Page 88 of The Wedding Forecast

‘Okay. Fine. I spent some time one-on-one with Mac. There. You have your gossip.’

‘Good for you,’ Bobbi says, nodding, and picking up an olive. ‘Every woman should be with a celebrity at least once in her life. I’ve been with two.’

‘Mum, please don’t tell the cruise-ship story again—you know it makes Luke uncomfortable,’ Hayley pleads.

‘Mac is not really a celebrity,’ I add.

‘When you tell the story later in life, he will be.’ Bobbi winks at me.

‘It’s a total non-event. We agreed to never talk again.’

‘Why, was he awful to you?’ Mum says, her tone outraged.

‘No, he just lives on the other side of the world and we want different things out of life. We are passing ships in the night. So, a non-event.’

‘It didn’t look like a non-event to me,’ Hayley says, smiling, because she can’t resist adding to the gossip.

‘Oooh, tell us,’ Bobbi says.

I roll my eyes at Hayley, but she’s ignoring me.

‘They looked very couple-y to me, that’s all,’ she says, grinning.

‘It was just a holiday Christmas New York thing.’

‘What’s a holiday Christmas New York thing?’ Mum asks.

‘It’s exactly what it sounds like it is.’

‘It sounds romantic,’ Bobbi says.

‘It was,’ Hayley says. ‘They went to a magic show.’

‘Is that internet-speak for something else?’ Bobbi frowns.

‘No, Mum. Don’t be gross, they literally went to see a magician.’

‘Why are you suddenly all for it? You and Luke tried to sabotage it!’ I say to Hayley.

‘We what?’ she says, looking shocked.

‘Luke did anyway.’

All eyes swing to Luke, who is engrossed in eating cheese and scrolling on his phone. Dad and Jean have both moved to the kitchen to check on the food.

‘What did I do?’ Luke says, swallowing his brie and biscuit.

‘Mac said you told him not to be with me.’

The slideshow has looped back around to the beginning, and ‘Jingle Bells’ is playing again.

‘Luke!’ Hayley and Bobbi say at the same time.

‘I, well, I didn’t mean it like that.’

‘How did you mean it then?’ I say.

‘Well, it was a few weeks before you left for New York, and you’d just gone on that terrible date with that guy—’