Page 55

‘Evelyn, meet Nick. Nick, Evelyn.’ The name clicked immediately, and she glanced over to the close-up wedding picture on Jake’s mantle shelf. She must have looked at the picture a dozen times, which is why she vaguely recognised the giant groom.

‘Let me guess. I’m not what you pictured when you imagined an Event Designer.’ He laughed good-naturedly.

Evelyn looked him up and down, taking in the scruffy jeans, rugby shirt and battered boots. ‘Not exactly, no.’

‘That’s all right.’ He gave her a wide grin. ‘My competitors spent years underestimating me too!’ He held his hand out to her, and she gingerly placed hers in his. ‘I’m really pleased to meet you. Jake’s been talking my ear off about you for weeks. I feel like I know you already. And I’m so sorry about everything you and your family have been going through.’

‘Thank you.’ Evelyn was surprised at how gentle his grip was. ‘So, I’m not wanting to be rude, but …’

‘What the hell am I doing here?’

‘Pretty much.’

‘You need to raise a lot of money – fast. Planning events that get people to part with their hard-earned cash is pretty much what I do every day. And I’m really good at it.’

‘Yeah, but don’t you usually raise funds for big charities?’

Nick sighed, his whole chest raising and deflating in a great movement. ‘I don’t understand why you’re arguing with me. Don’t you think this treatment could help your daughter?’

‘I don’t know.’ Evelyn felt ready to burst into tears again. It was just all too much. A possible treatment that sounded good – but with a doctor she didn’t know, in a strange country. And the hurdle of so much money seemed unimaginably insurmountable. She didn’t want to even hope that it could come true. It was all so far away.

‘You’re scared to hope. To believe that it might be possible, is that it?’ His eyes bored into her.

‘How did you know?’ Her voice was barely a whisper.

‘It’s like his superpower.’ Jake rested his hand on her shoulder, and instead of wanting to pull away, Evelyn relaxed and let his touch warm her. ‘He’s always been good at reading people.’

‘It is useful in my work,’ he admitted. ‘But that’s enough about me for now. This is about you and Summer. And right now, you only need to answer one question. I know you’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, but just focus on my one question.’

‘OK.’ Evelyn nodded.

‘Do you think this treatment in Boston – without knowing anything more about it apart from what Jake’s already told you, and without worrying about costs or logistics – is something you’d be interested in for Summer?’

‘Yes, of course. It could save her life.’

‘So let us show you our proposal, and then you can go home and do your own research and read everything Jake’s prepped for you, and talk to whoever you need to talk to, and then all you have to do is say yes, or no.’

‘But you will say yes,’ Jake added. ‘I’m sure of it.’

‘So’—Nick reached for a bag on the coffee table, and pulled out a laptop and a large spiral-bound book—‘Jake and I have been talking a lot over the last few days, and this is what we’ve come up with.’ He drummed his fingers on the book. ‘He told me your daughter didn’t get much of a Christmas last year.’

‘No, she was in isolation.’

‘Poor little mite.’ Nick flipped over the next page of the book to show a beautiful sketch of Broclington village centre, decked out for Christmas, only filled with summery flowers and sunshine as well as trees and tinsel. ‘As you can see, I’ve taken inspiration from that idea.’ On the next page Santa was decked out in red shorts and T-shirt and riding in an open-top carriage pulled by snow-white horses. Another page showed a Christmas village on a summer’s afternoon, with hot chocolates replaced with ice creams bedecked by candy canes, while the next pictured people dancing and whirling around the marquee she and Jake had danced in so recently. She shook her head, wondering how things could have changed so much since that wonderful night.

Evelyn ran her fingers over one of the last images in the book – a carnival procession, led by a little girl, dressed in Christmas finery and seated in Santa’s carriage, her blonde curls shining in the sun. Even from the tiny sketch, Evelyn could see her bright green eyes as she smiled and waved at the crowds. Her eyes welled up again, and she fumbled to wipe them.

Jake pushed some tissues into her hands, and she smiled at him gratefully, before looking back at the smiling, sketched Summer. ‘We thought, because she’s such a special case, and because he didn’t get to visit her last December, that Santa might come early, and bring some Christmas magic with him.’

‘Summer’s Christmas.’ Nick nodded. ‘So what do you think?’

‘I think it’s wonderful.’ Evelyn sniffed, touched by the amount of thought and hard work that had already gone into the event.

‘We were thinking the best time would be the end of August.’

Immediately, Evelyn started counting. ‘That’s eight weeks away.’

Jake sat beside her, and took her hands in his. ‘I know it sounds a long time away, but Hazelmire’s team are confident that it will be soon enough still, and Dad will monitor Summer’s condition weekly and liaise with them directly to make sure nothing changes.’