My heart raced as I skim-read the short email, all the while holding my breath. I exhaled and read back through it again, digesting the words.

Dear Sarah,

I am back in London, ensconced in my house, and already missing Greece. More to the point, I miss you. You cross my mind dozens of times a day – and I’ll admit, it has been a long time since I felt any kind of excitement at the thought of seeing someone again. I truly hope you will make time to see me when you arrive in London. I want to see you properly.

Yours,

James

I couldn’t help but read it a third time. This time I lingered on some of the words and phrases – ‘miss you’, ‘excitement’, and ‘properly’ – I wanted to know exactly what he meant by that. And then his sign-off, ‘yours’. Yours! I let out a long sigh.

My mind wandered far outside the confines of the net café. I immediately pictured James in his home in London – it was likely a penthouse with amazing views and expensive furnishings. He was shirtless for some reason and reading the paper while sipping from a mug of tea. He looked delicious.

And then a voice called me back to the net café.

‘Everything okay?’ asked the voice. I snapped out of my daydream and realised that Josh was reading my screen. I was too stunned to speak. Why was he doing that? I gawped at him, my mouth a huge O.

I finally found my voice and half-whispered, ‘What are you doing?’

He shook his head and looked down. ‘Oh, god, I’m so sorry – it was just instinct. You read something and reacted. I thought something bad had happened, and I didn’t even think – I’m so sorry …’ Then he put his face in his hands, reprimanding himself under his breath.

I was torn. Should I reassure him he’d done nothing wrong, or that James’s email didn’t matter? Or, should I completely freak out and run out the door? I wasn’t even mad. I probably would have done the same thing if he’d reacted oddly to something on his screen – it was a human thing to do. But, he couldn’t have read anything worse.

I took a deep breath and patted him on the back. His self-flagellation continued. ‘Josh? Josh, listen, I’m not mad. It’s all right.’ He shook his head. How did I end up in this situation? Consoling one would-be lover, while a message from another would-be lover glared out from the bright screen in front of me? I clicked out of the email and logged out of Gmail.