‘Laos? Sri Lanka?’ Kate asked desperately.
‘Sorry – I’ve been to Benidorm,’ he said, ‘and I spent a weekend in Ibiza once, but I don’t remember any of it.’
‘Right. It’s not really the same thing.’
‘Okay,’ he said, pushing his hair back from his face, suddenly business like. ‘Let’s say we met in Thailand.’
‘Thailand?’
‘Yeah. I’ve never been there, but I love Thai food. And I’ve done lots of drugs,’ he added helpfully. ‘Oh, and I went through a Buddhist phase for a while.’
‘Great! You’re practically a native!’God help me,she thought. This is going to be a disaster.
* * *
‘…dying of food poisoning, so I threw myself into this tuk-tuk, practically at death’s door, and asked the driver to take me to a doctor. Next thing, he’s unloading me into his uncle’s silk shop and insisting I can see a doctor there, and to have a browse while I’m waiting…’
God, he’s good, Kate thought, as everyone laughed at another of Jonathan’s stories about his travels in Thailand. He had more stories about Thailand thanshehad, and she had actually been there.
She was glad she had brought him to the wedding. He had been really sweet and solicitous towards her, seeming to sense how wobbly she felt around Will, putting a protective arm around her shoulders or clasping her hand whenever he came near. So far it was going swimmingly. She had managed to avoid Will most of the time, apart from the briefest peck on the cheek when they had arrived at the church and she’d introduced Jonathan. Now he was safely tucked away at the top table, though she was uncomfortably aware of his eyes on her all the time. She and Jonathan were sharing a table with Helen and Conor, Ken and Freddie.
‘So, where did you meet Kate, Jonathan?’ Helen was asking.
‘At a food stall in Chiang Mai,’ he answered readily, smiling fondly at Kate. ‘She was cooking the most amazing pad thai I’ve ever tasted in my life.’
‘You were cooking at a food stall?’ Helen asked.
‘Yeah, I’d got chatting to the woman who ran it and she was giving me an impromptu lesson in Thai cooking.’
She wished she didn’t feel so self-conscious. That had really happened – apart, of course, from the bit about Jonathan being there. At least they weren’t sitting with Rachel. She had seemed sceptical when Kate had introduced her to Jonathan and was still watching them beadily. Her mother looked as if there were a million questions she wanted to ask, but she was swallowing every one.
‘What do you do, Jonathan?’ Conor asked.
‘I’m an actor.’
‘Are you?’ Conor said, interested. ‘Would I have seen you in anything?’
Oh God, she hadn’t reckoned on Conor bullying Jonathan about his career.
‘I doubt it. I’ve done a bit of modelling, and some showcases attached to my acting classes, but that’s about it.’
‘Are you any good?’ Conor asked, with typical bluntness.
‘Yeah, actually, I am.’
He was giving a bravura performance right now, Kate thought.
‘You should come and see me – I might be able to help you.’
‘Oh, they’re starting the speeches,’ Kate said, grateful for the diversion as Will stood and introduced Carmen’s beaming father, who made a short, incomprehensible speech in heavily accented English before passing the microphone to Lorcan.
Finally, it was Will’s turn and Kate was able to gaze at him quite blatantly. He was so heartbreakingly beautiful.
I’m still so in love with him,she thought despairingly.
Promising to be brief, he was true to his word. ‘I’m not normally given to quoting poetry,’ he said, ‘but everything I feel about Lorcan – and about his family – can be summed up in a couple of lines of Yeats: “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends. And say my glory was I had such friends.” I’m sure Lorcan and Carmen will be very happy together.’
He turned to Carmen, almost as an afterthought.
