Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

And then, just as I waited to hear what Will was going to say next, there was a
loud tapping of a spoon on a glass, and the room hushed for the speeches.
I barely heard what they said. It seemed to me to be one puffed-up penguinsuited
man after another, referring to people and places I didn’t know, provoking
polite laughter. I sat and chewed my way through the dark-chocolate truffles that
had arrived in silver baskets on the table, and drank three cups of coffee in quick
succession so that as well as feeling drunk I felt jittery and wired. Will, on the
other hand, was a picture of stillness. He sat and watched the guests applaud his
ex-girlfriend, and listened to Rupert drone on about what a perfectly wonderful
woman she was. Nobody acknowledged him. I don’t know if that was because
they wanted to spare his feelings, or because his presence there was actually a bit
of an embarrassment. Occasionally Mary Rawlinson leant in and muttered
something into his ear and he nodded slightly, as if in agreement.
When the speeches finally ended, an army of staff appeared and began
clearing the centre of the room for dancing. Will leant in to me. ‘Mary reminded
me there is a very good hotel up the road. Ring them and see if we can stay
there.’
‘What?’
Mary handed me a name and a telephone number scribbled on a napkin.
‘It’s okay, Clark,’ he said, quietly, so that she couldn’t hear. ‘I’ll pay. Go on,
and then you can stop worrying about how much you’ve drunk. Grab my credit
card from my bag. They’ll probably want to take the number.’
I took it, reached for my mobile phone and walked off into the further reaches
of the garden. They had two rooms available, they said – a single, and a double
on the ground floor. Yes, it was suitable for disabled access. ‘Perfect,’ I said, and
then had to swallow a small yelp when they told me the price. I gave them Will’s
credit card number, feeling slightly sick as I read the numbers.
‘So?’ he said, when I reappeared.
‘I’ve done it, but … ’ I told him how much the two rooms had come to.
‘That’s fine,’ he said. ‘Now ring that bloke of yours to tell him you’re staying
out all night, then have another drink. In fact, have six. It would please me no
end to see you get hammered on Alicia’s father’s bill.’
And so I did.