Salvi starts to talk and talk. He talks about the Old Bailey and Covent Garden and juggling skills and cases. He talks about films and TV and people in the news. I answer his questions. I try and fail to be witty. He is radium; a magnet. I am dull metal; tarnished. I am neither too drunk nor drunk enough. The jury is still out. But I know he won’t want to see me again.

‘Shall we go?’ he says suddenly, finishing what I didn’t know would be his final pint.

‘OK.’ What does this mean? We? I was expecting a polite rebuttal at the end of the night, a quick, ‘Well, this was nice,’ and I’d never see him again … He’s already standing up. He has fished keys out of his back pocket and holds them in his left hand.

I stand up, too. I reach for my bag from under the stool. I am wobbly on my wedges and my heart is not sure whether to thud or deflate.

‘See ya, mate.’ Salvi says this to at least four people as we make our way out. He kisses the beautiful girl at the desk on both cheeks. I stare at his bum, his biceps, the back of his neck. This will be the last I see of him, surely?

Outside in the dark, the air still humid, he looks up the street as though for a taxi. There are no taxis; the street is empty. A lone cyclist comes by, ringing his bell, although we are not in his way. Salvi is still looking up the street at nothing.

‘Come here,’ he says, turning to me suddenly and – how astonishing! – he draws me towards him, tucks his arms around me and leans down and kisses me. His lips are warm and surprising, and he tastes wonderful, and I close my eyes and surrender to this very unexpected moment, because that’s what I am absolutely doing – surrendering. I’m not an experienced kisser. I don’t really know what I’m doing. But it’s a tender kiss. Exploring. Naughty. I surprise myself by wondering what it would be like to go to bed with him, and I’m wondering if he is wondering the same.

‘I’ve got to go,’ he says, pulling away from me.

What? ‘Come here’ and ‘I’ve got to go’ are bookends to this kiss? ‘Oh?’ I stammer. I am breathless, in the moment; a moment I hoped would be longer, or maybe even a lifetime.