Did it count as a jilting if you weren’t actually stood at the top of the aisle waiting?

A final chink of light disappears behind me. The five steps up a narrow staircase lead me to a tiny, sacred space where showbiz magic is made.

It felt dark, but not uncomfortably so. Sometimes they dimmed the lights or pulled the curtains, but this felt different.

Our college reunions were usually boisterous affairs, but this one was subdued. Subdued, that is until the cocktails soaked in.

A dark figure was struggling with the gate latch. It turned and, a moment before their eyes met, Rory recognised his father.

My brother’s name is David. Our parents called him that because it means “beloved,” in case you didn’t know.

It’s the same outcome every time. I should have learned back in school that I couldn’t win this battle. But ever since I first saw Pearl, she had a magnetic draw.

They were in a shop together. It was Ryman in the Strand, opposite Superdrug. She had spent the day shopping in the West End. He had been at work. They hadn’t seen each other for more than twenty years.