and Ruby could remember that I’d had my third session with Gwendolyn.
‘Want a glass, Flo?’ said Ruby, waggling the bottle at me.
‘Yep, thanks,’ I replied as Rory sat back down.
He and I had planned to meet here and order a takeaway on the sofa since, when Mia had mentioned the wine tasting a couple of days ago, I’d assumed that she meant they were doing it at Claridge’s, not in our kitchen. I wondered how long Rory had been here and totted up the number of open bottles on the table. Eight. There was a relaxed, end-of-dinner-party vibe to the room; the glasses were smeary with fingerprints, there was a bowl of half-eaten crisps on the table and Hugo and Rory had pulled their tie knots loose. But the thought of him hanging with my sisters and Hugo without me made me anxious. Or maybe that was the screaming hip-hop. Just please could they not have mentioned the list.
‘What petition? Were you with Zach?’ asked Ruby, handing me a glass.
‘I do hope not,’ said Rory.
‘Has he said anything about me?’ Ruby added. ‘I’ve started following him on Insta but he hasn’t followed me back.’
‘No, sorry. And it’s just something I’m doing at the shop tomorrow. To try and raise local support and so on and so on. But why the blindfolds?’ I pushed on, keen to get off the subject of Zach.
Mia pushed her sleep mask back so her blonde hair stuck out behind it like straw from a scarecrow and explained, ‘We thought we’d make it a blind tasting, more fun.’
I watched as Hugo, mask still on, fumbled in front of him for a plastic bowl on the table, then picked it up and spat into it.
‘A spittoon is how the professionals do it. And I’m not sure about that one at all. The first red was better.’
Ruby sighed and picked up a bottle from the table before squinting at the label. ‘That was the Merlot.’ She looked back to me. ‘I’ll come and sign the petition if Zach’s going to be there. Dad’s back this weekend too, did you know?’
‘What? No, I didn’t.’
‘We’re having lunch tomorrow, and then dropping into Claridge’s to show him the ballroom,’ Mia added. ‘Wanna join?’
‘Can’t. I’ve got this petition. How long’s he back for?’
‘Think just the weekend, it’s a very last-minute thing. Mum organized it. But listen, why don’t we all swing by the shop on the way?’ said Mia, presumably noticing the hurt I could feel rippling across my face.
Hugo pulled his unicorn mask down around his neck. ‘We’ve got to be at Claridge’s at midday, Mia, I’m not sure we’ll have time to fit in a trip to Chel—’
‘Yes, we will,’ she replied, swatting his arm.
I nodded while straining my eyes wide to stop the kitchen from going blurry. This sense of isolation took me straight back to being small again, to being shunted upstairs and feeling like the odd one out. We were supposed to be a family of five but at moments like this, it felt like a unit of four with an awkward add-on. The difficult daughter, the weirdo who played strange mind games and thought she’d have a bad day if she woke up at 7.13 a.m. instead of 7.14 a.m.
‘Great,’ said Mia, before turning to Rory with a wide smile. ‘You up for meeting the parents?’
‘Absolutely, although…’ he glanced at me with a wince, ‘I might have to go to the office afterwards to do some work.’
‘And the best news of all,’ went on Mia, clearly still in cheering-up mode, ‘is that Rory’s coming to my wedding.’
‘Our wedding,’ sighed Hugo. ‘Mia, how many times do I have to say it?’
I looked at Rory in surprise. ‘Actually?’
He nodded. ‘Absolutely. I’m very honoured to be asked.’
‘And to my stag,’ added Hugo.
‘WHAT?’
‘Well, since Mr Popular here only has about three friends…’ said Mia, elbowing Hugo.
‘That’s not true!’ he protested.
‘Oh, come on, you do.’ Her gaze slid back to me. ‘Since he’s only got three friends, and Rory’s free, he’s said he’s up for going too. Isn’t that nice?’
‘Um, yep, if you’re sure?’ I said, looking sideways at Rory, trying to gauge how keen he actually was.
‘Course,’ he said. ‘I love Prague. Terrific city. Did you know there’s more beer drunk there per head than any other country in the world?’
‘Great,’ I said, before taking a big mouthful of wine and counting to six before swallowing because I felt very