‘Don’t you think this yellow one’s more suitable for an Easter party?’ Sinéad asked.
‘Perhaps when you first bought it, but not so much now.’
She turned to face him. ‘Why?’
‘Well, it’s a bit, you know …’
‘You know?’
‘Babe, don’t back me into a corner. It’s unfair.’
‘Go on.’
Daniel sighed. ‘Clingy. It’s a bitclingyin the wrong places.’
‘Do you think I’ve put on weight?’
‘No, no, no, of course not. But I know what you’re like, you’ll start comparing yourself to the other wives and girlfriends tonight.’
‘You think I’ve let myself go,’ she said flatly.
Daniel rolled his eyes. ‘No, now you’re putting words in my mouth. I’m just saying … I don’t know … well, how many times have you been to the gym recently? I bought you a twelve-month membership and personal training sessions but you’ve only been twice.’
‘Have you been checking up on me?’
‘I ran into Miguel in the changing rooms and he said he hadn’t heard from you after the second session.’
‘I’ve been busy.’
‘So why did you ask me to hire him then?’
‘I … I didn’t,’ Sinéad stuttered. ‘You suggested I needed toning.’
‘No, you asked if you could do with firming up. Think about it, why would you ask me a question about your appearance if you didn’t want me to help with your weight problem? You know that I’m a fixer, I’ll do anything for you. When you tell me you’re feeling unattractive, of course I’m going to read between the lines and help.’ He shookhis head. ‘Sometimes it worries me how much you misremember our conversations.’
Sinéad didn’t recall telling him that she’d felt unattractive. But Daniel was correct when he said he was a fixer. He solved her problems, even ones she didn’t know that she had.
‘Now why don’t you slip out of that dress and put on something that fits you better, like the purple one? Do you want me to pick your accessories too?’
‘Okay,’ Sinéad replied, defeated. She turned to look at her reflection again in the mirror. Perhaps Daniel was right. As he’d told her many times before, she was a work in progress and he always had her best interests at heart.
He kissed the back of her neck as she checked that her false eyelashes were attached properly.I’m lucky to have him, she reminded herself.Plenty of men would have left me after what happened.
But something snagged in the back of Sinéad’s throat. She barely felt it, but it was there.
Strings of white fairy lights hung from exposed wooden beams inside the converted barn. Cascades of white roses covered a wall, mirrored by flowers inside metre-tall vases on circular tables.
An army of coordinated waiters and waitresses carried desserts on trays to each of the two dozen tables surrounding the dancefloor. Sinéad glanced at the brightly coloured dish about to be placed in front of her, then at Daniel, and politely declined. The four courses preceding it had been delicious and had he been absent, she’d have happily devoured every morsel. Tonight, she made sure to leave a third of each plateful untouched, in case Daniel was calorie counting on her behalf.
She’d been subdued for much of the car journey from their apartment to the country hotel. It wasn’t until Daniel suggested it that she’d worried just how glamorous thepartners of his digital media colleagues were going to look. After a previous function Daniel had casually suggested she might benefit from facial fillers, pointing out that the only thing her once expressive face was now conveying was tiredness. He even made the clinic appointments on her behalf.
Each table contained an electronic device that enabled guests to pick songs from an expansive list to play through the automated DJ system. Joanna, the wife of one of Daniel’s team, who she’d met several times before, was sitting next to Sinéad and passed her the gadget.
‘Do you want my help?’ asked Daniel.
‘Why?’ Sinéad replied. She interpreted his look to meanYou know why. ‘I was going to choose something by Ed Sheeran,’ she continued. ‘I loved his songs when I was at college.’
‘Really?’ Daniel chuckled. ‘I don’t think anyone else wants to hearhim—’
