Page 8 of Friend of the Family

‘Amy,’ Max cut in. ‘David was just telling me he got you a Tracey Emin for your birthday.’

Amy felt herself blush. It was an extravagant gift, but David had got a huge bonus from the bank a few months earlier.

‘It’s an investment,’ she said, smiling. ‘You should approve.’

‘I’ll be the judge of that. How about we come round and take a look? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go home yet, and apparently we only get this table for two hours.’

‘Even you?’ said Amy, mocking him.

‘Everyone’s welcome to come back for a drink,’ said David, raising his hand in surrender. Max was already asking for the bill.

Amy flashed her husband a look.

‘What’s up?’ he asked.

‘She’s coming at four.’

‘Who’s coming?’ said Max, throwing down his Amex.

‘Is that today?’ said David with a frown.

‘What’s happening?’ said Max, now curious.

‘We’ve got a house guest this week,’ Amy said.

‘Anyone interesting?’

‘The daughter of a friend. She’s doing work experience at Genesis, so she’s staying with us for a week. We’re going to welcome her with open arms, aren’t we, David?’

A sly look crossed Max’s face as he got up from the table.

‘How old is she? I don’t think you want to be encouraging David to open his arms too much.’

Amy laughed along, but realised she hadn’t actually considered that. She was inviting a young woman into their home without even having met her – well, not since she was a toddler, anyway.

‘That’s good of you,’ said Claire encouragingly. ‘I know how hard it was for me when I came down to London.’

‘The world would be a better place if we were all kinder to people,’ Amy said.

‘I can be kind.’ Max looked at Claire with a mock-innocent smile. ‘Can we have a hot girl come and stay at our house too?’

‘What’s a hot girl, Mummy?’ chimed Tilly.

‘No one says she’s hot,’ hissed Amy at Max, as Tilly skipped out of the restaurant, lost in another world, dancing her finger puppets through the air, using parked cars as handy stages for her play.

‘Whose daughter is it?’ said Juliet as the three women started walking ahead.

‘My old school friend, Karen.’

‘And she’s staying with you all week?’

‘David’s a bit nervous because we’ve never met her. But what could I say? I can’t offer work experience and not help with accommodation. You know how expensive hotels are in London.’

The men caught up with them as they neared Amy and David’s house.

‘By the way, there’s a concert at the castle in Lourmarin every Thursday. I’ll get tickets if anyone is interested,’ said Claire.

‘Who’s playing?’ asked David, hooking an arm around his wife’s waist.