Wow, Peri mouthed unable to tear his eyes away. The next thing Peri knew, Juliette was clearing her throat somewhere close and Echo was blushing, which probably meant they should go upstairs right now.
Ten minutes later, Echo stood all warm and close behind him, a frown on his face as he concentrated on straightening Peri’s bow tie in front of the long mirror in their bedroom.
Thank you, Peri signed into the glass when their eyes met. I love you, and I love your surprise.
With a smile, Echo blew softly on Peri’s curly ponytail then leaned down, and Peri closed his eyes, feeling the blissful, gentle press of Echo’s lips against the nape of his neck. But when Peri opened his eyes again, he saw Echo’s frown had returned and deepened, and he just knew Echo was thinking things like, But you don’t know what the surprise is yet…what if you don’t like it? Or have you found out somehow? So Peri thought back I love you, I couldn’t not love it, even if I don’t know exactly what it is, and smiled as Echo hugged him.
As they walked downstairs in their suits—no shoes, just socks on their feet—Peri could hear tinkling music playing, the soft hum of voices. Orchard House felt like it did in the daytime, all happy and full. He could even hear Gnat and Hazeldene barking from their crate in the kitchen.
Echo squeezed his hand and stopped. “I lied about deep cleaning the backroom carpet. I’m sorry about that. If this turns out to be too much we can just come back upstairs and watch a —”
Turning in his arms, Peri kissed the words away.
When they reached the end of the corridor, Echo asked, “Do you remember the first time we danced together?”
Peri nodded. Lifting his arm and pointing at the door with the frosted glass window, opposite the kitchen. “In there. With George. I was so happy to see you.”
Echo took a deep breath. “I thought you might like to dance in here tonight. I…” He stopped talking, and, with a shaking hand, opened the backroom door.
Peri gasped, unsure if he could contain all the feelings building inside him as he took in the sight of all the people he loved, dancing in a room full of starlight and trees and soft, soft Christmas music. It was beautiful. He was on the set of a film. He had to be. He glanced at Echo, saw the way he was smiling all relieved and happy and Peri choked back a sob. Echo pulled him close and held him tight for a moment.
His best friend, Marie, waved from the middle of the room and Peri waved back before gently pulling out of Echo’s embrace and twirling on the spot. His legs felt jingly, so he walked back up the corridor a little way, then back down again.
Still holding the door open, Echo asked, “Want to come and use up that energy up dancing with me?”
Peri wiped his eyes, then nodded. “Too many happy feelings,” he said as he grasped Echo’s hand.
Echo just grinned. He knew.
They walked inside and hugged everyone, and then they danced and danced, arms around each other, arms around their friends. They didn’t even stop when everyone went to the other room for food, instead they spun around the whole room with their heads tilted to the starry ceiling and laughed when they tripped over one another’s feet. They even carried on dancing as they drank sparkly glassful after sparkly glassful of punch that tasted like Christmas cake. The whole evening was like a dream.
Around eleven people began to leave. And Peri tearfully hugged them all again.
Then it was only Milly and Nick dancing with them, and Juliette somewhere around the house checking all the windows and doors were locked so they didn’t have to worry about doing it later. With his head resting on Echo’s shoulder, his ears full of quiet music, his eyes transfixed on the softly glittering light, Peri almost forgot the rest of the world existed. The moments were too perfect to think through. Too perfect to be given shape with words.
“I think we have an escapee,” Echo whispered, his lips close to Peri’s ear.
Smiling, Peri reached down and scratched Gnat’s ear, but the instant he tried to reach for Gnat’s collar, the cheeky dog took off, bounding across the room towards the trees.
“Shit!” Echo gasped, and, letting go of Peri, took off after her.
Laughing, Peri followed, only to see Hazeldene barrelling across the floor, chasing Echo and Gnat. They must have escaped their crate. Peri had watched Gnat trying to figure out the lock on it for weeks. Juliette couldn’t have realised they’d gotten out yet or he was certain she’d be here trying to catch them.
Nick and Milly stood by the trees trying to grab hold of a collar when the excited dogs raced passed, but Gnat and Hazeldene were having too much fun and were far too full of energy to want to be caught just yet. They’d stop when they were tired, Peri knew. Echo gently covered Peri’s eyes for a second as he flicked the overhead light on. In the brightness it was hard to miss the trail of footprints and the food matted in both dogs’ fur.
Juliette opened the door and the dogs bolted through it down the corridor, leaving her looking after them in shock.
“I should probably go and check what’s happened to all the food in the other room,” Echo said with a wince.
“We’ll help Juliette,” Peri said, and watching her carefully, he laid his hand on her arm. She looked very tense. So he put on his biggest smile and shrugged and hoped this, right now, wasn’t going to be what Juliette remembered most about tonight. “It’s okay. Gnat and Hazeldene probably just wanted to join in with the party.”
Seven
Echo
Stunned, Echo looked around at what, fifteen minutes ago, had probably been a relatively tidy room, full of gaudy Christmas decorations Etienne had found cheap somewhere and a (luckily) half-eaten buffet laid out on the long dining table in front of the windows. Now, the mess was unbelievable. He ran his hands through hair and tried not to look over at where Juliette was standing by the table. He wasn’t imagining the look of horror on her face. Juliette was not good with even a little mess at the best of times.
Out the corner of his eye he saw Peri step through the door and begin carefully weaving his way towards her through the scattered paper plates of food and torn decorations. In the corner of the room, the Christmas tree listed against the window, the lights wrapped around it flashing unpredictably.
Echo watched as Peri gently ushered Juliette out of the room, signed something to her then closed the door. Peri’s cheeks were flushed and he was a little out of breath, but, Echo reasoned, if Peri was here, it meant Milly or Nick must have caught Gnat and Hazeldene. From somewhere in the house he could hear one of the dogs barking, though it was hard to tell them apart enough to know which one.
As he sank down onto probably the only clean patch left on the floor, an enormous wave of tiredness swept over him, and thinking fuck it, Echo lay down on his back. He felt the crunch of what was probably crisps being crushed beneath his head, and stared up at the ceiling. What a way to end the evening. Weeks of planning reduced to a floor full of party food. He sighed.
A second or two later, Peri’s familiar weight settled against his side, lying down next to him, his warm fingers searching for Echo’s. “I insisted everyone go home now,” he whispered. “I said we’d sort everything out…hope that’s okay.”