“Would you like some coke instead? Just a couple of lines before your speech?”

“And furthermore,” said Nate, “your sister’s bloody lucky Paul looked her way twice. If it goes tits up it’ll be because of her, not him, and the only person who thinks they shouldn’t be together is you, because you’re a weird little freak with issues.”

“If you’re going to be rude then I’m going to have to ask for my joint back,” said Finn gravely.

Nate threw it on the ground and shredded it to pieces with the toe of his shiny shoe.

“Are you happy?” Paul took Ava’s hand and turned it so that the light caught the hoop of diamonds. Ava’s smile was tired. “I know I keep asking.”

“You don’t really need to ask, do you?”

“What happened to your flowers?”

“I’ve got them here.”

“Some of them.”

“These were all I needed. The rest have gone to a good home.”

“I wanted you to have them.”

“Let’s not fight about flowers.”

“I’m not trying to fight, I’d just have liked to see them.”

“You mean your mother would have liked to see them.”

“What’s my mother got to do with anything?” Paul demanded.

Ava glanced at Paul’s mother, who was nibbling a strawberry and laughing. “She looks a bit happier.”

“Oh, she’s in her element,” said Paul gloomily. “She’s been planning this since I asked out Amanda Allbright when we were fourteen.”

Ava leaned her head against his shoulder. “Nate’s speech was interesting.”

“I never thought he was the crying type,” Paul agreed. “Do you know… ” he stopped himself.

“Yes, I do actually.”

“No you don’t, you can’t possibly know what I was going to say and it wasn’t important anyway.”

“Finn did the same thing. You don’t think they’re right, do you?”

“Of course they’re not bloody well right.” Paul’s voice was quite a lot louder than he’d expected. He lowered it hastily. Rowing on their wedding day was bad enough, but rowing in front of his mother would be unforgivable. “What’s the matter with you?”

“The two people who know us best both thought… ”

“They’re not the two people who know us best,” said Paul fiercely. “Finn’s just your kid brother, and Nate’s a bloke I know from school. The two people who know us best are you and me. Okay? And we know it’s a brilliant idea to get married.” He kissed her. “Let’s go and dance.”

Chapter Eleven: Now

The phone’s ring came from everywhere and nowhere. Donald scrabbled frantically among the papers on his bureau. No sign of it. His bedroom? The kitchen? How could he lose anything in a small flat? He stood on the landing and listened, then dived triumphantly into Alicia’s bedroom.

“Don’t hang up, don’t hang up, don’t hang up,” he chanted, trying to sort through Alicia’s desk in a way that would show her he’d been looking for the phone, rather than spying. T-shirts, underwear, some sort of journal, the phone. He stabbed triumphantly at the answer button.