Just Dinner Among Friends for Now

The aroma of roasting garlic and seared lamb fills your flat—Clara insisted on cooking despite it being your turn, claiming engagement privileges. You've transformed the dining space with candles and that bottle of Barolo you've been saving for a special occasion.

When the doorbell chimes, you find David and Zara on your doorstep, his arm around her waist. David's dressed in a crisp navy button-down that makes his eyes pop, while Zara looks stunning in a deep crimson wrap dress that hugs her curves.

"The lovebirds!" David announces, thrusting a gift bag into your hands and pulling you into a bear hug. "Let me see this ring Clara's been texting about."

"Come in, come in," you urge, ushering them inside where Clara emerges from the kitchen, her cheeks flushed from cooking heat, her engagement ring catching the candlelight as she waves.

"Zara!" Clara exclaims, rushing forward to embrace the taller woman. "That dress is absolutely killing it."

Zara spins, the fabric swirling around her thighs. "David picked it. Said it was Valentine's appropriate." Her smile is warm but there's something guarded in her eyes—the look of someone still finding her place in a group with history she wasn't part of.

"He has surprisingly good taste for a banker," you quip, clapping David on the shoulder as you lead everyone to the living room where champagne awaits in an ice bucket.

"Speaking of taste," Clara says, disappearing back into the kitchen and returning with a platter of stuffed mushrooms, "appetizers while we finish up dinner. I hope everyone's hungry."

As you pop the champagne cork with a celebratory flourish, David raises his glass. "To Matt and Clara—who managed to find each other through the most... unconventional circumstances."

The four of you exchange knowing glances, the unspoken reference to your transformation hanging in the air. Zara, noticing the moment, tilts her head curiously but smiles and raises her glass anyway.

"And to New York," Clara adds, clinking her glass against David's. "To new adventures."

"About that," David says, settling onto your sofa with Zara beside him. "We've decided to take the positions. March 1st, we're officially Manhattan-bound."

"But keeping the flat here," Zara adds quickly, squeezing David's knee. "We're thinking three weeks there, one week here each month. The bank's being surprisingly accommodating."

"I still can't believe we'll be flat-sharing again," you laugh, gesturing between yourself and David. "Just with different arrangements."

"Thank god," David replies with exaggerated relief. "Clara's much tidier than you ever were."

Your fiancée—the word still makes your heart skip—returns from checking on dinner, sinking onto the arm of your chair. Her hand finds yours, fingers intertwining with a comfortable familiarity that feels both new and eternal.

"So," Zara says, leaning forward with champagne glass balanced delicately between her fingers, "now that we're celebrating futures... when's the wedding?"

Clara laughs, her head tipping back to reveal the elegant line of her throat. "We've been engaged approximately seven hours. We haven't exactly had time to plan."

"Summer," you say decisively, surprising even yourself. "Before David and Zara's first three-month stint in New York. So they can be there."

Clara's eyes widen, but her smile grows. "That's... actually perfect."

David raises his glass again. "To the fastest engagement-to-marriage timeline I've ever witnessed."

"When you know, you know," you reply, gazing at Clara. In this moment—surrounded by the people who matter most, the aroma of a celebration dinner filling the air, your future bride's hand in yours—you're struck by how ordinary this happiness feels. As if the extraordinary transformation that led you here was always meant to happen exactly this way.

Zara stands suddenly. "I propose we refill these glasses and Clara shows me exactly how she managed to make lamb smell so divine. Girl talk in the kitchen?"

Clara squeezes your hand before following Zara, leaving you and David alone in the living room, the weight of shared history between you.

"So," David says once they're out of earshot. "This is really happening. All of it."

21:45 | Saturday 14 February 2026 | Matt & Clara's Flat, Putney