"Jesus, Sacha" Miranda said, as Hannah dutifully cleared her soup bowl away and Shelly brought out the next course. Sacha hadn't even had to tell them - or ask them - to do so, they just did it spontaneously when they saw her moving to get up. "Did you make all this yourself?"

Sacha didn't say anything straight away, so Shelly had to nudge her: "Go on, don't be shy."

"Yeah," Sacha said, "I did." Another thing she had firm opinions about when it came to dinner parties: always be a gracious host; don't start new arguments or perpetuate old ones.

"That's fucking impressive" Miranda said.

"That soup was delicious" Rona said.

"Have some more wine!" Hannah said, hoping to get some of the praise. The wine wasn't particularly notable, but she'd picked it herself (though Shelly had paid for it).

"Seriously," Rona said, "I was expecting, like, curry or something. Takeaway containers. Maybe home-cooked rice, but . . ." She spread her hands wide, encompassing the table before her and the food rapidly accumulating upon it.

"That's what I told her!" Hannah couldn't help bursting out.

"That's not a dinner party," Sacha said, "that's just hanging out."

"Yeah, I'm with Sacha on this one" Eric said, emboldened because he'd had a few glasses of wine and only soup to eat. "You've gotta go all out, make a dinner party a bit special."

"You're wearing jeans!" Miranda pointed out. "And a t-shirt for . . . is that a band?"

"A damn good one, too" Eric said.

"I've never heard of them."

"They're from Queensland."

"Brisbane?" Sacha asked, because she had relatives up there.

"Nah" Eric said. "Or maybe, I dunno."

"You just know they're good" Miranda teased him.

"What else is there to know?" Eric pointed out, wiping his finger around the rim of his soup bowl before Shelly took it away.