Sunshine let out a loud, long peal of exaggerated laughter, drawing all eyes. She felt like a prize idiot, and Iain was obviously uncomfortable, but it was the only option she could immediately think of to shut Natalie up.
Sunshine was racking her brain for a way to proceed when Rob solved the dilemma by jumping to his feet and clutching at his neck.
Natalie stared ineffectually at her choking date.
Someone called out for a doctor.
The manager was racing to the kitchen.
Two diffident waiters approached the table, probably hoping someone would get there before them.
The diners—apparently not a doctor amongst them—seemed frozen. No movement. Just watching.
Sunshine got to her feet with a sinking heart. On the bright side, this dramatic development had shut Natalie up. On the not so bright side, Sunshine suspected she was about to star in the next scene. She hovered for a few seconds. Please someone else help...please. But—nope! Sunshine sighed. So be it.
Focusing her mind, Sunshine strode to the table. ‘Out of the way,’ she said, pushing past a still gaping Natalie.
Sunshine thumped Rob on the back. Nothing. Again. Once more.
Nope. Whatever was lodged in his throat wasn’t going to be beaten out of him. Rob wasn’t coughing, wasn’t making a sound; he was just turning blue. His eyes stared, entreating. His hands tugged at his shirt collar.
Okay, here goes. Quickly, calmly, Sunshine moved behind him, wrapped her arms around him and placed a fist between his ribcage and where she guessed his navel was. Then she covered the fist with her other hand and gave one sharp tug upwards and inwards.
A piece of meat came flying out of Rob’s mouth and he staggered, grabbing at his chair, dragging in breaths.
The restaurant broke into spontaneous applause and Sunshine felt her face heat.
Thank God the waiters were now taking control.
She started to return to her table and saw Leo standing just outside the kitchen. He was staring at her as though he’d just witnessed the Second Coming.
Sunshine couldn’t remember ever being so embarrassed.
She was almost relieved when Natalie’s squeal snagged his attention.
His eyes widened, then narrowed as they returned to Sunshine. Not happy!
Sunshine would have laughed if she hadn’t felt so shaken. What on earth did he believe had just happened? That she and Natalie had been having a friendly chat while Rob stood there choking? Maybe that Sunshine was persuading Natalie, mid-Heimlich manoeuvre, to sing at the wedding reception against Leo’s express wishes?
At this point Sunshine would prefer to hire herself to warble a few off-key songs!
She was almost glad when Natalie, squealing again, rushed towards Leo and threw herself into his arms. Leo, looking frazzled, backed into the kitchen, pulling Natalie with him.
Frazzle away, you idiot, Sunshine said in her head, and quickly returned to Iain.
‘You’re amazing,’ he said, standing to pull out her chair.
‘Anyone could have done it,’ she said dismissively. ‘I’m just glad I didn’t break any of his ribs—that’s the main danger. And I don’t want to sit, Iain. I want to go home. I have another high drama to get through tonight: a video call with Jon.’
‘Why high drama?’
Sunshine sighed. ‘You’re not the only one worried about the zombies.’
* * *
‘Jon, you’re wrong.’
Those were the first words Sunshine had managed to edge into the conversation since her initial ‘Hello’ three minutes earlier.
Not that ‘conversation’ described the incendiary soliloquy Jon had been delivering, which covered her unsatisfactory outlook on life, her ill-preparedness to deal with a man of Leo’s darkness, a disjointed reminder to ensure she was taking precautions—which caused her a momentary pang of guilt about the unprecedented lack of a condom last night, although she was on the pill and that had to count for something—and the general benefits of not actively courting disaster.
‘No, Sunshine, I’m not wrong,’ Jon said, and seemed ready to relaunch.
Sunshine headed him off by jamming her fingers in her ears. She raised her eyebrows, waiting. And at last he smiled.
She removed her fingers from her ears. ‘This is not worth so much anxiety, Jonathan.’
‘I’m worried about you, Sunny. About the way you’ve been living—no, only half living—since...’
She held her breath. Watched as Jonathan hesitated...
‘Ever since Moon, Sunny,’ he continued, but more gently. ‘This four-times-only thing. The blocking yourself off from anything more. It’s not you!’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘It’s not.’ Sigh. ‘I know I’m wasting my breath.’ Another sigh. ‘Well, you will not be able to dictate terms to Leo Quartermaine. Look, Leo is going to be my brother-in-law, and you’re like a sister to me. I need you two to like each other. Calmly, rationally, like each other.’
‘I’m always friends with the men I’ve slept with.’
‘He is not like the others.’
She rolled her eyes. The zombie camp! ‘There aren’t that many of them, you know!’
‘I know Sunshine—you talk a good game, but you don’t fool me. You never have. Sleeping with a guy is the exception, not the rule. But, whether it’s two or ten or a hundred guys, Leo is not like them and he will not be your friend at the end. There are other men in Sydney, and a ridiculous number of them seem happy to have you lead them around by their sex organs. Why did you have to pick Leo?’
‘It kind of— He kind of— Look, the situation picked itself. That’s all.’
‘You mean you had no control over it? Neither of you?’
Sunshine thought back to last night. The way ‘no-touch’ Leo had gathered her in when she’d given him that one hug. How she’d melted just from the feel of his fingers in her hair. The way the kiss had spiralled...
‘Apparently not, Jonathan.’
‘This is bad, Sunny.’
‘I promise not to let it interfere with the wedding.’
‘You can’t promise that. There are two of you.’
‘I’m not going to start asking your permission before sleeping with someone,’ she said, exasperated.
Pause. Silence. Jon looked morose.
‘Jon?’
More silence.
‘Jon—where does that leave us?’
‘It leaves us, very unsatisfactorily, at loggerheads,’ he said. ‘And while we’re there I’m going to raise the other subject you hate. Where are Moonbeam’s ashes, Sunshine?’
Sunshine stiffened. ‘They are in the urn, here in my office, where they’ve always been. Want to see them?’
‘Don’t be flippant. Not about this. She’d hate it, Sunny. You know she would. When are you going to do it?’
Sunshine managed a, ‘Soon.’ But it wasn’t easy getting the word out of a suddenly clogged throat.
‘You’ve been saying that for two years.’
‘Soon,’ she