‘Lila, I’m sorry, I had no idea.’

‘Of course you didn’t, you don’t even know her,’ Daniel shouts at him. ‘You could’ve killed her.’

‘Freddie, you weren’t to know I was allergic,’ I tell him. ‘Daniel… thank you. Thank God you realised.’

‘Yes, thank God,’ he replies. ‘He could’ve killed you.’

‘Okay, can you stop saying that?’ Freddie says. ‘I feel bad enough.’

Freddie helps me to my feet and hugs me tightly.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispers into my ear. ‘I’m so sorry. I… I just had no idea. It didn’t even cross my mind that you might be allergic to anything.’

‘It’s not your fault. I should have been paying attention when you were cooking,’ I reply.

‘Well, it looks like Daniel has saved the day,’ Zoey announces.

The crowd we’ve gathered around us all cheer and applaud.

My heart is in my mouth, I feel as if I just dodged a bullet. Shellfish is one of those foods that everyone raves about, but I have no idea what it tastes like. I’ve known about my allergy for as long as I can remember. I don’t remember finding out that I had it, but I’ve known what to steer clear of ever since. I can’t believe I nearly ate shellfish – I daren’t even think about what could’ve happened.

‘Daniel, seriously, thank you,’ I tell him.

‘You’re welcome,’ he replies. ‘I’ll always have your back. Not like this guy, this stranger, trying to poison you.’

‘Okay, seriously, enough,’ Freddie tells him. ‘It was an honest mistake.’

‘Or what?’ Daniel asks him, squaring up to him, getting in his face. ‘You’ll try to kill me too?’

At this, Freddie shoves Daniel away from him. I don’t think he means to do it hard, I think he’s just trying to move him away, but his strength gets the better of him and Daniel is far lighter than he looks.

‘Freddie,’ I squeak as I instinctively crouch down on the floor next to Daniel.

‘He was trying to provoke me,’ Freddie protests. He looks awfully embarrassed.

‘He succeeded,’ I reply angrily, before turning to Daniel. ‘Are you okay?’ I ask him.

‘I was just trying to help you,’ Daniel insists.

‘I know,’ I start.

‘What?’ Freddie interrupts me. ‘He was trying to come between us.’

‘I didn’t put shellfish in the pasta,’ Daniel shouts. ‘You did. I know my fiancée, you don’t.’

‘I know what you’re doing,’ Freddie says, real anger bubbling up inside him. ‘I can see what you’re doing and Lila can too. You’re just using this to score points. Why not tell me she was allergic when you saw me with the prawns?’

‘I saw you put it in when Lila went to the bar,’ Daniel replies. ‘And I didn’t know she’d be eating it.’

It sounds as if Daniel is playing some sort of angle here, trying to be the hero. I’m about to get annoyed when Freddie does it for me.

‘And she’s not your fiancée any more, is she?’ he adds.