Duncan looked at his watch. ‘In about an hour. Enough time for another round!’ he declared and then disappeared below deck to make another round of drinks. Josh sidled up and sat next to me. I looked straight ahead, pretending to watch the boat traffic around us as though I was genuinely interested in it.

‘Did you stay here all day?’ he asked.

‘Here in this spot here, or just here on the boat?’

‘Either.’

‘Neither.’

‘Oh.’

‘Hannah came back right after you left and we spent the day out. We did some shopping, wandered around town a little, had coffee, had lunch …’

‘Girls’ day out?’

‘Yeah, something like that. Sounds like you guys had a good day too.’

‘It was fun. I missed you, though.’ I couldn’t help but turn towards him – a reflex.

‘You did?’ He nodded. He wasn’t shying away from eye contact, either. My heart quickened in my chest – traitor. God, his eyes were beautiful. Relax, dork, I told myself. I swirled the drink in my cup and pretended aloofness.

‘Well, it was kind of nice to have some time with Hannah, but I missed hanging out with you too.’ ‘Hanging out’ – casual, cool, friendly. Right?

His demeanour shifted, almost imperceptibly, but enough for me to know my comment hadn’t landed well. He’d definitely taken it the wrong way. Crap, I needed to make it right.

‘She’s not as much fun as you, though. And I don’t want to put my hands in her pockets.’ He smiled.

‘I’m gonna head down and get cleaned up for dinner.’

When he got up, Hannah filled his spot. ‘How did that go?’

‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I mean, I want to keep Josh at arm’s length, but that makes him feel bad, and I don’t want him to feel bad, so I end up being flirty, but I don’t think I want this to go anywhere. And, I’m starting to agree with you – he is smitten.’

She nodded slowly.

‘So, there’s no way this could be a “casual sex” thing.’

‘And, you’ve said you won’t have sex on the boat.’

‘And there’s that.’ How could I be even more confused, particularly having talked it out with Hannah over lunch? Because I was pathetic, that’s how. And no matter what I told myself, I was falling for the cute American. Crap, crap, crap.

Before dinner, I changed into a little summery dress and sandals and pulled my hair up into a loose chignon. I even put on a little makeup – blush, lip gloss and mascara.

‘You look beautiful,’ Josh whispered as we walked towards the town with the others. Duncan and Gerry led the group, like they usually did, and Josh and I were in the middle of the pack.

‘Thanks,’ I replied with a smile. ‘A little something from the “clean enough” pile.’