‘Are you excited?’ Matt asked Piper. ‘Nervous?’

‘About the launch or about you meeting Rob?’

Matt grinned. ‘Both.’

The launch for Bitter/Sweet was taking place on a super-yacht moored on the Thames. Juliette had found it, but Piper had done everything else, arranging the party and the press conference that would take place later, after the girls had zipped off down the river in a speedboat. Everyone left on the yacht would go on partying without them. Piper had always enjoyed her job, but since moving to Press she absolutely loved it.

‘I’m excited about the launch and nervous about you meeting Rob.’

Matt wrapped one arm around her shoulder and squeezed. ‘I’m sure I’m going to love him.’ He raised one eyebrow. ‘Maybe a little too much... ’

Piper rolled her eyes. ‘You know Holly’s coming too?’

‘Yep. I’m planning to hide in one of the lifeboats.’

‘Matt!’

‘Nah, it’s fine. We’ve talked. We’re cool.’

‘Holly’s never been cool with anything in her life.’

‘Sleeping with me changes a person.’

‘I can only imagine.’

Matt hooked his chin over Piper’s shoulder and squeezed her again. ‘Have I told you how fucking proud I am?’

‘Once or twice, yeah.’ But she was beaming.

Piper tipped her head back and looked at her reflection in the gold mirrored ceiling. She looked happy

‘Don’t look up!’ Matt said. ‘You’ll see my bald spot.’

‘You haven’t got a bald spot, for god’s sake.’

‘Not yet,’ Matt said. ‘But I could have.’

Her phone buzzed with a text from Rob telling her he was downstairs. She told him to come up to the first floor and turned towards the lifts, that were just behind them in the foyer. Her stomach fluttered with nerves as she watched the lift disappear, knowing that when it came back up, Rob would be in it.

‘Oh my god,’ Matt said. ‘Look at you!’

‘Shut up,’ Piper said.

‘You are so smitten.’

The lift stopped and the doors opened to reveal Rob in black jeans and a long-sleeved black sweater, sunglasses pushed up on his head.

‘Oh my god,’ Matt said. ‘Look at him!’

Ignoring Matt, Piper walked over to the lifts and straight into Rob’s arms.

‘Hi,’ he said into her hair.

‘I’ve missed you.’ She turned her head to kiss his neck, breathing in the scent of his skin.

‘Me too,’ Rob said. ‘Are you excited or nervous?’

Piper laughed. ‘Both. And Matt just asked me the same thing.’

‘I’m going to assume Matt’s the guy staring at us at the bottom of the stairs?’

Piper laughed and kissed Rob quickly, before taking his hand and leading him over to Matt.

‘So,’ Rob said, holding his hand out to Matt. ‘At last we meet.’

Matt let out a bark of laughter and shook Rob’s hand.

‘This one’s a keeper,’ he told Piper.

‘Jesus Christ,’ Piper said. ‘Can you go and get drinks and stop showing me up?’

Matt kissed her cheek, took everyone’s drink orders and headed over to the bar. Piper introduced Rob to Juliette and John.

‘Is that Holly?’ Rob asked Piper.

Piper turned to see her sister coming out of the lift. She was wearing a tea dress and ballerina flats and looked happier and more relaxed than Piper had seen her for years. Possibly ever.

‘She looks good,’ Matt said.

‘Don’t even think about it.’

Holly reached the three of them and Rob immediately pulled her into a hug.

‘You look exactly the same,’ he said.

‘You don’t.’ Holly looked up at him. He was at least a foot taller than her. ‘Bloody hell.’

‘Fit as fuck, isn’t he?’ Matt said.

‘Piper’s warned me about you,’ Rob told him, smiling.

‘Me too,’ Holly said. ‘But too late.’

‘Oh my god.’ Matt took a swig of his gin. ‘Where’s that lifeboat?’

They were interrupted by Anthony, the head of the label, clearing his throat on the stairs.

The chatter stopped and everyone looked up at him.

‘First of all I want to thank everyone for coming. All of us at Infinite Plays are extremely excited to introduce you to our new signing. We’re sure you’re going to love them as much as we do.’ He glanced over his shoulder up the stairs. ‘They would be pissed at me trying to speak on their behalf, so I’ll let them introduce themselves. This is Bitter/Sweet.’

The girls walked down the wide staircase, the light from the enormous chandelier reflecting off their glittery dresses. All three looked confident and poised and like they’d been doing this for years, not that it was their first public appearance and they’d only bought the dresses that morning in Topshop, Oxford Circus after they’d decided what they’d planned to wear wasn’t vibrant enough.

‘They look amazing,’ Matt whispered into Piper’s ear. ‘I’m into it.’

The girls gave a short, excited speech – talking over the top of each other and spontaneously bursting into an acapella version of the song that the label was thinking of making their first single, and then everyone moved into the bar and out onto the deck.

‘This is fantastic,’ Rob said, curling his arms around Piper’s waist, as they looked out over the river to Canary Wharf and the O2. ‘I’m so proud of you.’

‘I’m proud of myself actually,’ Piper said.

‘You should be.’

Matt and Holly joined them at the railing and Holly held out her glass. ‘I think we should make a toast.’

Piper held up her glass.

‘To Piper,’ Holly said. ‘Her new job. And her new-ish man.’

Piper laughed, looking up at Rob.

‘And to your new life too,’ Piper said. ‘In our old home town.’

They clinked their glasses and watched the girls speed off down the Thames, shrieking with laughter and waving bottles of champagne.

Piper half wished she could have gone with them. But she was also completely happy exactly where she was.