‘You’d better get out of that tutu, Anna Kennedy,’ grinned Abby, popping open a tube of Pringles.
‘We should probably all change,’ she agreed. ‘There are two bathrooms, one over there, another on the far side, if anyone wants to freshen up. Dinner should be in about half an hour.’
‘Drink, madam?’ said the butler, offering Abby a glass of champagne.
‘Don’t mind if I do.’
‘So,’ said Suze, curling her feet up on the sofa. ‘How’s it going with sexy Elliot Hall?’
‘How’s what going? We filed the story. End of story,’ Abby said with a dismissive wave of the hand.
‘I know you said nothing happened after his party, but Will told me you went round to his house for dinner the other night. He seemed to think there was something going on.’
‘I thought men only talked about beer, work and football,’ said Abby.
‘Come on, Abs,’ said Suze, nudging her. ‘I’ve told you everything about Will.’
‘I didn’t realise it was a competition.’
‘There is something going on, I can tell,’ grinned Suze.
Abby took a deep breath. She hadn’t told anyone about the night with Elliot in St Petersburg. It seemed too personal, and far too confusing to discuss it before she had decided what she felt about it herself. But she also knew that Suze was unlikely to let the matter drop.
‘Okay, okay,’ she hissed quietly. ‘I slept with him, all right? We went to St Petersburg for the story and I slept with him. Are you happy now?’
She wasn’t expecting Suze to be judgemental, but nor was she expecting her to respond with such enthusiasm. Suze clapped her hands with glee.
‘St Petersburg. How romantic! So when are you seeing him again?’
‘There’s no plan,’ she whispered, hoping her friend would simmer down.
‘Text him. Text him now,’ said Suze excitedly. ‘Arrange brunch for tomorrow.’
‘I can’t. We had a row at dinner.’
‘You see, you’re like a couple already!’
The sound of a doorbell disturbed their conversation.
‘I hope nobody has ordered strippers,’ said Abby, glad of the distraction.
Suze winced. ‘I had one of those when I left my last job. He had one ball hanging out of his posing pouch.’
‘Someone must have thought you liked that kind of thing,’ Abby giggled.
Suze slapped her playfully.
The bare-chested butler went to open the door and Ginny came in holding two big pink parcels.
‘Ginny!’ called Anna from the bedroom door.
Abby felt her back stiffen. She had been glad that her sister-in-law had such a high-flying job that she’d had to miss the bulk of Anna’s hen do, as uncharitable as that felt even thinking about it. But she didn’t want a confrontation with Ginny tonight. It was Anna’s special day and she didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise that.
She slipped out on to the balcony and breathed in the cool evening air, letting the sights and distant sounds of London calm her. By the time she came back inside, everyone was seated around the long dining table in the middle of the room.
Thankfully, the only space was nowhere near Ginny, but she blew Abby a kiss from the other end of the table.
Abby sat quietly as Ginny told the girls about her work trip to New York, and how she was sorry to have missed most of the hen night fun but had brought two big boxes of Magnolia Bakery cupcakes to make up for it. They polished off their dinner quickly, and moved on to the cupcakes, while Suze whipped a pack of cards from her handbag.