“What about you? Have you met anyone you love more than books yet?”

Nory laughed. “Not yet. But I remain vigilant.”

Nory and Jeremy had had a very brief thing when they were sixteen, and finishing off their GCSEs. In truth, they were pushed together by a matchmaking Pippa and Ameerah, who thought they’d be perfect for each other: two book nerds together. But the reality was that they were too similar for sparks to properly fly; they’d always been mates, it felt unnatural to try and think of each other as otherwise, and after some unsatisfying fumblings, they’d decided to go back to being homework buddies.

Jeremy’s phone began to ring, and he looked pleadingly at Nory. “It’s Katie. I’m sorry, I’ve got to take this . . .”

“Go!” Nory laughed. “Go, speak to your lovely pregnant wife and send her my love.”

“I will.”

Jeremy gave her the briefest smile and disappeared out the door. Nory made her way over to Pippa and Ameerah, who had left Charles and Dev playing a duet—Dev was a surprisingly good pianist. Jenna was still being stared at by Camille and grilled for celebrity gossip by Guy.

“Thank god there’s only an hour’s time difference,” Pippa said, nodding toward the door left ajar by Jeremy’s exit. “I’m not sure he would cope if they were living in completely opposite time zones. Poor chap.”

Jeremy was an entomologist and had worked with universities all over the world. His wife, Katie, was six months pregnant with their first child and currently working in a chimpanzee sanctuary in Sierra Leone. Katie was due to fly back for the wedding and would then remain in England for the rest of her pregnancy; it was clear that for Jeremy it couldn’t come soon enough.

“It’s sweet, isn’t it?” said Ameerah. “But then Jez always was an absolute darling.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever have the energy to worry about another person so intensely,” said Pippa.

“Wait till you have children of your own,” said Nory, smiling mischievously, waiting for Pippa to bite.

“Nory, you’re making my smoked salmon blinis repeat on me,” Pippa replied.

“Just because you hate babies . . .” Ameerah winked at Nory as she said this.

“I don’t hate babies!” Pippa exclaimed, right on cue. “I fucking love babies. I fucking love all small people. I simply don’t want one of my own. I don’t want a fish either, it doesn’t mean I hate all fish.”

Ameerah laughed. “Wow, Pip, your baby antenna gets more sensitive every year!”

Pippa screwed her face up and narrowed her eyes, but she was smiling. “Biatch,” she said. “Anyway, what about you? Are you going to get your man-Barbie to impregnate you?”

“No,” Ameerah mused. “He’s purely for my personal pleasure. I’ll be taking him back to the store after the wedding.”