Lara deals with the introductions and Gregory subtly pats a hand onto Williams’ shoulder with a laugh.
Lunch is announced and Lara ushers us all towards the dining room.
‘Hold on a sec,’ I say, gently grabbing Williams by the arm and pulling him back into the lounge. ‘I just want to say I’m sorry about the other day. I know you were looking out for your friend and I don’t want things to be awkward between us.’
‘I’m sorry too.’ His voice is gentle and warm. ‘None of my business and I shouldn’t have said anything. I just didn’t want to see you two mess things up. I’m sure you’ve realised that relationships aren’t really Greg’s thing, and you’re both pretty bull-headed, if you don’t mind me saying.’
‘It would be too late now if I did.’ I nudge him gently and he wraps an arm around me.
Tony’s homemade duck pâté is already waiting on each of our place mats. Miranda opens two bottles of wine on an oak side table then wraps a white cloth around one of the bottles.
‘Red or white?’ she asks as she makes her way around the large, oval table.
‘So, Amanda, please enlighten me,’ Lawrence says. ‘What are sloggies?’
She places her napkin across her lap. ‘Sloggy clothes, like leggings and a big jumper or joggers and a tee: lounge clothes.’
‘Ahh, I see. These onesies I hear people talk about, they’d be sloggies?’
‘Oh no, I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. White for me, please,’ she says, sliding her glass towards Miranda. ‘You see, the onesie can generally fall into two categories: nightwear, which is entirely acceptable but realistically far too warm to wear in bed and probably best left to the under tens, or cool cats trying too hard. The other type is people who actually wear onesies in public and walk as if one leg is two or three inches shorter than the other. This category is really never acceptable.’
Amanda takes a sip of wine, giving Lawrence a chance to scratch his head, bemused.
Then she quickly chirps up again. ‘There’s a distinction between the sloggy and nightwear. Sloggies can be worn at any time of the day without feeling like a bum.’
‘Feeling like a bum?’ Lawrence asks.
‘Mmm-hmm, yep. But nightwear can only be worn around a two to three hour window before or after sleep. Well, unless it’s one of few days a year when a person decides to have a duvet day – a normal person, not a try-hard.’
The table falls silent for a second or two until Lara bursts into uproarious laughter.
‘Would you look at his face!’ She presses a hand to her ribs. ‘He’s so confused.’
The merriment continues as anecdotes are shared. Camilla regales us with a tale from Lara’s bonfire party last year. For some reason, I find myself wondering whether she really did share jokes will Bill Nighy and Sebastian Faulkes. Call it a hunch.
‘We’ll have to introduce Scarlett around this year, Lara.’ Camilla winks at her friend.
I turn to Gregory, who shrugs.
‘Oh, yes of course. Scarlett, you’ll have so much fun,’ Lara offers.
Gregory tries again. ‘Mother, we might not?—’
‘We need to go shopping. I have my dress but we can get you something new, Scarlett.’
‘Mother!’ Gregory snaps. ‘Scarlett knows nothing about the party yet. She might not be ready.’
Lara is visibly wounded but manages to compose herself. ‘Of course not, I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay,’ I say, resting a hand onto Gregory’s knee. ‘A party might be a good distraction.’
Lara smiles at me and as much as I really don’t want to, I tell her, ‘I could do with a new dress.’
‘Actually, I need a new dress for the party too,’ Amanda quickly cuts in. ‘Why don’t the two of us go shopping one night this week since Lara already has her dress and probably has an awful lot to do here?’
‘That sounds like a great idea to me,’ Gregory adds before Lara can protest.
Camilla moves on to the next topic of conversation and I’m grateful to be relieved from the centre of attention. Tony wheels the infamous honey-glazed ham to the side of the table on a trolley and carves two slices for each person. Miranda serves the ham and vegetables onto our plates. Sandy sits awkwardly in her chair and fiddles with the stem of her glass, which she refused to have filled with wine, I suspect because Jackson isn’t drinking either.
