‘I see. Sorry that I misread you. I’ll bear it in mind if it happens again.’ I know I was planning to ask him out, but on reflection I’m not sure I want to right now. He’s lost several brownie points during our previous conversation, so he can make the running if he’s interested.

‘So it would be OK if it happened again?’ he asks.

It’s my turn to smile. ‘I wouldn’t file a complaint. Put it like that.’

He stops walking and turns to me. ‘Look, Tilly. I really like you and I’d love to get to know you better. I’ve got to go straight home after work today because Mum needs me, but would it be OK if I took your mobile number so I could text you another time?’

‘Sure,’ I tell him. ‘I’d like that.’

5

Mike isn’t home when I get in, although there’s a note on the fridge door informing me that there’s some chicken casserole I can microwave if I want. Mike was very anti having a microwave because he saw it as an affront to ‘real cooking’, but I put my foot down as I don’t think I could function without one. Most of the time, I’m so dog-tired when I get home after a shift that sticking something in the microwave is pretty much the limit of my ability. I say a silent ‘thank you’ to Mike as I retrieve the casserole and put it in to reheat.

I am a little disappointed he’s not here, as the mischievous part of me was quite looking forward to a bit of verbal sparring over my latest interaction with Luke, but it’s nearly nine o’clock on a Friday night, so I suspect he’s in a bar somewhere, softening up his latest conquest. When the microwave pings to let me know my food is ready, I settle myself on the sofa and, having double-checked the time, call my sister, Tash.

‘Hi, Tills,’ she says brightly when the call connects. Tash is the only person in the world allowed to call me Tills, and it grates a little even from her. ‘How are you?’

‘Same old,’ I tell her with a smile. ‘We had a guy in today who’d impaled himself on a railing. The team nicknamed him “Spike”. How’s the world of pedicures?’

Although Tash works in the same hospital as me, I never see her, because we’re in different departments and our shift patterns rarely overlap, but it’s still nice to know she’s in the building.

‘Paediatrics, cheeky cow,’ she tells me with a laugh. ‘It’s OK, although it does raise a question.’

‘Oh, yes?’