‘It’s for the money,’ I insist.

Honestly, I can’t even entertain the alternative right now. My head is all over the place…

‘And I wouldn’t even ask if Marty wasn’t your type,’ I add. ‘Older, good-looking, successful.’

‘Would you throw a future double date into the deal?’ she asks. ‘Just in case I ever need one.’

‘Okay, sure,’ I reply. It could never be as bad as the last one.

‘Ergh, OK, fine, I’ll take one for the team,’ she says loud enough for Marty to hear.

‘Yes,’ he says, clapping his hands together. ‘Shall we go get some lunch?’

‘Okay, sure,’ she says. ‘You’re paying, Mr successful, rich, sometimes charming Italian man.’

‘Seriously, I mean it… I’m in love,’ Marty tells me as he passes me. ‘I’ll take good care of her.’

He takes Ali by the arm – standing a couple of inches shorter than she is in her heels, which I know will be really upsetting her – and leads her outside.

I can’t help but laugh at Marty telling me he’ll take care of Ali – he’s the one that’s going to need to watch his back.

‘Love’s young dream,’ Freddie says with a faux sigh. ‘Speaking of which… didn’t we say we were going back to bed?’

I smile.

‘We did.’

‘Well, we’d better get a move on, because we have another round of Mr & Mrs Valentine Island to win this afternoon,’ he says. ‘You know, I worked it out, and we could come last in this round and still make the final.’

‘Amazing,’ I reply. ‘We make a pretty good team, don’t we?’

‘We do,’ he replies.

He pulls me close and kisses me. I feel myself melting into his arms and it feels so good, but so terrifying at the same time. Ali is right: if I am falling for him, what does it matter if he goes home today, tomorrow or the day after that? Whichever day it is, he’s going to go back to his life and I’m going to go back to mine.

I just need to put it out of my mind for now and make the most of it – and make sure I keep my head in the game, and win this competition!

32

What a difference a week makes.

It doesn’t seem like yesterday (because it wasn’t actually much more than that) since I was heartbroken, cheated on, crying my eyes out, panicking about being by myself.

Today, in a bizarre and shocking plot twist, Freddie and I are cooking together.

Not in the kitchen – we haven’t just decided to go full-couple and spend the rest of our time playing house. We’re at a pop-up kitchen at the beach bar, competing in the Mr & Mrs Valentine Island semi-finals.

Freddie and I already have such a lead at the top of the leaderboard that we have already qualified for the grand final. Still, it’s good to try your best so that’s what we’re doing, up against four other couples.