Charlie felt out of place as Harry casually dipped bread in the treacly balsamic.

‘I’ve never been anywhere this fancy,’ she whispered, not wanting the saggy-necked ladies at the next table to overhear. ‘This menu’s full of weird words. What is a tapenade?’

‘Stewed cow’s eyeballs,’ Harry said.

‘Eww … Wait. You’re messing, aren’t you?’

Harry laughed. ‘It’s a pesto. Mashed olives, anchovies, herbs and stuff. Do you like olives?’

Charlie shrugged. ‘Never tried them.’

‘Never?’ Harry gawped.

Charlie looked a touch wounded. ‘My mom had this truck-driver boyfriend for a while. He’d take us to IHOP for pancakes and I’d get stupidly excited. After Ma topped herself, I mostly ate with Ed, who only liked five things. And there wasn’t much baked red mullet with citrus jus at White Boulder.’

One of the old birds at the next table glanced over at the mention of White Boulder. Harry glowered back until she started pretending she’d been looking for her napkin.

‘So you ain’t spawned from fancy-eating folk, then?’ Harry smiled, accidentally touching Charlie’s hand as he reached across and tapped her menu. ‘This lamb burger is supposed to be really good.’

Charlie looked wary. ‘It’s twenty-six dollars and I’m not that hungry.’

‘The man from Vegas Local doesn’t pay,’ Harry reminded her. ‘And greasy food lines your stomach after a hangover.’

Charlie laughed. ‘Is that official surgeon general’s guidance?’

But she felt better once she’d scraped most of the mint foam off her burger and tucked in. After the main, the chef came out of the kitchen with some banana-and-honey crêpes. He asked Harry how Kirsten was doing, told him what a great website Vegas Local was. Then he went on about how his eighty-year-old grandma was on Vegas Local every day, reading gossip and printing off grocery coupons.

‘That’s Ellie’s goal,’ Harry told the chef, as he realised his crêpes were microwaved and rubbery. ‘We do what local newspapers did before they all went broke. Vegas Local gets over a quarter million unique visitors per day, a lot of them tourists looking for insider tips.’

‘This has been a tough year,’ the chef said. ‘People are getting out more now, but SNor cut our takings by half.’

‘Brutal,’ Harry said, ‘but our lamb burgers were great and I’ll make sure you get a feature review in the next few days. I’ll get Sue-Ann to call. Maybe we can fix a deal for a coupon.’

‘Anything that gets bodies through the door,’ the chef said eagerly.

‘You ain’t got a bad life,’ Charlie told Harry as they headed outside into a breeze coming off the lake. ‘Cruising around picking up free food in restaurants.’

Harry admired Charlie as she walked ahead. Little ears, nice butt and legs that had been starved of sunlight.