be having a bridesmaid-dress-too-tight disaster tomorrow morning. You have to stop me if I look like Iamgoing to finish it. Because it does look delicious and Iwillbe tempted and I don’t want to have to consider last-minute laxatives.’ She turned her attention to Dan’s cheese. ‘So instead of bringing you a cheeseboard so you could choose, it looks like they’ve just given you theentirecheese board.’
‘Pretty much.’ He had five massive wedges of cheese, two crackers and one grape on his plate. ‘Good job I like cheese. I think I’m up to the challenge.’
Evie shook her head. ‘You’re going to haveweirddreams tonight if you eat all of that.’
Dreams. Dan suddenly wanted to tell her about his nightmares. The one where he pushed Max into the road and Max got killed. The one where his father was a serial killer and Dan didn’t tell anyone and more people got murdered. The one where he was at work and forgot everything he’d ever known. And the new one, the enormous wall in the Atlantic with Katie on one side and Dan on the other. God, he wanted to know what Hannah’s decision about New York was going to be. And he wanted to tell Evie everything. He was pretty sure that if he did she’d listen and care.
No. He wasn’t going to go there. He couldn’t talk about the accident.
‘Nope, I’m going to sleep very well tonight.’ He cut a slice of blue cheese, put it on a cracker, looked up at Evie and thought about sleeping withher. Christ. What was wrong with him? Yes, they’d slept together in Vegas, but you could be around someone you’d slept with – and only once – without constantly thinking about it. And, as far as he knew, she still had a boyfriend.
‘Is Matthew coming straight to the wedding?’ he asked, and then immediately despised himself. It sounded truly pathetic asking about him.
‘He’s away on a golfing holiday.’ Evie didn’t meet his eye.
‘Oh, right,’ said Dan, trying not to feel pleased.
Evie looked up at him and their gazes snagged. And neither of them said anything.
‘Can I interrupt?’ said Greggy, turning towards them from Evie’s other side. ‘Evie, I hear there’s a laxative story for you to tell me.’ And the moment, whatever it was, was broken, definitely a good thing.
Fifteen minutes later, Sasha finished her fruit salad and stood up and said, ‘No speeches this evening other than to say thank you all so much for being the most wonderful family and bridesmaids and best man, and my nearly-husband and I can’t wait to see you at our wedding –which is tomorrow– and now you all need to go and get a very good night’s sleep so that you can enjoy the day. Taxis will be here for us all in five minutes.’
Dan ended up in a cab with Evie, Max and Greggy going back to Melting.
