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his family’s business since finishing uni and Cathy was something in PR—she did explain it, but to be honest I wasn’t listening properly. I was far more fascinated with her body language than the words she spoke. From the moment she had sat down at the table, her every action screeched out her possession of Matt. She was all but entwined around him as we waited to be served. In fact, given that most of her limbs seemed to be twisted in some way around his, I couldn’t help wondering if she’d have an arm free to eat. And the weird thing was, I knew this show of display was all for me. But why? It had been years since Matt and I had broken up. Broken
apart
, in fact, would be a better way to describe it. And after several excruciatinglypainful and abortive attempts, he had finally stopped trying to get in touch in the hope that I was going to change my mind. I’d made it perfectly clear that I didn’t want him in my life. And it was as true today as it had been back then, so what was with Cathy’s astonishing behavior?
    As our last course was cleared away, the wine waiter appeared at my elbow to refill my glass. I quickly covered its surface with my hand.
    “No, no more for me, thank you.”
    “You’re not driving, are you?” queried Trevor, who clearly had no intention of abstaining from any proffered alcoholic beverage.
    “No, I came by taxi,” I replied. I’d been wondering when someone was going to notice that I’d had no more than a couple of sips of wine all night. “I just think I’m going to need a clear head to cope with Sarah tomorrow. If not, she’ll drive me totally crazy.”
    Sarah pretended to look offended and everyone laughed. They all seemed to accept the lie. In truth, I knew I shouldn’t have drunk any alcohol at all after the amount of painkillers I’d taken that day. And then, as if by thinking of it, my headache flared up again in a sudden blazing torch of agony. I got to my feet, hoping nobody had noticed that I’d needed to rest my hands on the table to steady myself.
    “If you’ll excuse me a moment,” I said to no one in particular, and, using every effort in my power, I walked, in what I hoped was a straight line, toward the ladies’.
    Once safely in the rather opulent cloakroom, I let out a long shaky sigh of relief and lowered myself gently onto a small velvet-covered bench. The pain was still searingly strong behind my eyes; so intense that my vision was beginning to blur at the edges. It had only been this severe a couple oftimes before, and I’d had much more warning on those occasions. Never before had the pain erupted as it had just now. I didn’t doubt that the tension I’d been under all day had probably not helped the situation.
    My fingers shook as I reached into my handbag for my pills. I almost cried in frustration as the childproof cap nearly defeated me, cracking my fingernail in my haste to pry open the container. Two pills again, once more without water. I closed my eyes against the brightly lit room and waited until I felt a little more in control.
    I knew now that the time for putting off those hospital tests was long past. This wasn’t just going to go away by itself. However frightening the results might be, something was seriously wrong, and not knowing what it was wasn’t going to make it any better. There was, I supposed, some sort of black irony in realizing I still suffered from the effects of my injuries during the only time I’d returned to the place I had sustained them.
    Just let me get through this wedding weekend
, I promised myself,
and I’ll make the appointment first thing on Monday
.
    By now I had exceeded the amount of time I could reasonably be absent from the table without having Sarah come looking for me. I didn’t want her to think the reason I’d been missing so long had anything to do with Cathy’s territorial display. And I
certainly
didn’t want her to come in and figure out the real reason was because I was suddenly