‘Rachel, I’m going to go and find someone who can help you,’ he said, heading fast for the door. I ran after him, but as I caught hold of a handful of his jacket, I felt the bile rise again in my throat. I lurched back to the sink, a thick fountain of vomit shooting out of my mouth. The door swung behind him and I lurched after his retreating body.

‘Don’t!’ I shouted. ‘I don’t want anyone helping me.’

I’d lost all sense of the place, the corridor rotating like a kaleidoscope as I followed him. The distance had shrunk to nothing, and suddenly I was there, in the room, shocked faces taking in my vomit-flecked dress. All I could focus on was Mum marching towards me.

Now I was sitting on the tiled floor of the bathroom, my back leaning against the sinks, willing myself not to vomit. The pity on Sophie’s face was almost worse than Mum’s disgust.

‘God, how many times do we have to go through this?’ Mum said, standing over me.

Sophie dropped to her knees, pulling a bottle of water from her handbag.

‘Drink some of this,’ she said, holding it to my parched lips. She put her other arm around my shoulders, rubbed my back. ‘Oh, Rachel, what happened?’

‘That’s fairly obvious,’ said Mum witheringly, staring down at us on the ground as if we were a pair of squabbling toddlers in a sandpit. ‘Rachel doesn’t know when to stop. She’s incapable.’

‘Mum…’ said Sophie, her hand still making comforting circles on my back. Who was the big sister here, really?

‘It wasn’t just me!’ I protested. ‘He’s a fucking liar. He…’

‘What I saw was you throwing yourself at him,’ said Mum. ‘He’s not the one sprawled on the floor of a public toilet…’ Sophie gave her an admonishing stare. ‘I’m sorry, Sophie, I’ve done nothing but baby her. Tough love is all I’ve got left.’ Two high spots of colour were splashed across her angular cheekbones. ‘Today was meant to be a celebration of our family, and you’ve turned it into yet another disaster.’

‘What, is Esther part of our family now?’ I snarled. The self-righteous blaze in Mum’s eyes started to dim. Was I really going to go there? ‘Do the family who cheat together, stay together – something like that?’

Sophie whipped her hand away, and my shoulder blades ricocheted against the hard surface behind us. ‘Rachel, stop,’ she said, her voice shaking. ‘You’re drunk.’

Mum’s hand sprung out, demanding silence. Her jaw was clenched, her expression fierce. My throat dried, my body shrinking backwards.