Evie tightened her bottom lip at him, and Ted could see the nervousness in her green eyes. He suddenly felt sorry for her. She had brought the evening down, had made everyone feel uncomfortable, but her heart was in the right place. She wanted Orla and Connor to be happy again, for their sake and their children’s, but this was the ultimate example of her misguided attempts causing more harm than good.
Evie went to pass the lighter to Jakob, but he took a butter knife off the table instead.
‘Jakob.’ When Juliette spoke there was more than a warning in her tone. ‘Don’t.’
Ted knew Jakob would listen to Juliette. He always respected her opinion.
‘This is what happens when you play with fire, Evie. Let’s hope that’s the one take-home you get from this.’
Ted didn’t like the spite in Jakob’s comment.
Jakob put the blade of the knife to the flap of the sealed peach envelope and then grinned at Evie. ‘I forgive you,’ he said melodramatically. He put the knife down, took the lighter from her and set fire to the envelope.
Evie’s face didn’t shift, but Ted could see her shoulders slightly drop.
‘Shit.’ Jakob released the flaming envelope as it reached his fingers.
The paper seemed to burn more intensely than the others and then went out.
‘Looks like Evie’s secret is the hottest,’ Rhys quipped.
Orla didn’t even allow the awkward laughter to subside. ‘Us now then.’ She impatiently extended her hand and Jakob passed the ashtray and lighter. She held Connor’s lemon envelope rigidly between her thumb and forefinger and immediately flicked the flint. It sparked but didn’t work.
‘Looks like Connor’s is fireproof.’
Everyone ignored Rhys.
She hastily spun the flint with her thumb several more times before it lit. Connor’s envelope started to smoke.
‘You’ve got to say it,’ Kathryn reminded her.
She robotically cocked her face to Connor. ‘I forgive you.’
‘Me too.’ Connor leaned across and held Orla’s coral envelope in the same flame.
The guests watched their envelopes feed off each other’s heat. Connor discarded his and then Orla released hers.
‘There. Satisfied?’ But Orla didn’t look at Evie.
Connor broke the silence. ‘Well, it made a nice change from Orla getting me to swear faithfulness to her on my mother’s life. Cheese and port now?’
Ted gently shook his head. It had seriously misfired. The only people that hadn’t been fazed by Evie’s game were the couple she wanted to fix. It was everyone else who had been tested by it. But his orange envelope still lay in front of Juliette. ‘Let’s get ours out of the way then.’ He reached over and took the ashtray. Orla gave him the lighter. He slid both to Juliette.
She looked up at him with a tiny frown.
Had he seemed too eager? There was a long silence and then Rhys smiled smugly at him. ‘In a bit of a hurry, Ted?’ He twisted off the lid of the wine bottle.
Ted nodded at Juliette’s lavender envelope in front of him. ‘I’ll do yours first, if you like.’ He attempted to sound casual instead of defensive but failed. ‘Let’s just get this finished.’
‘OK.’ But Juliette sounded far from it.
Everyone’s eyes were on him. ‘And I don’t think we should drink anything more, Rhys,’ he deflected. ‘Evie’s game hasn’t exactly put everyone in the best frame of mind.’ Ted picked up Juliette’s lavender envelope and studiously examined it. ‘Mine or yours then?’
‘I’d better do yours,’ Juliette stated coolly and seized the lighter.
‘Dad!’ Georgie shouted from upstairs.
From the tone in his voice, it didn’t sound like an emergency. Ted waited and Juliette raised her eyebrows.
‘Dad!’
‘You’d better go.’ She hadn’t lit the envelope.
As he lingered he looked at everyone’s perplexed expressions.
‘Dad!’
‘Perfect timing.’ He tried to sound jovial. ‘Back now.’ Ted rose and made for the hallway door.
‘Wait,’ Juliette said.
He turned and her eyes fell on the lavender envelope in his hand. It contained her secret. Had she thought he might read it in private? He set it on the table and walked leisurely from the room, resisting the temptation to tell them not to do anything without him.
Only as he mounted the stairs did he hear the buzz of conversation begin again.
‘You smell funny, Dad,’ Georgie said after he’d been tucked back in.
Ted had just kissed the side of his head. ‘It’s just grown-up drinks.’
‘Are your teeth black again?’ Georgie kept his eyes closed.
‘Probably.’ Ted wondered what was going on downstairs.
‘What time is it?’
‘Way past sleep time.’ Ted squinted at his watch. It was gone midnight. ‘We’ll be coming to bed soon.’
‘After you’ve finished playing your games?’
Ted paused. ‘Have you been listening?’ He knew Georgie frequently came halfway down the stairs to eavesdrop on the adults.
‘No. You’re just very loud. You woke me up.’
Ted was sure they hadn’t been making that much noise. The music was off, and Evie’s game had seen to the rest. ‘OK, we’ll try to be quieter. No more getting up though.’
‘Promise.’ Georgie shut his eyes tighter.
Ted paused at the door. ‘You’re not still worrying about your friends?’
‘No. Not thinking about them.’
But Ted guessed Georgie was telling him what he wanted to hear.
‘It’s wine o’clock.’ Georgie must have heard Juliette say that multiple times. ‘Go, Dad.’
‘OK, sleep tight.’ Ted pulled the door shut behind him, wondering if he should have stayed to talk. But this wasn’t the right time and he’d already said they’d discuss it in the morning.
As he made his way back down the stairs he could hear Rhys’s raucous laugh. Hopefully, that was a good sign. He tried to enter the dining room as calmly as possible, but the chatter instantly died down.
Juliette turned from the table as he approached, maternal concern overriding everything else. ‘Is he OK?’
‘Fine. Thought we were being a bit loud.’
Rhys exaggeratedly clapped his hand over his mouth.
Ted walked to his place at the table and sat. Filled his glass, took a sip and gazed around as if he’d forgotten exactly what they were in the middle of. He didn’t look directly at his envelope but could see the orange blur in front of Juliette.
‘I didn’t think you wanted anything else to drink.’ Juliette’s face resumed its earlier suspicion.
‘As everyone else has had a refill …’ He nodded at the others’ glasses. ‘Right. Us then,’ Ted sighed, as if it were a chore. Now he regarded the thankfully