‘Hi, Inez, pleased to meet you.’
‘I doubt that,’ Inez said with a nervous laugh, pumping Sive’s hand rather too enthusiastically. ‘But thanks for inviting me.’
Inez was clearly nervous too, which helped to allay Sive’s fears. This situation might be awkward as hell, but clearly none of them was interested in a confrontation. They were all invested in making this work, and it would be horribly uncomfortable at worst.
‘Well, isn’t this … nice?’ Bridget said in an obvious effort to break the tension.
Sive cast around for something to say, but her brain froze. ‘So you’re the woman my boyfriend left me for.’ She clapped a hand to her mouth, eyes wide with horror, wishing they could go back to awkward silence. She hadnotmeant to say that.
Ben was blushing furiously, but to her relief, Inez laughed. ‘And you’re the woman who’s having my boyfriend’s baby. Congratulations!’
‘Thanks,’ Sive said, not sure if Inez was just a great actor and they should hire her on the spot for their next production, or she really was cool with the turn of events.
‘Oh, look, there’s Mimi,’ Bridget said rather shrilly to her husband. ‘We should go and say hello. I haven’t seen her and Aoife in ages.’
Cal looked all too happy to escape as they fled the scene arm-in-arm.
‘Ben tells me you’re an actor,’ Inez said to Sive, ‘and you own your own theatre. That’s so cool.’
‘Yes, you should come and see our show while you’re here. How long are you staying?’
‘I’d love that. We’re here for a week,’ Inez told her.
‘It’s Scrooge, right?’ Ben asked warily.
‘A Christmas Carol, yes.’
He looked relieved. ‘Well, that doesn’t sound too bad.’
‘Can we use that on the posters? “Not too bad – Ben Rafter”?’ Sive traced the words in the air with her hand.
Ben chuckled, ducking his head sheepishly.
‘Seriously, though, I think you’d really enjoy it. It’s good fun. And there are mince pies!’
‘We should definitely go,’ Inez said, smiling up at Ben.
‘If you like. Are you all in it?’ he asked Sive.
She shook her head. ‘Just me and Mimi. And Sam – you remember Sam?’ She nodded across the room at him. He was in an animated conversation with Rocco, with lots of back-slapping and hand gestures and full-throated laughter. She was once more struck by how very different Sam and Ben were. She could hardly have picked two people more unalike. But maybe they were the right boyfriends for different times in her life. She no longer wanted to be with Ben, but she didn’t regret him.
‘Yeah, I remember him. I didn’t know he was an actor.’
‘It’s his debut.’
When Inez excused herself to go to the bathroom, Sive caught Sam’s eye and beckoned him over. She’d told Ben that she was seeing Sam on their last call and she was nervous about them meeting. But she needn’t have worried. Sam was so affable and Ben so taciturn, there was no chance of even a hint of hostility between them. She marvelled as Sam even managed to get a couple of sentences out of Ben. Maybe this could work, she thought, relaxing, and they could all be one big happy, if unconventional, family.
‘Seems like a good bloke,’ Ben commented when Sam had moved off.
‘He is,’ Sive said, as she watched Sam walking away. ‘He’s a very good bloke.’
Sive didn’t realise how wound up she’d been about this morning, but she was weak with relief now that she and Inez had broken the ice and it had all gone fine. They’d undoubtedly have to have more in-depth and serious conversations in the future and iron out the details of their complex relationship, but the hardest part was over.
When Inez returned from the bathroom, Mimi and Aoife came over to be introduced, and Sive was pleased to see that even Mimi was intent on being friendly to both her and Ben. She left them chatting and went to the kitchen to plate more canapes as they were running out.
She was arranging filo parcels on a plate when Inez came into the kitchen. She looked around the room quickly, ascertaining there was no one else there, then joined Sive at the worktop.
‘Sive, I wanted to speak to you alone for a minute, if that’s okay?’
