Since the engagement video had gone viral, Fleur had been inundated with requests from people to help them stage their own elaborate proposals.

‘I’m calling it “Proposals by Fleur”,’ said Fleur, handing Minnie a pink business card. ‘I’m flying to Cairo next week, to produce a proposal in the tomb of Tutankhamen with loads of dead mummies running about. This guy wants to scare the shit out of his girlfriend and then pop the question. People are so weird.’

‘Wow, that’s so exciting, Fleur. I’m glad it’s all taken off. What about the dating site you were designing?’

‘Oh, it’s going to be a whole franchise, Minnie – this year we’re focusing on Proposals by Fleur, then we’ll do Dates by Fleur, Weddings by Fleur – who knows, I hear the funeral market is due a shake-up.’ Minnie laughed. ‘Oh, and my Instagram feed has now officially reached Influencer status, so let me know if you want me to do any influencing for you.’ Fleur turned to look at the dance floor. ‘Is this harmonica woman still going? Sorry, Minnie, I’m going to have to intervene.’

Minnie crept away from the dancing to have a moment alone. The last week had been intense. She’d only had the keys to this kitchen a week. And then, with Leila’s wedding venue falling through, she’d had to get everything set up and working in twenty-four hours. She didn’t even have staff yet, except Bev and Alan. She’d worked all night to get the space ready and pulled in a lot of favours from catering contacts to find people who would work last minute. Looking back across the room at everyone dancing and singing, she realised something; she had pulled it off. This industrial kitchen in Old Street wasn’t quite the romantic stately home that had been booked, but Leila was happy, and something about doing it this way felt so perfect. Now, Minnie couldn’t imagine the wedding party being any other way.

Fleur, to her credit, had done an amazing job with the decorations. She had turned the kitchen into a winter wedding wonderland, full of fairy lights and garlands of silver bells strung up between the steel girders. Bev had sourced all the linen, crockery and chairs for dinner and Alan had spent the last few days picking up everything they needed in the new van. It was so good to see so many old friends, people she was going to start delivering to again as soon as next week.