My problems are pretty niche.

‘Time to go, lazy dog.’

At least Dan asked Bear along. Online, dogs are recommended as an excellent dating ‘accessory’: funny, distracting and great at sussing out human beings. I already know Bear approves. We’re meeting by the bridge, which I’m glad about. The flat was Andrew’s space, our home, and it’s all wrong to have another man come there.

As I step outside, the sultry evening wraps itself around me and the grass crackles with dryness, but the air is heavy with the hint of a storm.

I see him from a distance and everything else blurs: all I can focus on is his long, slim body, the angle of his neck, the taut muscles of his calves, revealed by the shorts he’s wearing.

I don’t move while I’m taking it all in. Why isn’t everyone around me hypnotized by this man too?

‘Gemma,’ he says, when we’re close enough to hear a whisper.

Close enough to kiss.

‘Dan.’

Bear’s yelps of joy break the spell. ‘Yes, hello, Bear, we know you’re here too,’ Dan says, squatting down to scratch between his ears and rub Bear’s belly, seeming to understand what makes my dog quiver with pleasure.

Would he know how to do the same to me? The thought makes me unsteady on my feet.

‘I thought we could go for a walk in Leigh Woods? I’ve brought some bits to eat and drink.’ He points at the messenger bag at his feet.

‘Fabulous!’ I say.

‘Don’t get too excited. We’re not talking about a posh picnic.’

‘I’m not a posh picnic kind of person.’

He raises an eyebrow, as though he doesn’t believe me. ‘After you.’ He lets me go onto the bridge first. I’m wearing shorts, too, though now I wish I’d chosen a dress because I’m nowhere near as slim as Casey’s mum. He must be able to see how my flesh dimples and wobbles as I move.

But when the pavement widens again, he’s next to me and that smile he gives me . . . I don’t think he’s found me wanting at all.

Oh, I’d forgotten how it feels to be desired.

‘Does Casey know we’re out tonight?’ His answer to that question might give me a sense of what he thinks is happening between us.

Dan shakes his head. ‘Things are difficult right now with her mum. So I didn’t want to make them even more complicated. I wasn’t even sure I should meet you at all, but . . .’ He shakes his head again. ‘I wanted to.’

I think of his WhatsApp message and how I couldn’t resist that. ‘It might simply be to see what happens next?’

Dan nods and then smiles, and it’s as if the earth has tilted so that the sun shines directly onto him and me.

We keep walking, towards Ashton Court, and a big, sensible part of me is thinking: this is insane, being here with him, when everything could be about to change for me.