Do You Remember the First Time?

seen,’ he said, his eyes drinking her up and down. ‘That dress is absolutely perfect.’
    Tash got some real colour in her cheeks for the first time that day.
    ‘Thank you,’ she said. She bit her lip and looked at the floor. Then she reached up and kissed him. ‘Thank you.’
    Olly touched his cheek.
    ‘Max,’ he said, overheartily. ‘You’re the luckiest man in the world.’
    ‘Looks like it!’ said Max.
    ‘No. You are,’ said Olly quietly. With another look at Tash, and a quick flash of annoyance at me, he crossed the room to inspect the food. I spotted him upending a glass of champagne down his throat in double-quick time, a very unOlly thing to do.
    ‘You look like Little Miss Muppet,’ said Justin.
    ‘Who even let you in this line?’
    ‘Oh, come on, I had to, didn’t I? Give us a kiss?’
    He looked delicious, in a navy-blue suit, with a lighter blue shirt and tie.
    ‘Is that your first suit?’
    ‘Why, what’s wrong with it?’
    ‘Nothing, nothing.’
    He was so cute. I wanted to put my hand on his curls, but his brother was right down the line, so I thought maybe best not.
    ‘It’s my interview suit,’ he said gruffly.
    ‘For what? Court?’
    ‘College actually.’
    Clelland hoved into earshot.
    ‘Given any thought as to where you’re going to go?’ I said.
    ‘No,’ said Justin. Then he looked at me again. ‘Maybe I should stay close to home.’
    ‘Justin, sweetie, thanks so much for coming,’ said Tashy. She dragged him over to her by the sleeve, obviously keen at least to look him up and down all over. ‘You have grown so much.’
    ‘That’s because you knew me when I was two,’ said Justin sulkily, as Clelland took his place.
    ‘I talked him out of Aberdeen,’ said Clelland. ‘Gets a little cold up there.’
    I looked at him. ‘You can say that again.’
    He shook his head. ‘This is a rum old business, isn’t it, Flora?’
    ‘Where’s Madeleine?’
    He looked down. There was a long pause. ‘She’s gone. Had to get back to Africa. I was meant to go too.’
    ‘She went without you? When?’
    He looked even more uncomfortable.
    ‘ When? ’
    ‘People there need her more than I do.’
    ‘Was it on Saturday?’
    He nodded. So when I was in bed with Justin he must have been … Oh God. This didn’t bear thinking about.
    He looked at me. ‘You look lovely. Are you sure you want to come back, child?’
    ‘Don’t call me child,’ I said, swallowing hard. Did I want to go back? Did I?
    ‘OK. Are you sure?’
    ‘Fuck, no,’ I groaned.
    ‘I should never have gone to Africa, you know.’ He looked a little misty. ‘I should have stayed on, got my PhD. Science, maybe … discover something a lot more useful to a lot more people.’
    ‘I was thinking more about maybe going to art college,’ I managed to squeeze out. OK, Madeleine had gone, but here he was, advising me to go off and sit exams. Like a child.
    ‘Oh, yeah. Oh God, you’ll have so much fun.’
    ‘Stop it,’ I said.
    ‘OK.’
    ‘Look what Tash is putting herself through for me.’
    ‘ OK .’
    He stepped sideways, put his arms round Tash and gave her a massive squeeze. ‘Hey,’ he said to her softly. ‘You’ve done an amazing thing. You really have.’
    ‘Don’t talk toss,’ she said, slightly muffled.
    He put her down. ‘You’ll be fine. I know it. I just do.’
    ‘Goodness, no one can keep their hands off my woman today, it seems,’ said Max in that slightly stiff way of his. ‘I thought wearing white was supposed to keep all that under control.’
    ‘It’s cream,’ said Tashy.
    ‘Oh,’ said Max. ‘Well then.’
    Clelland smiled, shook Max as briefly as possible by the hand and disappeared into the throng. I noticed, with a horribly sick déjà vu , that Justin was having a conversation with Oliver about the food, waving a sausage covered in sesame seeds.
    ‘There you are, darling!’ It was my mum. ‘We thought you were great up there.’
    ‘A true pro,’ said my dad. ‘Effortless. Although you could have smiled a bit more for the photos.’
    ‘My mouth was tired,’ I said.
    ‘Look at all this!’ My dad nudged Tashy. ‘Gosh, you guidance counsellors must be making more money than I thought!’
    ‘Dad!’ I tugged on his arm. ‘Don’t be embarrassing.’
    ‘Mr Scurrison,’ said Tashy, turning it on with a huge big smile. ‘How lovely of you to come. Wasn’t Flora magnificent?’
    ‘We’re so proud of her,’ said my dad. He swallowed and glanced