‘Oh?’ Tom asks.

‘Don’t worry. The usual pre-wedding dramas. The huge, massive problems which actually aren’t an issue at all and which she won’t remember in a year’s time.’

Tom chuckles. ‘She’s probably just freaking out. It’s a busy time. She wants everything to be perfect, I suppose. Can’t begrudge her that.’

‘I don’t,’ I say, perhaps a little too defensively. ‘But that doesn’t mean she needs to be a Bridezilla about it.’

‘Oooh, I haven’t heard that one before,’ Tom says. ‘I like.’

‘What, Bridezilla? Come on, you must have heard that term.’

‘To be honest, I tend to steer well clear of weddings these days.’

‘Ah. Yeah. Sorry,’ I say. Tom makes no mention of my almost-wedding, and this strikes me as perhaps a little insensitive, but I can’t blame him for thinking of his own situation first.

‘It’s alright,’ he says. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. We only had a small do, anyway. Village church ceremony, drinks reception at the village hall afterwards with a buffet. Not a whole lot to get worried about, really.’

I smile. ‘Yeah, I think that’s probably how I’d want to do it. Especially after seeing the way Cath’s behaving over the Wedding of the Century.’

‘Why? What sort of things is she doing?’

‘Oh, just moaning basically. She’s making mountains out of molehills. Complaining about people offering to help, that sort of thing. She sounded a bit ungrateful if you ask me, especially after everything I’ve done to try and make it the best day of her life.’

‘Like you say. Probably just the stress. She’ll be fine after it’s all done.’

‘Yeah, I know. But that’s not the point, is it? Weddings are a celebration. We want to be able to enjoy it with her.’

‘As long as she isn’t taking advantage of you. Did you know that weddings are one of the top reasons why friendships fall apart? I can definitely see why.’

‘I know. I don’t think it’ll cause any long-term problems. Just got to look forward to it, I suppose.’

‘I know,’ he replies, and I can hear his smile. ‘Just don’t let it drive a wedge between you, alright? I don’t want anything harming my butterfly.’

‘Don’t worry,’ I say. ‘I won’t.’

8

Tuesday 10 December

It proved easier than I’d imagined to get everyone together for a meal and drinks, especially with so many people having work Christmas parties, family engagements and other stuff going on in the run-up to the festive season. In the end, today seemed to be the day most people could do, and we managed to get booked into a gastropub in a village a few miles outside town.

A couple of the guys come in ridiculous Christmas jumpers — something I get a laugh out of seeing others do, but wouldn’t be seen dead in myself. The pub’s nice enough, and is thronging with people in both the bar and restaurant.

‘Lucky we managed to book a table,’ Tom says as we get our drinks.