Page 73 of The Honeymoon Affair

As I spoke, her eyes opened wider and wider and she put her pina colada on the sideboard.

‘You’re kidding,’ she said eventually, grasping my hand and looking at the ring.

‘Nope.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’

‘Really sure? Because—’

‘Don’t give me all the reasons why it might not work,’ I said. ‘I’ve thought of them myself. Give me the reasons why it will. Because he’s going to tell everyone in a few minutes and there’s no going back after that.’

‘There’s always going back,’ she said. ‘Oh, Izzy, he’s lovely, he really is. If you’re sure, I’m sure. If you’re happy, I’m happy.’

‘I really am,’ I said.

‘In that case . . .’ she flung her arms around me, ‘con-bloody-gratulations. But honestly, you could have stiffed him for a better ring.’

I’m looking at Ariel as I stand beside Charles, feeling a little bit like his Booker Prize award. Obviously I won’t feel like that all the time, but right now, with everyone’s eyes on me, it’s a bit embarrassing. But that’ll pass. I wish I’d thought of calling Mum and Dad before Charles said anything, but my only thought was to tell Celeste before he announced the news to everyone else. I expected a few doubts from her. I’d have said the same if our roles were reversed. But I know she’s happy for me. I’m happy for me. I never expected this to happen, but now that it has, it feels (despite my current embarrassment) absolutely right.

His agent-slash-ex walks up to him. She can’t keep the shocked expression from her face.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asks.

‘Ariel.’ He says her name like a warning. ‘Time and place.’

‘You think this was the time and place?’

She’s angry, I realise. Probably because he didn’t tell her before everyone else. And I understand that. It’s why I told Celeste.

‘It seemed right.’ He shrugs.

I step forward. ‘I’m sorry if you’ve been taken by surprise,’ I say. ‘But I hope we’ll all get on well together.’

‘You hope . . .’ She stares at me. ‘Who are you exactly?’

‘Iseult O’Connor,’ I say. ‘Charles’s fiancée.’ I add that bit to cement my status in her head. Because even though their relationship is over, I can feel her shock. I’d be shocked too if Steve told me he was engaged to someone else, even though I don’t love him any more.

‘I had no idea.’

I’m not sure if her words are directed at me or at him. I want to give the two of them a moment, but even as I turn away towards Celeste, he reaches out and grabs me by the wrist.

‘No need for you to go anywhere,’ he says. ‘Ariel’s being rude, but that’s because she’s been caught off guard. She’s always rude when that happens.’

‘I am not,’ she protests.

‘We’ll talk later.’ And he walks away from her, bringing me with him towards the other side of the room.

‘Is she all right?’ I ask.

‘She hates being the last to know about anything,’ he murmurs, and then smiles as people start congratulating him though mostly ignoring me.

‘Unfortunately my new editor seems to have gone before we got a chance to chat with her,’ says Charles when we’ve finally accepted all the good wishes there are to accept.

‘I talked with her earlier,’ I say. ‘She’s nice. She has some cool ideas about making it more difficult to spot the murderer.’

‘You’ve been having editorial conversations about my book?’ He looks amused. ‘I suppose you have a proprietorial interest in it, after all.’