He put the sugar packet back in the basket and moved his hands so close to mine, I could feel the warmth from his skin. I held my breath as Evan extended his forefinger, brushing it lightly against my thumb, then rested on the back of my hand. Just one finger holding on to me. The night of the ball flashed through my mind, the moonlight on his face, my head on his chest, the way his body felt pressed against mine as we danced.

‘When I woke up and you were gone, I thought I must have imagined you,’ he said, in a voice so soft and tender it was just for me. ‘I needed to know you were real.’

‘I’m real,’ I confirmed. ‘And so are you.’

He pinched himself and nodded. ‘More or less.’

‘And your dad is Clive Carden,’ I said gently as I pulled my hand away from his.

‘Looks like I’m not the only one who did some detective work,’ Evan ducked his head and let his dark hair fall in front of his face. ‘Yeah, he is.’

‘This is all so mad, Evan,’ I said, inhaling sharply and huffing out a confused sigh. ‘I can’t get my head around the fact you’re here.’

He looked up at me with a rakish grin. ‘Is there any chance mad means romantic in Britain?’

‘No,’ I said, coming dangerously close to my senses. ‘Mad. It sounds mad. What kind of person goes to all this trouble just to find someone they met at a party?’

Evan reached across the table and placed his hands on either side of my face. My cheeks flamed, my heart stopped, and my body melted from the inside out.

‘The kind of person who hasn’t been able to stop thinking about you since the moment he laid eyes on you,’ he said, thumbs caressing my cheeks. ‘The kind of person who has done a million dumb things and is absolutely certain this is not one of them. This is a grand romantic gesture, Francesca, they’re extremely common in books and movies, you can google it.’

‘Can’t,’ I replied, still staring into his eyes. ‘Haven’t got a phone.’

‘Then let me show you.’

He leaned across the table, pulling me towards him, my eyes sliding shut, but the moment before our lips touched, I stopped and yanked myself backwards.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, my hands shooting up to his shoulders, holding him at a literal arm’s length. ‘I can’t, this is just too much.’

Across the room, I heard Jess howl in horror as Evan pulled back into his chair. ‘Um, OK,’ he said, combing his hair away from his flushed face. ‘That’s not entirely how I imagined that going, but OK.’