“Here we are.” Simon reappeared with a glass of white for her and a pint of bitter for himself. He put the drinks on the table and then sat opposite her, smiling wryly. “So. We made it.”

“Cheers.” They clinked glasses and Olivia took a sip. “Funnily enough,” she said once she’d put her glass down, “I don’t actually know that much about you.”

Was she imagining the guarded look on Simon’s face? She must be. “I suppose you don’t.” Which wasn’t exactly an invitation to learn more.

“You’re a music teacher?” she asked, before she realised she wouldn’t have known that if Harriet hadn’t said anything. Now she knew she wasn’t imagining that guarded look.

“Yes...”

“My friend has kids at the local school,” Olivia explained, half in apology for no doubt seeming stalkerish. “When I mentioned your name, she said she knew you.”

“Ah.” Simon’s expression relaxed a bit, but he still looked watchful. “Do her children take music lessons?”

“Umm...I think her ten-year-old Will takes piano. What do you teach?”

“Cello and violin.” He smiled ruefully.

“Right.” She took another sip of wine; why did Harriet’s bombshell, or lack of it, this morning now feel like a hurdle she had to leap over, a mountain she had to overcome? She’d been looking forward to this evening, but in some ways it already felt, if not ruined, then at least hampered.

“What about you?” Simon asked. “What did you do before you moved to this lovely village?”

“I lived in London, working in marketing and development for a small not-for-profit.”

“What kind of not-for-profit?”

Now Olivia was the one smiling self-consciously. “An organisation that provides undergarments and sanitary products for girls and women in developing countries who have difficulty gaining access to them. I know, I know, it’s a bit of a conversation stopper.”

“Not at all,” Simon said, rallying after a second of looking a bit nonplussed. “That sounds like a very worthy cause.”

“It is,” Olivia agreed, “but people don’t really like talking about it all that much. Anyway.” She let out a breath. “After nearly fifteen years in the same sector, I was ready for a change. Is that why you moved here from London? For a change?”

“Yes, in a way. I needed one, at least.”

Needed one? Olivia knew she needed to stop thinking everything Simon said was suspect. Why had Harriet said anything? And yet even before she had, Olivia had wondered. It felt like there was something Simon wasn’t saying, but she could hardly ask him what it was.

“Anyway.” He smiled in his wry, charming way, his grey-green eyes lighting up. “Enough about that. Tell me something about you that doesn’t involve cupcakes or sanitary products.”

Olivia nearly spat out her wine. “Now that’s one I haven’t heard before.”

“I only meant, not about work,” Simon said with a rakish grin. “I want to know about you. Where did you grow up?”

“Middlesbrough. Not exactly the garden of England.”

“Respectable enough. Happy families?”