most boring man in Pagford. After my husband, obviously.'
She strode off, pleased with herself, holding her new drink; the gin had hit her where she most needed it, anaesthetizing and stimulating at the same time, and as she walked she thought: he liked my tits; let's see what he thinks of my arse.
Gavin saw Samantha coming and tried to deflect her by joining somebody else's conversation, anybody's; the nearest person was Howard and he insinuated himself hastily into the group around his host.
'I took a risk,' Howard was saying to three other men; he was waving a cigar, and a little ash had dribbled down the front of his velvet jacket. 'I took a risk and I put in the graft. Simple as that. No magic formula. Nobody handed me - oh, here's Sammy. Who are those young men, Samantha?'
While four elderly men stared at the pop group stretched across her breasts, Samantha turned to Gavin.
'Hi,' she said, leaning in and forcing him to kiss her. 'Kay not here?'
'No,' said Gavin shortly.
'Talking about business, Sammy,' said Howard happily, and Samantha thought of her shop, failed and finished. 'I was a self-starter,' he informed the group, reprising what was clearly an established theme. 'That's all there is to it. That's all you need. I was a self-starter.'
Massive and globular, he was like a miniature velvety sun, radiating satisfaction and contentment. His tones were already rounded and mellowed by the brandy in his hand. 'I was ready to take a risk - could've lost everything.'
'Well, your mum could have lost everything,' Samantha corrected him. 'Didn't Hilda mortgage her house to put up half the deposit on the shop?'
She saw the tiny flicker in Howard's eyes, but his smile remained constant.
'All credit to my mother, then,' he said, 'for working and scrimping and saving, and giving her son a start. I multiply what I was given, and I give back to the family - pay for your girls to go to St Anne's - what goes round, comes round, eh, Sammy?'
She expected this from Shirley, but not from Howard. Both of them drained their glasses, and Samantha watched Gavin drift away without trying to stop him.
Gavin was wondering whether it would be possible to slip out unnoticed. He was nervous, and the noise was making it worse. A horrible idea had taken possession of him since meeting Gaia at the door. What if Kay had told her daughter everything? What if the girl knew that he was in love with Mary Fairbrother, and told other people? It was the sort of thing that a vengeful sixteen-year-old might do.
The very last thing he wanted was for Pagford to know that he was in love with Mary before he had a chance to tell her himself. He had imagined doing it months and months hence, perhaps a year down the line ... letting the first anniversary of Barry's death slip by ... and, in the mean time, nurturing the tiny shoots of trust and reliance that were already there, so that the reality of her feelings stole gradually upon her, as they had upon him ...
'You haven't got a drink, Gav!' said Miles. 'That situation must be remedied!'
He led his partner firmly to the drinks table and poured him a beer, talking all the while, and, like Howard, giving off an almost visible glow of happiness and pride.
'You heard I won the seat?'
Gavin had not, but he did not feel equal to feigning surprise.
'Yeah. Congratulations.'
'How's Mary?' asked Miles expansively; he was a friend to the whole town tonight, because it had elected him. 'She doing OK?'
'Yeah, I think - '
'I heard she might be going to Liverpool. Might be for the best.'
'What?' said Gavin sharply.
'Maureen was saying this morning; apparently, Mary's sister's trying to persuade Mary to go home with the kids. She's still got a lot of family in Liver - '
'This is her home.'
'I think it was Barry who liked Pagford. I'm not sure Mary will want to stay without him.'
Gaia was watching Gavin through a chink in the kitchen door. She was clutching a paper cup containing several fingers of the vodka that Andrew had stolen for her.
'He's such a bastard,' she said. 'We'd still be in Hackney if he hadn't led Mum on. She's so bloody stupid. I could have told her he wasn't that interested. He never took her out. He couldn't wait to leave after they'd shagged.'
Andrew, who was piling additional sandwiches on an almost empty platter behind her,