He waved to a bench at the bottom of the garden and they sat down side by side.
‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me,’ Sive said, feeling she needed to explain herself. ‘It’s just that … everything’s changing.And it’s all lovely, happy stuff. I know that.’ She struggled to articulate feelings that even she didn’t understand. ‘But I liked things the way they were.’ Her voice came out plaintive and whiny, and she cringed. ‘God, I sound like such a selfish idiot.’
‘No, you don’t.’ Sam nudged closer and put an arm around her.
‘I loved the three of us living together in the same house, running the theatre …’
‘Well, that won’t change.’
‘No.’ She sighed. ‘I just feel like everyone else is moving on with their lives and I’m still sleeping in my childhood bedroom. Not that I don’t love the house,’ she added quickly. ‘And I realise how lucky I am to have it.’
‘It sounds like youwantchange, not that you’re afraid of it.’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe. I guess I just wanted everything to stay the same, at least for another while.’
Sam nodded. ‘I know what you mean. Hard as it is sometimes me and Jonathan living together, I know I’m going to miss it in ways.’ He grinned. ‘I’ll definitely miss having someone to cook my dinner and do my washing.’
‘Jonathan does not do your washing!’ Sive gasped, jolted out of her gloomy thoughts.
‘Not anymore, but I got away with it for years until he cottoned on to the fact that I was an adult who should be able to operate a washing machine unsupervised.’
Sive stood and brushed off the back of her coat. ‘We should get back inside.’
‘Feeling better?’ Sam asked her with a concerned frown.
She nodded. ‘Much. Thanks.’ She smiled at him gratefully.
‘I don’t feel I was much help. I didn’t really do anything.’
‘You listened and you didn’t make me feel like a terrible person.’
Rocco was the first person she saw when they returned to the living room.
‘Congratulations again, Rocco,’ she said, throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a hug. She knew she’d said it already, but she wanted to repeat it with feeling, in case she’d lacked enthusiasm the first time.
‘You know I’ve always been gunning to be part of your family. My plan is all coming together.’ He twirled an imaginary moustache, like a cartoon villain.
Sive laughed. ‘It’s not like you’re short of family of your own.’
‘You can never have too many sisters, in my experience.’
‘Sistersarethe best,’ Sive said, her heart swelling as she glanced across the room at Aoife and Mimi. ‘Though I must admit, I always fancied having a big brother – someone who’d fight my bullies and bring his friends home for me to crush on.’
She didn’t know what had come over her earlier. Rocco was right – you could never have too much family. She wasn’t losing Mimi because she was getting married; she was gaining a brother-in-law.
She shook off her wobbly mood after that and enjoyed the rest of the party, entering into the giddy air of celebration, surrounded by the love and warmth of friends and family. Every so often, she locked eyes with Sam across the room and a spark of excitement rushed through her – a potent blend of bubbly champagne and anticipation of what was to come.
9
Sive stoodon the stage of Halfpenny Lane the next morning, watching as Sam and Cara rolled a grand piano into the wings, while a crew of stagehands and carpenters dismantled scenery, overseen by the set designer. The place was a hive of activity, Cara issuing instructions to a team of volunteers who were bustling about collecting props and removing set decoration. Piece by piece Amanda’s Paris flat from Act Three ofPrivate Liveswas stripped bare as curtains were taken down and furniture removed.
All traces of Amanda and Ellyot were gradually vanishing and soon nothing of the life they’d lived here would remain – just as Mimi’s presence was disappearing from their house, piece by piece. A wave of melancholy washed over Sive as she looked around at the almost bare stage.
‘Are you okay?’
She startled and looked up to see Sam beside her, a concerned frown furrowing his brow.
‘Yes,’ she said, shaking herself. ‘Just feeling a bit … sad?’ She gave him a wry smile. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.’ As she said it, the words nudged something thathad been niggling in the back of her mind since last night – a fleeting, nebulous thought that had flashed across her brain, lost in the excitement of the moment before she could latch onto it. She had a vague feeling there was something she should be worrying about, something triggered by Mimi’s engagement announcement, but she couldn’t think what it could be – which obviously meant she should let it go. What was the point in trying to think of things to worry about? It couldn’t be that important anyway, if she wasn’t able to fix on it.
