I promised I would and told her I loved her, but she had to go as Colin had an incident with a vase. I didn’t tell her how much I was missing her, in case that made her worry. But it was perfect timing as Elle was ringing. As soon as I saw her face, I felt a bit better.

“Hello, Engerlandddddd,” I yelled as if we were doing a live TV broadcast.

Elle waved back as she pushed her AirPods in. She looked all flushed from being outside. “And hello, Alpine Peaks?!”

“How was the switch-on?!” Her pictures had made it look so much more glam than I remembered.

“A blast. And you were right about Carol…”

I nodded. “Genuinely gutted to have missed her.”

Elle grinned. “Which is why I took some serious surreptitious video for you.”

I mouthed thank you, while putting my hands together in gratitude.

“Sorry, but I’m still not over you being in my room, and us having NEVER MET.”

“Yup. We messed that one up.” Elle swiveled around in my chair “Why didn’t we think to overlap somewhere?”

“Because we didn’t really think?” We both laughed.

“Sooooo,” I started.

“Soooooo.…” she finished, grinning as she could tell what I was trying to get at.

“The, er…list you sent me.”

She nodded, totally straight-faced. “Uh-huh? All good? I know you love ’em.”

“Well…” I gave up trying to be cool. “We both know number five is never going to happen, right?!”

Truth was I’d started to have a sneaking suspicion why she’d said it. Had she heard what happened with Woody and me? Was this her way of helping me move on? ’Cause I wasn’t moving anywhere. I was stationary. For life.

“Never say never…”

“But that’s what I am saying. Literally that. It will never happen.”

Elle’s smile softened as she picked up I was freaking out for real, not just pretending.

“Well, look. It’s your call. But if I can take on the fifty challenges in London, maybe you should see what happens over the next few days on your end?” See what happens? Did she not know how I operate?!

“And maybe you could tell me what the thing was you were thinking of doing for our mums?”

“My lips are sealed.” She put her finger to her mouth. “Unless you pull it off, of course.”

I laughed. She was impossible.

“Fine. FINE. But what about you?” It was the perfect time to do some digging of my own. Some Logan-and-Fred-shaped digging. “Met anyone who, er…takes your fancy?”

Why was I so strange with words?! “No.” She almost snapped at me.

“Oh, okay…” I didn’t mean to annoy her. But Elle looked almost embarrassed.

“I just meant, you know, keeping my options open.”