Page 32 of Destined Lovers

“Oh, Dec, I’m so happy I was able to meet you,” Agnes cries.

“You’re calling him Dec, now are you? You’ve just met him an hour ago.”

“Oh, child, we’ve become fast friends. You could have joined the conversation if your head hadn’t been in the clouds.”

“Well, if you two weren’t boring me to death, I would have. I thought that was it for me, the end of my time.”

Declan chuckles, and she dramatically rolls her eyes and then pats Declan’s leg. “You have an old soul. You remind me so much of my late husband.”

“Thank you, Agnes. I’m sure he was a great man.”

“The best,” she whispers.

“All right, you two, enough with the dreadful conversation,” I say and get up off the couch to make myself another drink. The other one did nothing for my nerves.

“One more drink?” I raise my eyebrow in question to Declan.

He hesitates. “Sure, one more.”

“What is it? Why did you hesitate?”

He laughs. “You have no filter. You just say what’s on your mind?”

“Always have, and never plan on changing.”

“Didn’t expect you to, I like you just the way you are, and to be clear, I only hesitated because I was surprised you wanted me to stick around any longer.”

He’s right; I should probably ask him to leave before we both get too comfortable.

“One more won’t hurt.” I shrug and see Agnes smiling like a fool from beside me. What is wrong with her?

“Declan, what do you do for Christmas?”Oh god, what is she doing?

“Christmas day, I will be at my parent’s house, and tomorrow I was supposed to be in London for Christmas Eve with my best friends. Now thatI’m here in Ireland…” He pauses and quickly glances my way. “I don’t have plans.”

“Oh, now you do! You’re coming here for Christmas Eve,” she says with finality.

Is she kidding me right now?He can’t come here for Christmas. The words to say anything are stuck in the back of my throat, choking the shite out of me.

Declan has that dumb grin plastered back onto his face because he knows just how much I want to say no to this. Before I can get the words out, he replies.

“I would love to and appreciate the invitation. Would you mind if I brought my sister along? I’m happy to help you cook the extra food.”

“Handsome, and he can cook?” She throws her arm up and feigns shock.

“Oh, will you cut it out with your dramatics already?” I tell her.

“And you!” I point a finger at Declan. “Need to go back to London. I told you it’s not time for us”—I move my hands back and forth between the two of us—“to meet again.”

His face falls, but he quickly masks it.

I know I’ve hurt his feelings. This isn’t easy for me either, but it needs to be said.

And I know how he can be; I need to push hard for him to get the point.

“Well, Pip. You actually never said anything like that. You keep saying I can’t ask any questions. Which I haven’t.” He pauses. “But if that’s what you want, I’m happy to just celebrate with Maeve or my friends. It’s no bother.” He fakes a smile and walks over to Agnes, who is now looking at me with disdain.

“It was so lovely to meet you.” He leans down to kiss her and whispers something in her ear that I can’t make out. She smiles softly at him, and her eyes water.

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