Anthony hadn't expected the pang of disappointment as Aziraphale readied his polite exit but really, what had he expected? One couldn't go around a Gala with a girl on one arm and a bloke on the other. That simply wasn't done!

"Yeah," he agreed only because he couldn't think of any excuse to hold the man there if he was ready to be off, "Maybe I will catch up with you later. We can have a drink."

To toast his good fortune... Anthony felt the need to reach out and grab his arm, just to prevent him from leaving but...

"Thank you, it was wonderful meeting you too," Grace spoke up and saved him as his mind wandered back over his plans, questioning them again.

This was the right thing to do. One moved on with life, got married, had kids, made their family proud. This was the way things ought to be.

"He seemed nice," Grace added when she caught Anthony staring off blankly after the art restorer and when that proved not quite enough distraction to draw him back to her, she kissed his cheek, winning back Anthony's smile even as she carefully wiped her lipstick off his skin. Yeah, it was silly. Whatever had he been in doubt of!