‘Names?’ Cordelia replies, shaking JJ’s hand.
‘Well, Whit called you Cordelia, but Andy called you Tink,’ JJ says. ‘Which one is your name? Your actual name.’
‘Oh, please call me Cordelia,’ she replies. ‘Only Andy gets to call me Tink. And only I get to call him Buzz.’
‘That won’t be a problem at all,’ JJ says with a smile. ‘Congratulations – this is quite a surprise for us all.’
‘Just… when you know, you know, right?’ Cordelia replies, taking Andy’s hand in hers, swinging it between them.
‘Whitney, darling,’ Andy’s mum says, hugging me before pulling back to look at me. ‘Oh, you look tired, are you eating properly?’
Andy’s mum has always been like a second mum to me. It makes me smile.
‘Yes,’ I insist. ‘Constantly.’
‘Working too hard then,’ she says knowingly, then squeezes my arm. ‘You’ll sort her out,’ she tells JJ.
‘I’m trying,’ JJ says. ‘She resists my influence.’
‘How’re you doing, Whitney?’ Andy’s dad asks me.
‘Doing good,’ I say. ‘Recovering from the shock of this one getting engaged, but fine.’
He chuckles.
‘Join the club. He rang us from the airport. Nearly gave your mother a coronary,’ he jokes. ‘Of course, we all thought he’d marry you.’
Cordelia frowns.
‘Well, that’s because your generation can’t understand that men and women can be just friends,’ Andy reminds his dad with an awkward laugh. ‘Right, Whit?’
‘Oh, absolutely,’ I say. ‘I friend-zoned this one quicker than… than…’
‘Quicker than these two got engaged,’ JJ dares to joke.
It gets a few laughs.
‘I’m so happy for you,’ Andy’s mum tells him. ‘And she’s gorgeous, isn’t she? Cordelia, dear, come here.’
Cordelia steps closer, smiling sweetly as Andy’s mum hugs her like she’s already part of the family.
‘We can’t wait to learn more about you,’ she says. ‘But welcome to the family.’
I glance around the room, finding this hard to watch for obvious reasons, and I notice something. I recognise most people here and they’re all Andy’s people. Friends, old uni mates, family, colleagues – although I suppose they are Cordelia’s colleagues now too, but she can’t know them that well. Ditto Andy. I wonder if she has family here, friends, anyone for just her… That’s kind of odd, right?
A colleague I vaguely recognise comes over to clap Andy on the back.
‘You dog,’ he says. ‘Engaged to the new girl. I didn’t think you had it in you.’
‘Rude,’ Andy says, but he’s grinning.
‘You’ve tamed him,’ the colleague tells Cordelia.
She laughs.
‘He really wasn’t that wild,’ she insists.
Everyone laughs. It’s all very easy. Very warm. On the surface, at least.