‘Lovely, thank you.’ Emily slides onto a stool as Rupert helps himself to two cups of coffee, pushing one in front of his fiancée. Emily wraps her fingers around the cup and takes a sip, before grimacing and adding sugar.

‘Emily, do you want to borrow something to wear?’ Amanda says, looking her up and down. ‘I keep a few bits here for nights like last night – I think we’re about the same size? Caro used to borrow my stuff all the time.’

Rupert feels his stomach flip at the use of Caro’s name, watching Emily for signs that she is upset, although it’s a little unreasonable for her to expect his friends to never mention Caro by name ever again, but Emily nods and smiles, jumping down off the stool and following Amanda to the second spare room. Rupert feels himself relax a little, taking a sip of coffee.

‘Hangover?’ Will asks, a huge stack of pancakes in front of him. ‘I feel as rough as a badger’s arse.’

‘I’m not too bad,’ Rupert says, reaching over and pinching a piece of pancake doused in syrup.

‘It’ll be young Emily, keeping you up all night, getting the booze out of your system,’ Miles scoffs, and Rupert avoids Sadie’s eye as his neck prickles uncomfortably. ‘What are your plans for today?’

‘I should imagine you’ll be visiting Emily’s parents, won’t you?’ Sadie asks, wiping her hands on the apron she wears before whipping it over her head and smoothing her short bob back into place. ‘She’ll want to break the news to them, won’t she? And of course, you’ll want to let your parents know.’

Rupert says nothing for a moment. ‘I think we’ll just take the day to keep it to ourselves, for now. Get used to the idea, you know?’ He doesn’t want to admit to Sadie that he hasn’t met Emily’s parents yet – that she barely talks about them, if he’s honest. ‘Has anyone seen Emily’s phone, by the way? She couldn’t find it in the bedroom this morning.’

‘Here. Is this it?’ Sadie hands him an iPhone, and when he presses the side button his own face appears on the lock screen, smashed against Emily’s in a selfie they took on a day trip to Stonehenge a couple of weeks after they started dating.

‘Thanks.’ Emily reaches over his shoulder and takes it, kissing his cheek and making him jump. ‘Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Amanda lent me a dress.’ Rupert turns and she gives a little twirl. ‘I’ll launder it and give it back,’ she says to Amanda, who flaps a hand in her direction. ‘I better just call Mags and let her know I’m still alive.’ She flits out of the room, leaving Rupert to his breakfast.