Relief Valve: The Plumber's Mate, Book 2 by JL Merrow Page A

sighed. “I’ll give him a day or so to cool off and then give him a call. Hopefully someone will be willing to be reasonable by then. Anyway, that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”
    “No?” I tried to think what the hell else she might want to talk to me about, and worry tickled the back of my neck. “Mum and Dad are all right, aren’t they?”
    “They’re fine.” I waited. Cherry took a deep breath. “Gregory and I are going to be married.”
    “Bloody hell, that’s a bit fast, innit?” I stared at her. Was it something in the water round here? First Gary, now my sister.
    Cherry went pink. “It’s not fast at all. Just because you’ve only just met him…” Another deep breath. Maybe she should see a doctor about her lungs. “Anyway, we’re having a party on Friday.”
    “What , this Friday?”
    “You know, you could congratulate me.” Her mouth tightened.
    “Er, right. Sorry. Congratulations and all that.” Bloody hell, I was going to be the only one left on the shelf. “Going to be a church do, then?”
    “Well, obviously . We’re hoping to be married by the bishop,” she added, sounding a lot less miffed. “It’ll be in the cathedral, in any case. Gregory wants to invite all the regulars to fill up seats.”
    “Surprised he’s not planning to prop up that little ‘family’ of his in the pews.”
    She tsked . “St Leonard’s doesn’t have pews.”
    “Course it doesn’t. Silly me. Should’ve remembered.”
    “Oh? I didn’t know you’d been there.”
    “Er, yeah. Just for a quick visit.” Fortunately she didn’t ask when that’d been or who’d provided the guided tour.
    “So are you coming, then?”
    “Well, yeah .” Did she really think I’d miss my only sister’s wedding? “You want me to bring Phil, right?”
    There was just the tiniest pause before she answered. “Of course. But, um, just the two of you,” she added, going even pinker.
    I frowned. “Well, I’m hardly going to turn up with a whole crowd of blokes from the pub, am I? So when is it? You haven’t said, yet.”
    She huffed . “Yes, I did. Friday . At Gregory’s. Starting at seven.”
    “What?” Surely even Cherry couldn’t organise a wedding that fast? I did a quick mental gear change as I finally realised we’d been talking about two different things. “Oh, you mean the party . Right, yeah, we’ll be there. You sure you’ve got time to get it set up? Want me to bring anything?”
    “Oh, we’ll be fine. Gregory’s going to get some of the cathedral ladies to do some finger food. And if we left it any later, Gregory would be all caught up in Alpha Courses and Confirmation Classes. He barely has an evening free before Easter.”
    I nodded. “No rest for the wicked. Bit of a quiet time for me, as it happens—a lot of people put off the nonessential jobs until they’ve had a chance to recover from the Christmas bills. And the sales spending.”
    “Oh.” She paused, and I was just about to get up again when she spoke. “Is work going okay? Are you, well, all right for money?” She brushed furiously at some biscuit crumbs on her desk. At least I assumed that was what she was doing, although, come to think of it, she hadn’t actually had a biccie with her tea.
    “Yeah, I’m all right. Can’t complain. Er, you?” It was probably a daft question, looking at the wood grain on that desk of hers, but it seemed a bit rude not to ask, seeing as she had.
    Cherry looked up sharply. “Oh, yes. Of course. Right, well, that was all I wanted to talk to you about. Unless you, er…?”
    “Nah, I’m good,” I said, standing up. “I’ll see myself out.” I grinned. “I’m sure if I go wrong, Jeanette’ll set me straight.”
    Cherry actually sort of laughed. Maybe it was more of a snort. “I’m sure she’d be only too happy to set you straight , but I always thought it wasn’t supposed to work like that.”
    Bloody hell. That was almost a joke.
    Maybe the Irreverently