‘That’s a shame,’ Holly said, looking up at him from underneath her lashes. ‘I was going to suggest you came back and spent the night with me.’

Charlie groaned. ‘Don’t give me choices like that.’ Then, his face brightened. ‘Unless…’ He whipped out his phone and tapped the screen for a moment or two. ‘Yes!’ he said triumphantly. ‘I haven’t tried it before, but there’s an early train from Willowbury that connects at Bristol Temple Meads and then direct to London Paddington. It means I’ll have to get to the station by six o’clock tomorrow morning, but that’s no big deal, it’s only a ten-minute walk from either your place or mine.’

‘Sounds perfect,’ Holly said. ‘And it means we can have another drink if we want one.’ She finished her glass of red. ‘Can I treat you to something to settle that food?’

‘Sure,’ Charlie replied. ‘If you’re sure you can manage it?’

Holly laughed. ‘I’m a Somerset girl – I grew up drinking Scrumpy cider behind the cricket pavilion. What about you?’

‘Had to keep the Yorkshire winters out of my bones somehow,’ Charlie replied, affecting a slightly broader accent.

‘Is that what you really sound like?’ Holly teased. ‘Before you were forced to iron out your accent to appeal to the electorate?’

Charlie looked affronted. ‘I don’t know what you mean. I don’t sound all that different now, do I?’

Holly prodded him in the ribs playfully. ‘I remember, back when we first met, you sounded like a cross between Matt Lewis and Geoffrey Boycott! Your vowels were so broad, I could have canoed the River Thames on them. I think it’s fair to say that you’ve put a little bit of the Estuary into your English since then.’

Charlie shook his head. ‘For someone who claims to have only the vaguest memories of that night we met, you suddenly seem to be a lot clearer on it.’

‘Well, you know, it’s coming back to me gradually,’ Holly said. ‘But it might explain why I didn’t recognise you straight away when you came into the shop that first time – you’re far less geeky and a lot less Yorkshire than you used to be.’

‘Whereas you’ve gone the other way and I can hear the Somerset far more now,’ Charlie replied. ‘Perhaps I’ll end up with a weird combination of both accents if I stay here long enough!’

‘That would be funny,’ Holly teased. ‘You’d have to make sure you really thought about how you said bath, buns and footpath, then!’

‘Our kids would sound really interesting,’ Charlie said, then coughed nervously. ‘Sorry, that’s jumping the gun a bit, isn’t it?’

‘Gun or goon?’ Holly teased, but she was touched by his sudden reticence. ‘I’ll grab us another drink.’