Page 75 of The Woman Who Said Yes

‘No idea!’ he exclaims, shaking his head at the implication that he might have had something to do with it.

He leaves her looking baffled and goes to the kitchen where he pours himself an enormous glass of cheap whisky, flinching as his phone rings – thinking one moment that it might be Eva. That she had had a mad turn there, and that she still loves and wants him and everything will be all right. ‘Hi, mate,’ comes a gruff male voice. ‘You left a message? Said you needed a plumber?’

‘Oh yes.’ Dom takes a gulp of whisky.

‘Whereabouts?’

‘What?’

‘I said whereabouts is the job, mate?’

‘Oh, right,’ Dom replies, satisfied as the alcohol floods his veins that at least he has managed to do one good thing today. ‘It’s at 29C Boggis Road.’

42

ANDIE

It was supposed to be a wedding party and now it’s a party-party which, I think we all agree, is a far better idea. Drinks are flowing and music is playing and the young, cheery couple who own this little bar-cum-restaurant have done Eva proud. I run around taking photos, as Eva has instructed me to – and Marnie laughs, teasing, ‘So you’re in charge of the social media?’

‘Looks like it!’ It was shocking to me when Marnie told me she’d deleted her Instagram. The casualness of it! ‘But how will you know what people are doing?’ I gasped.

‘Mum, I call or message them,’ she said with a smirk. Secretly, though, I want to get all the photos done and then just relax and drink wine and be with Eva and Marnie and Jake and Kian. And Sam of course, who has barely left my side.

‘You can relax now,’ I murmured as we arrived here. ‘No speeches!’

‘Thank God for that.’

‘I have to admit, though, it’s a bit like having trained for a marathon and it being cancelled.’ He laughed and his gaze met mine, and my heart seemed to turn into a million sparkles.

Now, as he briefly touches my hand, I just know. I know how he feels – that he is happy, and not just because Theo finally turned up, just as we were all traipsing out of the registry office.

Theo with Farrah! ‘Who’d have thought it?’ Sam asks.

‘I know! When d’you think they got together?’

‘At that open evening she made me have at the shop,’ he replies. ‘That’s what Theo said anyway. You know they’re going away together?’

‘Yes, he told me,’ I reply.

‘Just a group holiday. Nothing heavy.’ He shrugs and smiles, and I know what he means; that nothing should be assumed because they do things differently now. ‘But I think they’re exclusive,’ he adds, chuckling.

‘I get that feeling too.’ I smile. ‘But why didn’t he tell you? I mean, why the big secret?’

Sam exhales. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe he felt he was encroaching on my life?’

‘Or maybe,’ Theo announces over the hubbub, ‘it was none of your business, Dad?’ We laugh as the music is cranked up, and then the dancing starts. And so the day goes on: a blur of friends and music and joy. At one point, Sam and I are not dancing together exactly, but holding each other, a little tipsy now. I don’t care about Marnie or Jake seeing us because they know too. ‘So, you and Sam,’ Marnie whispered a little while ago, smiling. Maybe everyone knew but us?

But then, I always wanted a man like Sam. A man who is a good person, who makes me laugh like no one else. A man whose warm, slightly off-kilter smile lifts my heart. A man I can tell anything to, who thinks I’m great in every possible way – and who loves even the not-so-great things about me. A man I first set eyes on in a knitwear store, when he held up a sweater and said, ‘Can you fold?’

I looked at him then and thought, Hello, you. Aren’t you gorgeous? But of course I didn’t say that. Instead, I laughed and replied, ‘Of course not. Can you?’

The party is starting to wind down. The young ones have gone and Eva and her fashion crowd are heading off for an after-party at Milla’s place, but Sam and I make our excuses not to join them.

He looks at me as we leave the bar, and smiles as if he has been holding in a secret. And now it’s all out there and here we are, me and him, at the start of something wonderful.

‘So, where to now?’ he asks.

‘I don’t know,’ I reply. ‘I feel like we have too much choice.’ Sam laughs softly and then we just walk, with no destination in mind, until we stop at a street corner and look at each other and he kisses me.