Maria’s lopsided mouth broke into a smile, and her eyes were bright with gratitude as she said, “Thas OK. I can wait. Thank you, thank you,” and went swiftly back to her car.

Claudia and Marcy watched as she crunched it into gear and prayed as she revved up that she would find reverse. She did, but they remained silently staring as she shot backward down the drive as if she’d just been sprung from a bow.

“What the f—” Jasmine cried, finally able to leap out of her Mini.

“We’ll explain on the way,” Claudia told her. “We need to go.”

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, after agreeing to talk more about how they should respond to Maria’s unexpected offer, they ran into the restaurant to find they were the last to arrive. A worried Henry spotted them first and hurried over to greet Marcy, who’d left his gift in the car so they went off to get it.

“Hey you,” Dan said, coming to plant a kiss on Claudia’s cheek. So familiar and so typical of the public greeting he gave her now that they were five official dates into a relationship.

“Hey you,” she murmured back. “You’re looking very dashing.” He was, in his dark suit and pale blue shirt (no tie), but for her it was always the glasses that did it. And him, just for being him.

“And you’re looking ravishing,” he told her. “I don’t think I’ve seen that dress before.”

With a playful smile she said, “There’s a lot you haven’t seen before, but if you remembered to pack for a sleepover . . . ?”

His eyes narrowed in his version of seductive as he looked into hers. “I did,” he replied, leaving her in little doubt of how pleased he was to have done so.

“Good, because it seems everyone’s going in different directions from here—Jasmine’s off clubbing with Abby, and Mum’s going home with Henry.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Mum decided Henry shouldn’t be on his own on his birthday, so she drove her things over there earlier and came home again to get ready.”

“Wow,” he murmured. “So, it’s going to be just us at the coach house tonight.”

“Just us. Oh, but remind me to tell you about the visit we just had from Archie’s mother. It was . . . I’m not actually sure what it was, or how we should deal with it, but now’s not the time. We should mingle.”