Chapters (51)
- Cover
- Praise for A Season for Second Chances
- Also by Jenny Bayliss
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Discussion Guide
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
After the ceremony, in that period when people milled about getting hungry and drinking too much champagne, while the photographer corralled the different elements of the wedding party together for group shots, Nory and Isaac played “spot the snob.” You could pick out Charles’s close relatives by the way their expressions crinkled ever so slightly when being introduced to members of the Days and Nights cast, as though someone were holding a bottle of turned milk under their noses.
“That’s old money for you,” said Nory, as Charles’s dad—a huge man who looked like a serial gout sufferer—said “Delighted” in a voice laden with apathy when introduced to the woman who played Dr. Emma Briggs in the show and had recently been papped falling knickerless out of a limo.
“And Jenna’s family are new money?” asked Isaac.
“Yes.”
“Which would you rather be?”
“I think new money. It comes with less baggage.”
“But less history too.”
“I disagree. It may not come with fourteenth-century bricks, but you can be rich in family history, and that’s free. Everyone’s entitled to history.”
“That’s your dad talking.” Isaac smiled.
“Oh god! Really?”
“Come on, Mrs. Claus, I’ll get you another drink.”
Isaac had not been overly keen on being in the friends’ group wedding photos, but his protestations were drowned out by everyone, especially Jeremy, who said he was part of the day and it needed to be documented—typical scientist.
When it came time—finally—to sit down to dinner, they were led through the orangery and into what had once been a coach house but had been transformed into a large formal ballroom-cum-banqueting-hall.
But first they had to process past the bride’s and groom’s parents. Jenna’s mum hugged Nory warmly and her dad said, “Hello, Elinor, love, so nice to see all the old gang together again.” Nory introduced Isaac as her “good friend” because terms had not yet been defined, although she secretly hoped they would be soon. The more time she spent with Isaac, the more she realized she very much wanted to continue seeing him after this week.
Charles’s parents were friendly in a more formal way and greeted her like a business associate, even though Nory had spent many a long weekend at their country pile over the years, and she had drunk too much sherry with Charles’s mother on more than one occasion.