Recalling Heidi’s handling of the recent encounter outside Wilsons, the sheer chutzpah of the woman, Lucas chuckled to himself. Maybe she had engineered the whole thing, he mused as he moved with the swarm across the road. That his fiancée had balls was one of the many things he loved about her. But Esther was right: the children needed to be talked to properly about the situation, maybe over brunch at his the following morning, Lucas decided, swerving left for the Tesco Express near his flat. Once they had slept off their partying. He composed a shopping list in his head as he walked: sausages, some of them veggie for Lily, eggs, bacon for Dylan, wholemeal bread, milk, an organic juice.

Waiting in the queue with his basket of groceries, Lucas messaged Heidi with exclamation marks and a string of heart emojis, telling her to have a lovely time with the girlfriends she was seeing that night, and then wrote to Dylan and Lily about the brunch plan. His phone buzzed a few moments later, but it was only Claire Moore, the College Chaplain, asking if he could stop by first thing on Monday morning. Surprised, wondering if his take-no-prisoners girlfriend could already be pursuing the idea of using the college chapel for their nuptials, Lucas replied at once to say yes. The chapel was famously ancient and exquisite, and Heidi, lying in his arms after they had made love the previous evening, had expressed a strong interest in its feasibility as a venue. She could marry him wherever she wanted, Lucas had declared joyfully.

‘Having a good day?’ asked the girl at the checkout as Lucas set his basket down.

‘I am indeed, thank you.’

‘There’s a bar of chocolate if you buy one of these.’ She tapped a stack of newspapers.

‘No, thanks, I have all I need.’

And I really do, Lucas mused, whistling under his breath as he stepped back out into the August sunshine, swinging his bag as he strode back towards his flat.

11

It was nearly seven o’clock by the time Esther turned into her street. The heat of the day had built into the evening, and for the stop-start sluggish London traffic she had wound down both front windows, ensuring early warning of the fact that Dimitri and Sue’s party was already in full swing. No wonder she’d received an invitation. By the sound of things, they’d have been wise to invite the entire road.