‘You know what I love about their story?’ I asked. He shook his head. ‘I loved the whimsy of how they met. How free the characters were to act on their impulses. And they had such freedom to be themselves. I think that’s why the connection was so intense between them. There was no pretence. They would probably never see each other again, so why not be authentic about who they really were? I live that freedom vicariously every time I watch it.’

‘But don’t you have similar feelings about this trip?’ he asked. I stopped rerunning scenes from Before Sunrise in my mind and looked at him, waiting for him to continue. ‘We’ve both mentioned it before – it’s been so freeing. There are no expectations about who we are to each other, no prescribed roles to play, so we can be ourselves.’ He was right.

‘Like how you obviously soured when I mentioned that Celine and Jessie don’t really have a good marriage.’ I started to explain myself, but he silenced me with a gentle fingertip to my lips. ‘You were being authentic – and I love that about you.’

You what? Relax, Sarah. He said that he loved something about you, not that he loved you. Still, it was nice to hear.

‘I think you’d better kiss me now,’ I whispered. He kissed me with such tenderness, a wave of joy washed over me.

Yes, this man infuriated me with his skewed way of looking at love and relationships, but was it any more skewed than mine? For some time, I had presented this cactus-like façade to any man who approached me, but the irony was, I wanted to fall in love. With someone who saw me. With someone I could be my most authentic self with.

God, the kiss was good. I didn’t want to know how he’d learned how to do that. And I really didn’t want to say goodbye in a couple of days. I broke out of the kiss, before it could consume me and I ended up an emotional mess.

‘People are going to tell us to get a room,’ I joked, blinking away the tears and hoping he hadn’t seen them.

‘Maybe we should.’ He raised his eyebrows at me.

‘On the first date?’ I was only half-joking. I’d had sex on a few first dates before. Of course, not one of those times had led to a second date. That said, we were not having sex that night – not on the boat.

‘Well, it may officially be our first date, but we have pretty much been living together for the past week.’

‘Along with five other people.’