‘Who said this is a date?’

‘Ouch.’

‘Sorry. I didn’t mean . . .’

Feeling bad, I fiddle with my beer mat. Ajay watches me, his expression serious.

‘Would it be so awful to go on a date with me?’

‘No, of course not, it’s just . . . Well, I’m a lot older than you,’ I point out, stating the obvious.

‘You don’t look it.’

‘Are you sure you didn’t forget to put your contacts in?’ I attempt a joke, but he doesn’t laugh this time.

‘You shouldn’t put yourself down, you know. You’re gorgeous.’

I look down at my wine glass, flattered and oddly upset by his observation.

‘You know, I deleted that first text to you twice.’

I glance up, his honesty disarming me.

‘What made you change your mind and send it?’

‘Why not?’ he says simply.

I don’t know what I was expecting him to say, but it wasn’t that.

‘Why did you say yes?’ he asks, throwing the question back at me.

I look at him across the table, and it strikes me that I’ve been so caught up in worrying about the difference in age I haven’t stopped to consider that we might have more in common than I realized.

The thought makes me smile. ‘Why not?’

So we start again. Only this time it feels a lot more comfortable. Something has shifted and, with it, there’s been a release, like when you finally manage to pop the airlock on the lid of a jar that refuses to open. Ajay is intelligent and articulate and refreshingly honest. And now I’ve stopped over-thinking everything, I realize I’m enjoying myself for the first time in months. We order a second bottle of wine.

‘So, how’s Harry?’

‘You remembered his name? I’m impressed.’

‘I tend to remember names when they’re yelled at me across a car park.’

I groan with embarrassment and cover my face with my hands. When I emerge, he’s looking at me with amusement.

‘Do you want to see?’ I pull out my phone and shift my chair around so that Ajay can see my screen, then tap on the app. ‘Look, I can check up on Harry.’

The Wi-Fi is sketchy and it takes a moment to connect.

‘What? You can see him?’

‘Yes, it’s brilliant. It’s a remote camera. When I checked on him earlier, he was fast asleep.’

The camera suddenly goes live. Except instead of seeing Harry curled up fast asleep on the sofa, he’s disappeared.

‘Where is he? I can’t see him.’ Ajay squints at my phone.

‘That’s odd – hang on, let me turn on the volume.’

Suddenly there’s the sound of howling coming from my phone.

‘Whoa! What’s that noise?’

My chest tightens. ‘Oh no, that’s Harry.’

‘It’s a dog making that sound?’

Ajay looks at me in disbelief. The howling is really quite loud. In the bar one of the walker’s dogs starts barking, causing a few of the locals to look over. I quickly avert my eyes and glance back at the camera.