‘Simon?’

He looked at her for a moment, apparently confused, before the light dawned. ‘You’re the girl from Belle Vue. Prue! Whatever are you doing here?’

‘Just wandering really. You?’

‘I was meant to be meeting someone, but she bailed …’

‘A date, you mean?’

‘Oh, nothing heavy. Just someone from one of those dating apps. I’ve never actually met her. She must have looked at my profile picture again and changed her mind. And who can blame her?’ He laughed. ‘But that does mean I’m all dressed up with nowhere to go. I don’t suppose you …? No, daft of me.’

‘No.’ Prue hesitated. ‘I mean, no, not daft. Not no, I won’t … Oh, you know what I mean. Do you fancy a drink somewhere?’

‘You’re only saying that so I’ll build you a patio!’

‘Of course I’m not, but I would like the chance to talk about the garden, if you’ve got the time.’

‘All the time in the world. There’s a little wine bar not far from here, and they do food too. Have you eaten?’

‘I’m just back from Norfolk. I had a sandwich on the train.’

‘That’s a no then. Come on, I need proper food, and once you’ve seen the burgers in this place you won’t be able to resist!’

They walked along side by side, not saying very much. Prue took a sideways peek at him as they waited to cross a road and decided she liked what she saw. He was taller than she remembered, and it looked as if he’d had a haircut since she’d last seen him, although it was still a bit too long at the front, but he was certainly good-looking and easy to get along with, in that Jack-the-Lad sort of way.

‘You never called,’ he said, as they settled into seats at a corner table. ‘I bet you washed it off, didn’t you? My number, that I wrote on your arm that day.’

‘Of course I washed it off! But not before I transferred it to my phone. You can check if you like.’

‘So, why …?’

‘I had to go back to Norfolk. Long story, but it ended well, and I only got back today. You were actually quite high on my list of people to contact.’

‘Not at the top then?’

‘Almost. I was going to call you tomorrow, to see if you still wanted that anniversary cake, so I could pass on some details to the lady who offered to make it. And to ask you about the possibility of the photo shoot.’

‘You know, it’s a really strange coincidence, isn’t it? Us meeting like this. As if fate was trying to tell us something.’

‘What? That it’s a small world and London’s not such a big place after all?’

‘You want the truth?’ He lowered his gaze. ‘I was meant to be meeting my so-called date in this pub she suggested, you know, a public place so she was sure I wasn’t some evil kidnapper or a weirdo or something. It’s just over the road there. Nothing great really, and too crowded for my liking. I’d been waiting almost an hour. Anyway, I’d just got the text to say she wasn’t coming when I saw you through the window, so I watched you for a while, wandering about, and when it looked like you might be about to walk away, I nipped out and sort of accidentally on purpose bumped into you. Thus proving that I probably am some sort of weirdo stalker after all!’