“Xav!Got you. Not letting you go.I realised I wasn't alone in mental deep space; he had always been there and could pilot me home.”

“...I want you to be as happy as I am.""Trust me, that wouldn't be the case if I found myself shackled to Xav Benedict by a quirk of fate.”

“Xav bounded out behind him. “Yeah, Phee equals You-She squared. I’ve been working on that one: like it?”

“How am I going to help you?”“You are going to jump.”“Ha.”“You are.”“Have you done this before?”“Yeah, with fruit.” That was Xav.“And why am I not reassured?”

“Xav sprinkled olive oil on his lettuce. 'Lola was very particular that it all had to fit properly.' 'Lola?' squeaked Diamond. I wanted to warn her not to rise to the bait Xav was dangling in front of her but it was too late. Xav added some Parmesan and pepper. 'Suspicious, Diamond? You should be. This is a bachelor party I'm organizing, not a school outing, and it is going to tick all of Trace's boxes. Lola is either a very efficient water sports instructor or an exotic dancing girl; I'll leave it your imagination.' I rolled my eyes at Diamond. 'Myabe she's both. I mean the guys will really go for that, I guess. Don't worry,Di, Luigi and his crew will not disappoint us girls.' Luigi was in fact Contessa Nicoletta's little bespectacled chef with whom I had been consulting about the menu for Friday, but the Benedicts weren't to know that. 'He has promised to provide something suitably spicy for our tastes.”

“Xav tugged Yves off me and handed me the call button. “You’ll be needing this, Phee, when my irritating little squirt of a brother bothers you again. Just press and the nurses will come running. One of them looks like a pro-wrestler, so she’ll make short work of him.”

“He said he needed to unwind. He was furious we all let you go so far. That boy would stop you so much as breaking a nail if he could.”