Page 10

Conversation passed around the table as they enjoyed their main courses, including countless anecdotes about Jamie and Fin’s wedding.

‘And Evan’s guitar solo,’ Caroline said, shaking her head. ‘Of course, he could play the guitar. He could do everything.’

‘Yes, had we known he was going to steal the spotlight, we’d have just let him be part of the band,’ Michael said. ‘Actually, no, we wouldn’t. He would have shown us all up.’

The group laughed. Including Holly.

For a long time, Evan’s name hadn’t been mentioned in situations like this. The group had shied away from talking about him at all, as if saying his name would be enough to bring all the memories and heartbreak flooding back to Holly. But the heartbreak was always there. The wound hadn’t healed, and she knew now it never could. But speaking about him helped keep him a little more present in her mind.

After the waiter had taken their dessert orders, Holly cleared her throat.

‘If you’ll excuse me, Sienna, I’m just going to head to the ladies’.’

‘Oh, I’ll come with you,’ Sienna said, placing her napkin on the table in front of her, but before either of them could move, Giles had stood up and clinked his knife against his glass.

‘Hi, everybody, just while we’re waiting for our desserts, I wanted to say a few words.’

10

All eyes were on Giles, although he didn’t get the immediate silence he was probably expecting.

‘Have you not had enough attention already this week?’ Michael said, lifting his glass and laughing at his own humour.

‘Probably,’ Giles said. ‘But I’m taking the limelight for a minute longer. Sorry.’

He smiled broadly as he looked around the table, before bringing his gaze to a stop at Jamie and Fin.

‘So obviously, the first thing I need to do is say a massive congratulations to these guys.’

A cheer went up that was so loud, several other tables looked in their direction. Most of it came from Holly and Caroline, though, and from the way Giles lifted his glass, it was clear he wanted to say more. Only when the noise had subsided did he continue.

‘You guys really are the epitome of an amazing couple,’ he said. ‘You are the most generous people I know. You’re doing a phenomenal job of raising three incredible little people and you make being married look easy. I won’t lie, I aspire for a relationship as solid as yours, but to be honest, if I end up with a fraction of what you guys have, I would consider that a very successful marriage indeed. So first I want to raise a toast. To Jamie and Fin.’

Glasses rose and a series of cheers followed, this time even louder and longer than the previous one.

‘To Jamie and Fin,’ everybody said, before taking a sip of their drink.

Like everyone else at the table, Holly’s attention was on Jamie and Fin as she lifted her glass. In a manner that was ever so familiar and yet intimate, Fin was whispering something in Jamie’s ear, but rather than giggling, or slapping him playfully like she normally did after such an interaction, Jamie’s face tightened. A second later, her gaze spun around to fix on Holly.

What was going on? The elation she had been feeling at her friends’ celebration only a second ago was twisting into something uncomfortable, although she didn’t understand why. Was Jamie annoyed that Giles had taken over doing the toast? That wasn’t the type of thing that normally annoyed her, but something about her expression was off. Everyone else around the table was smiling and clinking glasses as they leaned in towards Jamie and Fin, but even when everyone was done, Giles remained standing. It was a little odd, Holly thought, given that he had made a perfectly good toast. And yet, as he remained standing, his eyes shifted from Jamie and Fin across to where Sienna and Holly were sitting.

‘I just want to say one other thing.’ As he drew in a breath, his grip tightened on his wineglass. Was he nervous? He certainly looked like it. But why? All Holly could do was wait to see what he was going to say, but it was hard with the way Jamie and Fin’s eyes kept darting towards her and every second that passed, they were looking more and more worried. Had something happened? Had they had a call from a babysitter? No, that didn’t make sense either. They had a group chat set up for that. So what was going on?

There was no way she could ask now, though. Not with Giles still mid-speech. She would just have to wait until he was done. Then she could find out. Thankfully, Giles was talking again. Fingers crossed, whatever he had to say wouldn’t take too long.

‘This week, as you know, I had a bit of an accident,’ he said. ‘You might not be able to tell, because I’m still substantially more attractive than the average person, even with all these bruises and a newly angled nose.’

A series of groans rolled around the table, and Holly noticed a small smile flicker on the corner of Jamie’s lips. Maybe she had misread the situation. Maybe it wasn’t that bad after all. Either way, she would find out when Giles finally sat down. Unfortunately, he was still going.

‘I won’t say life flashed before my eyes. And it was my own stupidity that put me in that situation, as some of you have already pointed out.’ His gaze flicked to Holly with the slight hint of a smirk she couldn’t help but reciprocate, though he had moved on almost immediately. ‘It was scary, though. I know that no one around this table takes their future for granted. We’ve been through too much for that, but strangely, I’m grateful for the accident, because it made me see the important things in life, and the important things are sitting here with me today. You lot. The people I love.’

Holly’s heart swelled. Giles had a way with words, particularly when he wasn’t using them to gain something for himself. She assumed that another toast was incoming. This time to all of them. Or perhaps even to Evan – it wouldn’t be the first time they had toasted his name at dinners like this. She reached for her glass, but instead, Giles said something altogether different.

‘So I think this is the moment I’ve got to move, so I have enough room to kneel down.’

Caroline’s hand shot to her mouth in a gasp, while Jamie’s eyes darted across to Holly again. But Holly still didn’t understand what was going on. Why did he need to kneel down?

She watched him manoeuvre himself out from the table, but rather than kneeling properly, he was just on one knee. That was when she realised what was happening. Giles was proposing to Sienna.