She smiles. ‘I’ve never seen you like this before. You really like this one, don’t you? I mean, you’re right to. He’s definitely a catch, as I’ve said already.’

‘I do.’

‘I’ve got it!’ she suddenly exclaims, slapping her forehead and causing a few other people to turn and look at us. ‘You need Isaac.’

‘Umm. How?’

‘Well, you had a lovely day out with him, didn’t you? He hasn’t stopped asking when he’s going to see Will again.’

‘I’m sorry, and I love Isaac, but I think he’d have precisely the opposite effect to the one I want.’

‘Nonsense. I mean, you’re not going to be smooching in front of him, I hope, but he’s the excuse you need to spend more time together and maybe, after you’ve dropped him home…’

‘The only thing we’d be up to after dropping him home is crawling into bed.’

‘Exactly!’

‘Separate beds. To sleep. Sorry, Tash, but you can’t reconcile free babysitting with sorting out my love life, no matter how hard you try.’

‘Take him anyway? Please? I won’t get any rest until you do.’

I smile. ‘I’ll talk to Will.’

‘I’m serious though,’ she continues after a mouthful of her sandwich. ‘Maybe the key to this is just spending more time together. The more he gets used to you, the more confident he’ll start to feel around you, and then, who knows?’

‘You might be right. His dad needs to back off too. Will was so embarrassed when Jonathan openly tried to push us together. I think he actually did more harm than good.’

She grins. ‘All the more reason to spend time with Will away from his dad’s house. Parks, soft-play centres, all those sorts of places.’

‘Definitely not the soft-play centre. I don’t think we can show our faces in there again after last time.’

‘I don’t know. It sounds like you might have been good for them.’

I know she’s just after another day of free childcare, but I am considering Tash’s idea as I make my way back down to A & E. Maybe she’s right and all Will needs is time. If that’s the case, Isaac does give us the perfect opportunity to spend another whole day in each other’s company. And, as she pointed out, we’ll be away from Jonathan’s ham-fisted attempts to matchmake us. It’ll also be an easy thing to sell to Will, I reckon. There will be absolutely zero opportunity for romance, but maybe this is all about carefully laying foundations rather than rushing to the next level before Will is ready. This might be a longer game than I’m used to, but the one thing I’m absolutely sure of is that he is worth the wait.

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