‘Ah, got the right flat then,’ Tom says as he reaches her floor and steps inside.

‘If you didn’t, then I didn’t either,’ I say, my little quip having sounded hilarious in my head but less so out loud. ‘Tom, this is Cath. Cath, Tom.’

‘Lovely to meet you, Tom,’ Cath says. ‘I’ve been hearing a lot about you.’

‘Oh?’ Tom says, looking at me. ‘All good, I hope.’

‘Of course,’ I reply. ‘I’m yet to discover the bad bits.’

‘He hasn’t told you that he’s a psychopathic murderer yet, then?’ Cath says, laughing. ‘String of ex-girlfriends buried in the back garden?’

Tom doesn’t seem to pick up on the humour. ‘You ready, then?’ he says.

‘Uh, yeah. I think so.’

‘Cool. I’ll wait in the car, then.’

As Tom turns to leave, Cath calls out to him. ‘Bye, Tom! Lovely to meet you!’

‘Yeah, you too,’ he says as he disappears back behind the door and down the stairs.

‘He seems… nice,’ Cath says, with a look on her face that tells me she’s not being entirely honest.

5

‘What was that all about?’ I ask as we get into the car.

‘Nothing. I just didn’t think it was very funny, that’s all.’

‘She was only having a laugh,’ I say. ‘It’s just her sense of humour. You’ll get used to it.’

‘Sorry, but it’s not the sort of thing I find funny. You know what Erin did. It’s not the sort of thing to joke about.’

‘She doesn’t know about that, Tom. I didn’t tell her anything about Erin leaving you, obviously. And she wouldn’t have joked about it if I had.’

Tom sighs. ‘Alright. I said sorry. It was just a bit close to the bone for me, that’s all. I’ll apologise to her and explain. Did you get your planning done?’ he says, changing the subject.

‘Sort of. The seating plan’s still causing problems. We need to get that all sorted before we can move onto anything else. She’s still got some invitations that haven’t gone out.’

Tom raises his eyebrows. ‘She doesn’t sound very organised.’

‘She’s not,’ I say, chuckling. ‘That’s why she relies on me.’

Tom nods. ‘Not too much, I hope?’

‘I dunno. What’s too much? Friends are supposed to rely on each other, aren’t they?’

‘Well, yeah, but not if one of them’s taking advantage of that. As long as you aren’t just working as a free wedding planner for her. Those people cost a bomb. I should know.’

‘Did you and Erin have a wedding planner?’ I ask.

‘Yep. Cost an absolute fortune. And her only real skills were being organised and having some time on her hands. I can imagine it must be quite handy for her, having you as a friend.’

I sit and think about this for a moment. I’m not quite sure where all this has come from, but it does make me think. Cath does very little without me nudging or prompting. She’s already miles behind in her wedding planning and she wouldn’t be this far along the road if it wasn’t for me.