‘Hi, Mum,’ I say with a faux-cheery attitude. She sees straight through it.

‘Oh, love, are you okay?’ she asks.

‘Oh, I’m fine,’ I say, continuing to play it down. ‘Just taking things a day at a time.’

‘Still got him blocked?’ she asks.

‘Yes,’ I reply. ‘Although I might unblock him, maybe see if he tries to call, see what he has to say for himself now I’m over the initial shock.’

Well, I’m not exactly over it, but I’m a little calmer at least.

‘His mum says he’s gone into hiding,’ she continues. ‘She gave me a call to apologise. She was mortified. Couldn’t stop apologising. He doesn’t get his lack of manners from his mum.’

That’s so like Daniel, to just hide from his problems. After chatting with my mum for a while, I decide that I will unblock him, giving him a chance to call, but I doubt he will, not if he’s hiding. I wonder if he thinks giving me space will allow this whole thing to blow over.

I massage my temples for a moment before I begin staring at my screen again. Less dwelling, more keeping myself distracted. That’s what I need.

My eyes are pulled from my blinking cursor by something else, dancing in front of my window. It looks like a pole with… white underpants on the end.

I pull myself up from the sofa and go check it out. When I get to the door, I realise it’s Freddie. I think he’s making a gesture of peace.

I feel my cheeks trying to tug my mouth into a little smile. I open the door.

‘Can I come in?’ he asks.

‘OK,’ I reply. ‘But leave your pants outside.’

Freddie raises his eyebrows but resists a cheeky comment.

I sit back down on the sofa. Freddie sits next to me.

‘Oh, are you writing your next book?’ he asks, nodding towards the screen.

‘Trying,’ I say. ‘It’s not going all that well. Story of my life at the moment.’

Freddie is wearing a rather short pair of shorts, which show off his muscular legs. On his top half, he’s wearing a low-cut white vest – I’m not sure when the trend of men showing their ‘cleavage’ kicked off, but I’m as confused by it as I am secretly delighted. As always, his hair is messy and he’s wearing the same pair of black Ray-Ban sunglasses as this morning. The glass is mirrored, so when you try to look into Freddie’s eyes, all you see is yourself. There’s just something so mesmerising about his eyes – the fact that I can’t see those glittering blue pools of his puts us on more of a level playing field.

‘I just wanted to apologise, for earlier,’ he begins. ‘And last night, I guess. I thought maybe you were being cute, asking me to make you a drink. I didn’t realise you thought I was the actual barman. But it was just a silly misunderstanding and I don’t want you to feel bad about it, okay?’