could hardly believe that she was using words like shagged. The chimeric Gaia who filled his fantasies was a sexually inventive and adventurous virgin. He did not know what the real Gaia had done, or not done, with Marco de Luca. Her judgement on her mother made it sound as if she knew how men behaved after sex, if they were interested ...
'Drink something,' she told Andrew as he approached the door with the platter, and she held up her own polystyrene cup to his lips, and he drank some of her vodka. Giggling a little, she backed away to let him out and called after him: 'Make Sooks come in here and get some!'
The hall was crowded and noisy. Andrew put the pile of fresh sandwiches on the table, but interest in the food seemed to have waned; Sukhvinder was struggling to keep up with demand at the drinks table, and many people had started pouring their own.
'Gaia wants you in the kitchen,' Andrew told Sukhvinder, and he took over from her. There was no point acting like a bartender; instead, he filled as many glasses as he could find, and left them on the table for people to help themselves.
'Hi, Peanut!' said Lexie Mollison. 'Can I have some champagne?'
They had been at St Thomas's together, but he had not seen her for a long time. Her accent had changed since she had been at St Anne's. He hated being called Peanut.
'It's there in front of you,' he said, pointing.
'Lexie, you're not drinking,' snapped Samantha, appearing out of the crowd. 'Absolutely not.'
'Grandad said - '
'I don't care.'
'Everyone else - '
'I said no!'
Lexie stomped away. Andrew, glad to see her go, smiled at Samantha, and was surprised when she beamed at him.
'Do you talk back to your parents?'
'Yeah,' he said, and she laughed. Her breasts really were enormous.
'Ladies and gentlemen!' boomed a voice through the microphone, and everyone stopped talking to listen to Howard. 'Wanted to say a few words ... most of you probably know by now that my son Miles has just been elected to the Parish Council!'
There was a smattering of applause and Miles raised his drink high above his head to acknowledge it. Andrew was startled to hear Samantha say quite clearly under her breath, 'Hoo-fucking-ray.'
Nobody was coming for drinks now. Andrew slipped back into the kitchen. Gaia and Sukhvinder were alone in there, drinking and laughing, and when they saw Andrew they both shouted, 'Andy!'
He laughed too.
'Are you both pissed?'
'Yes,' said Gaia, and 'no,' said Sukhvinder. 'She is, though.'
'I don't care,' said Gaia. 'Mollison can sack me if he wants. No point saving up for a ticket to Hackney any more.'
'He won't sack you,' said Andrew, helping himself to some of the vodka. 'You're his favourite.'
'Yeah,' said Gaia. 'Creepy old bastard.'
And the three of them laughed again.
Through the glass doors, amplified by the microphone, came Maureen's croaky voice.
'Come on, then, Howard! Come on - a duet for your birthday! Go on - ladies and gentlemen - Howard's favourite song!'
The teenagers gazed at each other in tantalized horror. Gaia tripped forward, giggling, and pushed the door open.
The first few bars of 'The Green, Green Grass of Home' blared out, and then, in Howard's bass and Maureen's gravelly alto:
The old home town looks the same,
As I step down from the train ...
Gavin was the only one who heard the giggles and snorts, but when he turned around all he saw were the double doors to the kitchen, swinging a little on their hinges.
Miles had left to chat with Aubrey and Julia Fawley, who had arrived late, wreathed in polite smiles. Gavin was in the grip of a familiar mixture of dread and anxiety. His brief sunlit haze of freedom and happiness had been overcast by the twin threats of Gaia blabbing what he had said to her mother, and of Mary leaving Pagford for ever. What was he going to do?
Down the lane I walk, with my sweet Mary,
Hair of gold and lips like cherries ...
'Kay not here?'
Samantha had arrived, leaning against the table beside him, smirking.
'You already asked me that,' said Gavin. 'No.'
'Everything OK with you two?'
'Is that really any of your business?'
It slipped out of him before he could stop it; he was sick of her constant probing and jeering. For once, it was just the two of them; Miles was still busy with the Fawleys.
She over-acted being taken aback. Her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was deliberate; for the first time, Gavin felt