‘I wish you could have read the rest of it. He seems to be saying something that’s been inside for a long time. And if you aren’t interested then he will go and see his daughter, that’s all.’

‘Hmmm.’

‘Had you honestly no idea?’

Georgia sighs, all the way from France. ‘I suppose I did. I even tried to talk to him about it once but he said that his sister needed him and he couldn’t do anything until, well, until she wasn’t here any longer. But it’s a bit of a leap from “let’s get together” to “if you’re not interested, I’m off”. I’m not sure I like being given an ultimatum.’

‘What age is he? Come to that, what age are you?’

‘I’m seventy-two, or I will be in a couple of months.’

‘And Stan?’

‘A bit younger. I’ve never thought about it properly.’

‘And,’ Tess pauses, ‘without being all agony auntish about it, are you interested?’

There is a silence.

‘I met him three years ago when Hazel first moved in next door. He was helping her to move furniture and get herself sorted. His wife died a long time ago but he still has the house they lived in. It’s in Murrayfield, near his allotment. When Hazel was first diagnosed she had chemo, and he moved across the city to look after her. I suppose we got to know each other then. There were times when I thought there was a hint of something else happening between us, but as Hazel became more poorly, it was as though he closed that particular door. We were still friends, but it couldn’t progress to anything else because he saw his job as being there to do whatever she needed. They’re twins, you see. And I think that’s a special sort of together. More than just being siblings. She never had a seventieth birthday, I’d have known. So he’s probably in his late sixties. He promised her he would be there for her and that was it.’

‘And now you think he’s rushing it.’

‘Yes. Why on earth can’t he just give me a month or two so we can work out if we actually like being more than friends?’

‘I suspect that he’s written this letter, word for word, many times in his head.’

‘Possibly.’

‘And now it has all come out in a rush, and if he’s been thinking about it for a long time, perhaps he doesn’t see the flaws in what he’s asking.’

‘Have you ever thought of being a professional at this?’

‘Relationship advice? Oh hell, no. I’m hardly the person to offer anything like that.’

‘And he’s still at the cottage?’