"Do you always do this?" Will asked Rona and Miranda later that night. "Get drunk at home on a Sunday night?"

"I'm not drunk" Miranda slurred.

"Then you won't be hung-over at work tomorrow!"

"I won't be" Miranda agreed, but she wasn't so certain. She lifted her wine-glass to her lips but had second thoughts.

"Well I'm not working tomorrow" Rona said, and she finished off her glass and poured herself another. "And no, Will," she added, "we don't do always do this."

"That's a shame" Will smiled, but Rona wondered if it wasn't starting to become something of a leer. He'd already had twice as much to drink as either herself or Miranda. ("I'm a boy" he's said when Rona had pointed this out to him. "I can handle more than you.")

"I just hope you can handle helping us clean all this up before we all go to bed" Rona said.

"Before we all go to bed?"

"Separately" Rona said firmly. "No, Will!" She slapped his hand away as he tried to put it around her waist. One day, maybe, but not now, not when she didn't even know him. His other arm, meanwhile, was circling around Miranda's waist: Miranda didn't complain.

"What time do you start work, Miranda?" Rona asked, trying to keep things mundane.

"Eight o'clock" Miranda said.

"It's eleven o'clock now, maybe you should . . ."

"Yeah, Miranda" Will laughed. "Maybe you should."

"You have to work tomorrow, too" Miranda said to him. "Hypocrite."

"There's a big word" Will said. "Obviously you're not drunk."

"I told you!"

"I didn't believe you!" Will said. "Your face is getting all shiny."

"Where?"

"There" Will said, touching her right check gently with his thumb. "There" he said, touching her left cheek.

"Well you're shiny" Miranda countered. She put her index finger to his lips. "Right there."

"Miranda!" Rona said. "Help me wash the glasses?"

"But mine's still full" Will complained.

"Then finish it."

"We've still got some left in the bottle" Miranda said.

"Then put the cork back in it. Come on, Miranda. It's another day tomorrow, and you've gotta work."