‘What about his parents?’ Cora asked, as she inspected my ring for the third time. I was about ready for her to whip out a jeweller’s loupe for a full appraisal.

I groaned. ‘Don’t get me started.’

‘Let me guess, they’re not happy.’ Faith pushed another glass of bubbly my way. ‘Fuck ’em. As long as the two of you are happy …’ She faded out as Rowan filtered into the space between her and Betty. ‘Row, massive congratulations. Dead chuffed for you both.’

‘Thank you, thank you. Are we okay for drinks over here, ladies?’

‘We will literally never turn down offers for drinks, if that’s where this is going,’ Lily answered.

‘My card is behind the bar.’ Rowan winked at me. ‘Get my girl good and drunk, won’t you?’

‘Rowan …’ I tried to sound light-hearted. I’d drunk more since being engaged than I ever had as a single woman. ‘You’re making this an expensive night.’

He leaned across the circle and kissed me in a sloppy, half-sloshed sort of way. ‘We’re only going to do all of this once, Edi.’

Betty snorted. ‘Fingers crossed.’ In unison, heads snapped around and eyes widened. Betty shifted back from us all. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that.’

‘Ignore her, she’s pissed.’ Lily leapt in to try to save the moment. ‘You’re right, you’ll only do this once, and if you need someone to get Edi drunk, not that it’d take much—’ she nudged me ‘—then we’ll get right on that, won’t we, ladies?’ She looked to the others for support and everyone, Betty included, gave a murmur of agreement. ‘Congratulations, again.’

The others fell over themselves to flash their smiles and thank-yous at Rowan, and asked, ‘Tell us how you did it,’ even though they damn well knew. But I was glad they were making an effort. Everyone apart from Betty, that is, who’d moved to stand next to me. She pressed her shoulder against mine to grab my attention and I turned.

‘I didn’t mean anything by it.’

I put an arm around her and squeezed – even though I wasn’t sure how much I believed her. Still, I said, ‘I know that, you silly arse. Sarcasm is second nature.’

She smiled and swigged her drink. ‘It’s won me a fiver, tonight has. I love a good bet.’

‘You bet I was engaged?’

‘I did.’ She nodded towards Faith. ‘She bet you were pregnant.’ I turned in time to catch Faith doing a shot with George and Rowan. I was glad the groups were mingling; it would make wedding parties easier.

‘I’d actually bet that you’d broken up,’ Cora added, sounding far chirpier than I thought she should have done.

‘You genuinely thought we were getting the lot of you together for that?’