The private tour of the museum was incredible and so was Valentina. If James hadn’t been explicit about fancying me, she was the kind of woman who could induce some heavy-hitting jealousy. She was Italian, tall, slim, and blonde. She was also one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen in person. She greeted me with two cheek kisses—James’s friends were so affectionate—and a warm smile.

“Buongiorno, Sarah. A pleasure to meet you.”

It was a pleasure to meet her too and I hoped I could get through the tour without drooling on her shoes, especially as they were suede. I was forming a serious girl crush.

And I needn’t have worried about James fancying her. Valentina was married to his closest friend from university, Marcus. She also treated James like a brother, teasing him good-naturedly about me.

“James must think very highly of you, Sarah. The last time he introduced me to someone he was dating was two popes ago.” She raised her eyebrows at me and James shook his head, smiling.

Valentina was the fourth of James’s friends I’d met—if you counted Duncan, which I did—and they all obviously adored him. I took it as a sign that he was one of the good guys. Armando, his friend in Greece, had alluded to him playing the field, but Valentina was saying the opposite. And based on the embarrassed look on his face, she seemed to be right. That was both flattering and terrifying. It certainly didn’t play into my “just have some fun” approach to our date. I’d have to unpack it later.

As well as giving us a tour, Valentina snuck us behind the scenes to see a collection of artefacts that had just been uncovered on Crete. She was leading the curation of the collection and it was fascinating to gain some insight into the laborious process of identifying and cataloguing dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces.

She also gave us an update on Greece’s claim on the remaining pieces from the Acropolis, which was that there was no update. Greece still wanted them back and the Brits were still holding onto them. Such an odd, and somewhat heart-breaking, situation.

Eventually, we said reluctant goodbyes to Valentina, who was due at a mid-afternoon meeting. James promised to see her and Marcus soon and asked her to send his love to her oafish husband. She laughed at that.

I truly hoped I would see her again.

As we made our way back through the Great Court, I walked slowly so I could stare up at the glass ceiling and its mesmerising geometric shapes. James took my hand and leant down. “I love watching you take it all in,” he said. And I was enjoying taking it all in. The Great Court is an incredible space. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel small and vulnerable, and grand and capable of anything, all at once.

I pointed at the Reading Room. “I used to spend a lot of time in there after I first moved here,” I said.