a starter. Now she’d moved onto speeches.
‘I think Nicole should make a speech,’ she announced, as I choked on my wine.
‘No …’ I spluttered. ‘I really don’t think that’s a great idea.’
‘Women don’t make speeches,’ Mike said. ‘It’s not traditional. And women are never very funny, are they? How many great comediennes do you know?’
‘I think they’re just called comedians now,’ Julian said. Mike harrumphed.
‘Mike’s absolutely right,’ I said, to looks of amazement from Julian and Karl. ‘Women should be seen and not heard. They’ve no place giving speeches at weddings.’
‘You’re just chicken,’ Alex muttered.
‘I’m a traditionalist,’ I retorted, prompting disbelieving laughter all round. ‘But I tell you what, if you move the wedding to Cape Town, rather than Sussex, I’d be prepared to cast aside my conservatism and write a few lines …’
‘Exactly!’ Julian said. ‘I can’t believe you’re getting married in some cutesy English village rather than giving us an excuse to go on holiday to South Africa.’
‘Yes, well,’ Mike said gruffly, getting to his feet, ‘not everything about this wedding revolves around Alex’s friends.’ And with that he headed off in the direction of the bathroom.
Alex pulled a face. ‘He’s a bit touchy about the whole Sussex thing. Everyone’s been complaining that we’re not going to South Africa. I think he’s feeling a bit hurt.’
‘It’s understandable,’ Karl said diplomatically. ‘If I were going to get married, I’d probably want to do it in my home town.’
‘If you were to get married?’ Julian asked him with a smile. ‘Not very likely, is it?’
‘Well, maybe not a full church wedding, but they are going to allow civil partnerships here shortly, aren’t they? So why not?’
Julian sighed dramatically. ‘Christ, I always thought one of the great things about being gay is that you don’t have to get married. Why would we want to pretend to be heterosexual? It’s a horrible way to live. Homos have much more fun.’
Alex and I exchanged a familiar glance: a look of affection, tinged with just a touch of envy. We’d spoken about Karl and Julian’s perfect relationship before. It couldn’t be improved upon. They never tired of each other; they never bickered. They backed up each other. They adored each other. And, so Julian told me, they had great sex together. They were absolutely right for each other. It was incredibly annoying.
* * *
At a few minutes to midnight, Karl opened yet another bottle of champagne, poured us each a glass and tinged his flute with a fork.
‘Right. Since we’re not allowed to share our resolutions because that’s Julian and Nicole’s thing and they’re completely weird about sharing their little ritual, despite the fact that everyone on the planet does it, I think that to ring in the New Year we should all say something we’re grateful for.’
‘Like Thanksgiving?’ Mike suggested.
‘Exactly.’
‘I’ll go first then,’ Mike said, getting to his feet. He cleared his throat and raised his glass, turning to face Alex. ‘It’s pretty simple, really. And pretty obvious. I’m thankful that the most beautiful girl in the world has agreed to marry me.’ Alex smiled coyly and fluttered her lashes at him ‘And the thing is, the thing people don’t realise, is that her beauty isn’t even the best of her. She’s generous and kind, she’s going to be a great mum …’ There was a little ‘oooh’ at this point from Julian and Karl. ‘And I love her, and I’m so happy we’re going to be together. That’s it.’
And in that moment I caught a glimpse, as I occasionally did, of how lovely Mike was with her, and of how much he loved her, and I chastised myself, yet again, for allowing my liberal feminista sensibilities to prevent me from embracing my friend’s husband-to-be.
Alex, wiping a tear from her eye, got to her feet next. ‘Can I be grateful for two things?’ she asked.
‘She’s so greedy,’ Julian tutted.
She giggled. ‘I’ll be brief. Number one, I’m thankful for my amazing husband to be …’ she held out her hand to him and he kissed it, ‘… and number two, I’m thankful for my bloody amazing job!’ Alex had just been promoted to the head of marketing at Scribe, the little publishing house where she worked, quite an achievement for a twenty-six-year-old. ‘I really am a very lucky girl.’
Julian was next to his feet. ‘I could go on about new opportunities and new horizons and of course I’m thankful for that, but obviously the two things in the whole world I am most thankful