‘Hi Katie, you okay?’ Katie heard Frankie’s soft voice beside her as she frantically filled up the nearest wineglass. She turned to look up at her (yes, it was galling that she had to look up at even average-height women like Frankie), then gave her a one-armed hug and a kiss before taking her first gulp of pinot. Frankie was married to Sarah’s brother Tom, and over the last two years Katie had developed quite a soft spot for the introverted woman.
‘I’m fine, perfect,’ Katie told her, her fake smile starting to make her cheeks actually hurt. ‘How’s Lucy?’
Frankie’s face lit up at the mention of her baby daughter, and she was just showing Katie her latest photos on her phone when Lydia’s laugh cut through the relaxed atmosphere.
‘Oh you’re too kind.’ Her voice carried from across the room and Katie glanced over to see that she was in the centre of a small group, looking like a queen addressing her subjects. ‘Gosh, do you know what? This is just likeNotting Hill, isn’t it?’
You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.
‘You know,’ Lydia continued, completely oblivious to the stony atmosphere, ‘when Julia Roberts goes to that dinner party? Haven’t you seen it?’
‘Never heard of it,’ Katie heard Lou deadpan, and could see Dylan’s shoulders shaking in silent laughter next to her.
‘What’s up, small stuff? Been tangoed, have you?’ Dylan managed to get out as he moved across the room towards Katie, his voice shaking with suppressed laughter.
‘Bugger off, you big valleys idiot,’ she said as he gave her a firm hug, lifting her feet off the floor and spilling some of her wine in the process. Unfortunately her first genuine smile of the evening died at the sight of a violently scowling Sam across the room, rubbing his jaw with his dark eyes fixed on Dylan’s back in a weirdly aggressive way. Katie made brief eye contact with him over Dylan’s shoulder, which was a mistake. He stared at her for a moment like he actually wanted to kill her, before turning away and moving to Lydia on the sofa. Great, Katie thought as Dylan lowered her back to the ground. It wasn’t as if she was the one bashing him in the face. Why should she get the bloody blame?
‘If a man can’t pick up the odd bright-orange Welsh girl in his life then what’s the point?’
Katie huffed and punched Dylan in the shoulder. ‘You don’t understand. If I had the shoes then the whole outfit would make more sense. See, they had this orange stripe down the heel and they …’
‘Wait there a minute,’ Dylan said, holding up his hand in front of her face. ‘Yes … oh yes, I’ve actually fallen into a persistent vegetative state with boredom. Well done.’
‘You might want to pick your shoe-description audience a little more carefully Katie,’ Lou said as she moved to Dylan’s side, her wavy blonde hair sliding over her shoulders as she shook her head. ‘Unless he’s stealing them he doesn’t seem to take much interest.’
‘Stealing them?’ Katie asked, giving Lou a shy smile.
To be honest she was more than a little intimidated by Lou. When she briefly went out with Dylan eighteen months ago, Katie had no idea that she had been standing in the path of true love, and anyone standing in Louise Sands’s path was likely to be bulldozed.
In the end, however, no bulldozing had been required. Lying in Dylan’s arms one night and hearing him whisper, ‘Louey, my Louey,’ in his sleep had put a swift end to that particular relationship, and ironically it was Katie who convinced Lou to give poor Dylan a chance. Like everyone, Katie was upset by the brutal attack Lou suffered at the hands of a patient’s relative a few months ago, and she thought both Lou and Dylan deserved to be happy together. But since then Katie still had a fair way to go to feel truly comfortable around Lou. In all honesty Katie was surprised how little reaction Lou had shown to Dylan lifting her up just then. Yes, Lou had come across the room and snaked her arm around his waist, but Katie didn’t think that was out of possessiveness, just natural affection. And Lou hadn’t scowled or frowned at Katie like she had in the past. Maybe Dylan’s stunt last month in the lecture theatre had worked and they were finally happy.
‘Yes, he steals my shoes. It’s a little fetish he has. Pathetic really, but we all have to get our ya-yas somehow.’
‘Yes. Lou’s into watersports herself,’ Dylan said, then jumped back slightly to avoid a punch in the stomach from Lou.
‘Watersports?’ asked a confused-looking Frankie, bless her. ‘But you hate water …’
‘Seriously, you guys,’ Katie interrupted before Frankie’s innocence could be completely shot to pieces. ‘There is such a thing as too much information.’
‘Ugh!’ Lou groaned. ‘He’s talking about Wet-Pants Ewan.’
‘Yes, he was her uni crush.’
‘What?’ The change in the direction of the conversation had completely flummoxed poor Frankie. ‘You never said.’
‘I didnotfancy Wet-Pants Ewan. It was a misunderstanding.’
‘Oh, and then of course there’s Bernard. Let’s not forget Bernard,’ Dylan put in, warming to his theme.
‘I did that to get back at you, not because I –’
‘Did you or did you not take a well-known bed-swamper home at uni in order to satisfy some sick urges you were harbouring?’
Lou growled at him. ‘I took Bernard back toyourflat so he could swampyourbed to getyouback for being an unbelievable wanker, something which you have been unrelentingly for the last twelve years.’
‘Ah, babes,’ he cooed, pushing the thick fall of her hair back and kissing her neck. ‘You get me such thoughtful gifts.’ Lou rolled her eyes but allowed him to pull her in close to his side.
Tom moved into the group chuckling, and gave Katie a quick kiss, before wrapping his arms around Frankie and tucking her head under his chin. As Katie looked around the room she noticed that all the couples were cwtched* up together in various different ways, and she fought back a flinch at the sudden feeling of loneliness that seared through her. It was then she realized why Rob was so angry with Sam. She and Sam were obviously supposed to make up another couple at the table. He was the ‘single friend’ Sarah had promised her for the evening. There were supposed to be eight but now there were nine, and, as always, Katie was the odd one out.
