Ted looked at her appraisingly. He had a kind face, she thought, when it wasn’t joking and messing about.

‘I know how that one works,’ he said quietly. ‘Been there myself. Have you got a plan?’

‘Not in the short term,’ she admitted. ‘I do have a job in the pipeline, quite a good one as it goes, but I’m not quite sure when that will get going.’

‘And in the meantime, you’re not answering the door or opening any post?’ He winked at her and it made her smile.

‘Yep. That’s about the size of it,’ she said. ‘But less of me and my woes. How about you? What do you do?’

Ted’s eyes dropped to his pint and he shuffled in his seat. ‘Bit of this. Bit of that,’ he said, without meeting her eye.

It didn’t sound very honest, whatever it was, but Evelyn found that she didn’t mind. She was more intrigued than anything else. ‘Sounds fascinating,’ she murmured.

Ted shrugged. ‘Pays the bills,’ he said. ‘Most of the time, anyway.’

He finished his pint and gestured to their empty glasses. ‘Another?’ he asked her. ‘Do you want a real drink this time? Can’t have me drinking on my own.’

Evelyn wasn’t at all sure that she did, but she didn’t want to seem ungrateful. ‘Gin and tonic,’ she said.

‘Ice and a slice?’ he asked as he stood up, and she nodded.

A straggle-haired DJ was just setting up in the corner of the room, his boxes of records all set out on a table next to his turntables. He was playing an Abba hit from a few years before by way of background music, and Evelyn caught herself humming along with the melody. The party would probably become less sedate as the evening drew on, she thought. Brenda and Jim knew how to enjoy themselves and the voices in the room were getting louder and louder as the alcohol flowed. She decided she would probably leave before it got to that point. She would wait until the food had been served – she couldn’t afford to turn down a free meal – and then quietly slink away without anyone noticing. She could explain to Brenda later if she seemed upset that she had gone without saying goodbye, but to be honest she suspected she wouldn’t be missed.

Ted had been to the bar for a third time when the buffet was declared open. He and Evelyn were at the front of the queue, after the bridal party themselves of course, and they both came away with plates piled high. Ted had to hold his sausage rolls in place on top of the mountain of finger rolls so they didn’t tumble off. He didn’t seem to think any comment on his apparent greed was called for, so Evelyn didn’t comment either, and just tucked into her food with relish.

‘So how come you’re not hitched, then?’ Ted asked her as he licked the salty crisp crumbs from his fingers. ‘Nice-looking lady like yourself, I’d have thought you would have been snapped up years ago.’