‘It was nice to get out,’ she said as we turned the corner to our house. ‘I feel like I’m on a treadmill most days. I thought it would get better after your dad retired but he never bloody leaves me alone. What’s for breakfast, what’ll he do for lunch, what am I making for dinner, what do I want to watch on the telly, where are we going on the weekend. He’s forgotten some of us still have a job. If it’s twenty more years of this, I might upend everything as well and come to live with you.’
‘You need to set boundaries,’ I replied, as though I had any idea what I was talking about. ‘They sound fun, I’ve heard about them on the internet.’
‘And you need to duck!’ she said, letting go of my arm and diving into an oversized azalea bush.
But it was too late. By the time I realized what she was talking about, Manny had already hurled his first snowball at my head.
‘Oh, you ARSE,’ I yelled, brushing snow out of my hair, my ear throbbing. ‘I’m going to kill you!’
‘I’m not part of this!’ Mum sang as she ran across the road to Dorothy’s house. ‘Don’t any of you bloody dare throw anything at me or I’ll have your guts.’
‘I’ve got to get a picture,’ Cerys said, cackling beside the front gate and, digging around in her pockets for her phone. Until Manny sent a snowball flying in her direction.
‘Manny, you wanker!’ she exclaimed, forgetting all about her phone and bending over to launch her own attack. It wasn’t her fault, all human beings were genetically coded to return fire in a snowball fight, no matter who, where or when.
‘Have that!’ she grunted, chucking her puny snowball at Manny and missing by a country mile.
‘Ha!’ he screeched. ‘You’re shit! You couldn’t hit me if your snowball was the size of a basketball and I was ten foot wide.’
‘He’s right,’ I said grimly as I sidled up beside my sister. ‘You are shit. We both are.’
‘So what do we do?’ she asked as he began assembling an arsenal at the side of his car. ‘You’re even worse than I am.’
‘She is! Because she’s slowandshe’s short,’ Manny shouted. ‘You’ll never beat me!’
I squinted at him with new-found determination.
‘We can’t beat him in a snowball fight but who says we have to?’ I whispered. ‘Let’s just beat the shit out of him.’
Cerys’s eyes lit up and she nodded in agreement, a silent deal was struck.
‘Now?’ she asked.
‘Now!’ I confirmed.
Without warning, we charged at Manny and knocked him off his feet. He sprawled out on the ground, all six feet of him writhing in the snow with Cerys straddled across his chest while I grabbed hold of his madly kicking legs.
‘Why are you ganging up on me?’ he screeched. ‘This isn’t fair.’
‘Life isn’t fair,’ I yelled, wrapping my arms around his knees as they kicked madly.
Cerys grabbed a handful of snow and started stuffing it down the front of Manny’s jumper as he screamed blue murder. He was still squealing when I heard someone loudly clear their throat and looked up to see Dev on the other side of the garden gate staring at the three of us, Pari straining at her leash.
‘Oh good,’ he said, looking relieved. ‘Mum thought someone was being murdered.’
‘Someone is!’ Manny choked. ‘For fuck’s sake, Dev, help me!’
He laughed politely and took a step backwards. ‘Sorry, mate, I’m Switzerland. I don’t want any part of this.’
‘Some neighbour you are,’ he wailed hysterically as Cerys dumped more snow down his trousers.
Dev looked down at me, still squatting on my cousin’s shins, his smile tempered by the years that had passed for him since we last spoke. But for me it was all so different. All the time we’d spent together over the last ten days came rushing back, all the conversations, the little things and the big things he’d helped me understand about myself, about my family, about everything – and he didn’t even know it. Then there was the kiss. That first, perfect kiss. I thought about teenage Dev lying awake at night in his room, pressing his hand against the bedroom wall, listening to a song I assumed was about irritated vaginas, and teenage Gwen snogging her pillow, pretending it was him and there was no way I could stop myself.
‘Good to see you all,’ he said, tugging on Pari’s leash. ‘Merry Christmas.’
‘Dev!’ I yelled, scrambling to my feet. ‘Wait!’
I threw my arms around his neck and planted my lips on his. I felt him freeze with surprise, hesitating for a moment before he melted against me. A soft sigh escaped my own lips as he dropped Pari’s leash and pulled me even closer.