Page 72 of The Woman Who Said Yes

‘Thank you!’ Then Eva rushes over to embrace him, clutching a bouquet that looks, endearingly, as if she’s just picked the flowers from a garden. Almost immediately she darts away again as if not knowing where to put herself.

More guests arrive and now Eva is chatting with Hadley, and Sam and Andie are hovering on the edge of the group. ‘That really is an amazing dress,’ he tells her.

‘It’s actually Eva’s,’ she says.

‘And this?’ He touches the black velvet around her shoulders.

‘Vintage.’ She smiles.

‘I love it. It’s very…’ He was about to say ‘elegant’ but that’s not quite right. ‘You look great.’ Her eyes meet his and his heart turns over.

‘Thanks. I’ve turned into the kind of woman who owns a cape!’

Sam laughs, spotting Marnie, Jake and Kian arriving together. There are hugs all round and Marnie exclaims, ‘Very smart, Sam!’

‘Doesn’t he look good?’ Andie says, catching his eye.

‘He does,’ Marnie teases. ‘You should wear a suit more often, Sam.’

‘Well, there aren’t many occasions,’ he says, and Jake looks at Kian and smiles.

‘There might be soon,’ Kian says. Before Sam can ask what that might be, the young ones (they’re still known as the young ones) are engulfed in hugs by Eva, leaving Sam and Andie alone again. ‘Isn’t Theo here?’ she asks.

He frowns, shaking his head. ‘He stayed over somewhere last night – God knows where. I told him, you can’t do that the night before the wedding. We have to be ready in plenty of time…’

‘Don’t think he’s going to come?’

He exhales. ‘Who knows? It feels like I don’t know anything any more.’

‘Oh, Sam. I’m sure he’s fine.’ She touches his arm and smiles reassuringly.

‘I’m sure he is,’ he says – although he’s not. Not really. ‘Anyway, what about Dom?’ he asks. ‘Is he here?’

‘Nope, not yet.’

He scans the vicinity for a sighting, but sees only a rather fragile-looking Leon in a pinstripe suit, whom he gathers made a mess of the profiterole tower. He turns back to Andie. ‘How about you?’ he asks hesitantly. ‘Is everything… all right?’

Andie nods. ‘It is,’ she murmurs, and her cheeks redden. ‘Thanks for the croissants and loaf, by the way.’

‘Look, I was going to say, I’m so sorry about that⁠—’

‘Don’t be.’ She takes his hand and squeezes it. ‘It wasn’t how it looked…’

‘Oh, you don’t need to explain⁠—’

‘No, honestly,’ she says. ‘The thing with Phil… what I mean is…’ Instantly, Sam is engulfed by an all-body cringe. ‘We didn’t actually… you know,’ she adds.

‘It’s okay!’ he blusters, wild-eyed.

She smiles awkwardly. ‘I just wanted you to know that there’s nothing going on. I mean nothing really—’ Nothing really? What does that mean? ‘…It was just, well… I was feeling a bit shit that day. That’s all it was.’ Sam nods, glancing down at his eerily smart shoes, also purchased for the occasion. ‘So how about you?’ she prompts him.

‘Me?’

Andie nods, awaiting a response. ‘I mean with Lucy.’

‘No, no,’ he says quickly. ‘That’s not happening.’

‘Oh, why’s that?’