‘Bloody brilliant.’ He looked at her, his eyes shining and bright. Honestly, sometimes, she could see that enthusiastic eight-year-old he’d been in school. He was still standing right there in front of her and when that happened, it made her feel a little… guilty? Yes, she could admit to herself, sometimes, that she had settled for Eddie – they had fallen into a relationship after Rachel died and she used to wonder if she’d just been trying to fill the huge emptiness left by her sister, rather than falling in love with him. ‘How on earth did you manage to get these?’

‘Pete.’ It was all she needed to say. Actually, the mention of his name made her feel a little guilty too. He’d rung her twice already today and between all the preparations for dinner, all she’d managed was to send him a quick text hoping he was having a lovely day. Pete had been Rachel’s best friend forever. He missed her as much as any of them, and Liv knew that he’d promised to look after her, but she really should be looking after him too.

‘Ah.’ He shook his head. ‘Good old Pete.’ Eddie made a face and Liv wasn’t sure exactly what was behind it, but she was sure he loved the gift, which was really all that mattered to her at this point.

‘What?’ she asked now as he shook his head.

‘Ah, just Pete, you know,’ and he said it a little scathingly. Pete and Eddie were very different. Eddie was an artist, whereas Pete was a numbers man. He worked in insurance and his company provided cover for every big game and concert from the Aviva in Dublin to Wembley Stadium in London. ‘Good old Peter,’ he said sardonically and Liv had a feeling that the brandy was hitting an empty stomach and giving his words a harshness that was out of character in Eddie’s usually passive nature.

There was a rivalry between them that had been there since school; Eddie hid it well, mostly, until he’d had a drink too many. It had started on the football pitch where Eddie was just that little bit faster, that little bit more brutal, whereas Pete, as a kid, just wasn’t sporty. Pete had always been a tangle of arms, legs and geeky glasses. But people change and it seemed that as the years wore on life had evened out the score. Now Pete had a fantastic job with so many perks – he owned a luxury apartment in one of the most sought-after city addresses, and until recently he had a girlfriend who, to Liv’s mind at least, made Kendall Jenner look like an old crone.