The Guest List

by Lucy Foley

There’s another self that I sometimes feel I lost along the way. The girl who always stayed for one more drink, who loved a dance. I miss her, sometimes.

If I’d told her, there’d be no taking it back. It would be out there in the world: what I’ve done.

There’s nothing less sexy than a lack of ambition, is there?

At our Christmas party one of my employees, Eliza, got drunk and told me I have permanent resting bitch face.

‘Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo!’

‘Fac fortia et patere! Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo!’

“If I can’t move heaven, then I shall raise hell.”

In my experience those who have the greatest respect for the rules also take the most enjoyment in breaking them.

Marriage is about finding that person you know best in the world. Not how they take their coffee or what their favourite film is or the name of their first cat. It’s knowing on a deeper level.

‘I love you so much … clever, complicated, fierce daughter of mine.’

‘Our first meeting. If I hadn’t been in the right place at the right time. As Jules likes to say, it was our sliding doors moment.’ He raises his glass: ‘So: to luck. And to making your own luck … or giving it a little helping hand, when it needs it.’