Alice’s next date wasn’t due for ten minutes, but she peered around Zadie anyway just in case Devon, whose photo declared him to be well groomed, had arrived early. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had used an out-of-date profile pic or even someone else’s photo.

“Hi Zadie. Can I have a latte, please? Oh, hello, Alice. What are you doing over this side of the river?”

Alice was suddenly battling a ridiculous flash that was racing heat across her skin. It couldn’t possibly be because of Harry. Zadie must have the heater up too high.

“Speed dating.” Zadie filled in the blank.

“Really?” Harry glanced around the almost empty café.

“I’m on a ten-minute break.” Alice downed the glass of water she would have loved to pour over her head.

“How’s it going?”

“Yeah, good,” she lied.

“So good that you’re six miles out of town?”

“Neutral territory.”

Harry looked bemused. “I’ve only seen this sort of stuff on sitcoms. Do you have a friend who calls you after half an hour?”

She gave a wry smile. “Ten minutes.”

“Crikey! A bloke has to make a fast impression.”

“It’s not like I’m meeting anyone cold. I trade a few texts before I decide to either ditch or meet.” Watching Harry standing while she was sitting reluctantly brought out the manners her parents had drilled into her. “Is your coffee to go or do you want to sit for eight minutes?”

“With an invitation like that, I can hardly refuse.”

Zadie handed him his coffee and he slid into the empty chair. “So, Alice, do you like long walks along the beach at sunset and reading books by an open fire?”

“If it’s not blowing a gale or a hundred-degree day.”

“Ah, pragmatic.”

She laughed. “No one who knows me well would ever call me that.”

“What would they say?”

Her mother’s words played in her head. “Worrying, vague, disorganized, wafting through life without any direction …”

“Your approach to dating sounds pragmatic.”

“That’s a recent phenomenon. It was forced on me by the reality of being dumped after a three-year relationship and the constant ticking of my biological clock.”

“These days you don’t need a man to have a baby.”

“Your sole parenting isn’t by choice, is it?”

“Point taken.” Harry stirred half a sachet of sugar into his coffee. “Doesn’t talking about wanting kids on the first date put blokes off?”

“You’ve never done digital dating, have you?”

“That obvious, eh?”

“On the site or the app you say if you’ve got children, are interested in having children, or not. So it’s already out there before you make contact.”

“Unless they lie.”

Alice thought of Todd. “Well, there is that.”

“Is there a spot to say vasectomy? Just asking for a friend.”