Who would go with Nina and Charles? I spend a few days agonising over this, and then Ben gets tired of my indecision and says, ‘They’re not upholstery. They’re not curtains, for God’s sake,’ and I’m glad he’s making jokes, I’m glad he’s forgiven me for the shoes, so I invite Fran and Luke, and Patience (an ex-colleague, I haven’t seen her for ages) and her partner Rob. Everyone’s up for it, though I know they’ll all be doing the mental maths: please let this be worth the expense of the babysitter. No pressure, then. ‘Do you want to do your beef thing?’ I ask Ben one evening during the commercial break. ‘What beef thing?’ ‘You know, the beef thing. Everyone likes that. I’m pretty sure Fran and Luke haven’t had it.’ He says OK, he’ll do the beef thing. When Christopher is at playgroup and Cecily is napping or chewing toys, I hurriedly go through cookbooks and google recipes. I compile shopping lists, thinking about salads and soups and puddings. I ring the window cleaner.
