‘Janet said the dress code is cocktail, so this is cocktail,’ he said, doing a spin.
‘You look great,’ she said, meaning it. He looked handsome – almost too handsome, she thought, as she saw the curls touching his collar. She wished she could run her fingers through them.
‘Not as good as you look. That dress is incredible and you make it even more so,’ he said. Amanda was reached the bottom step of the stairs, making them nearly the same height.
‘It’s Diana’s. She wore it on her eighteenth birthday. It just fits but I won’t be having too much cake,’ she said, patting her stomach.
They were at eye level, and Amanda could smell his soapy, lovely scent and she wished she could kiss him. Instead she stepped down and walked past him. ‘Okay – off to get Mrs Graybrook-Moore.’
Simon followed her outside and she got into the back seat as he was driving.
‘I think Diana is a front-seat person,’ she said with a laugh.
‘Agreed,’ said Simon. He drove the short distance down to Diana’s house and went inside to escort her to the car.
Diana emerged in a black chiffon dress that was an older style but so beautifully made. It had a cape with tiny little stars embroidered on it and she had a different walking cane, black with the silver top of a crescent moon.
‘Diana, you look incredible,’ Amanda called from the window.
‘I know but don’t call from the window, dear – it’s very unexpected.’
Amanda burst out laughing as Simon helped Diana into the car and closed the door.
Diana turned slightly to Amanda.
‘The georgette looks lovely, dear,’ she said.
Simon started the car and off they went to Janet’s house.
*
‘Are you having a lovely time?’ Frank asked Amanda as she watched Shelley dancing around with Diana who was on a chair on the dance floor in Janet and Carole’s living room.
Amanda looked around at the balloons and the streamers and the handmade sign sayingHappy birthday Amandaand she nodded to Frank.
‘It’s great, yes,’ she said.
Frank gave a shrug. ‘It’s hard being without your parents for the first birthday, or the first Christmas, the first anything really. But you’re a good egg for putting on a show for Janet and Carole and Shelley.’
Dennis came by with a bottle of champagne. ‘Top-up?’ he asked, and Amanda held out her glass.
‘I never thought I would see a man of God on bartending duty,’ she said to Dennis.
‘I do it every Sunday when I hand out the holy wine,’ he said, and Amanda laughed.
‘Touché,’ she said, and Dennis gave a little bow.
She turned to Frank. ‘It’s hard, and I feel like having a cry, but everyone has made such an effort,’ she said.
‘Go outside and get some fresh air and I’ll cover for you,’ he said.
‘Thanks, Frank, you’re the best.’ She handed him her champagne glass and snuck out into the back garden.
She walked down to the pond at the end of the garden and there was Simon.
‘Oh gosh, sorry,’ she said, and turned to go back up the path.
‘Don’t go,’ he said, grabbing her wrist and gently pulling her towards him.
