‘Shh.’ He puts a finger on my lips. ‘It’s fine. I got it. And I got that the last thing you wanted to do was date somebody who reminded you of him.’

‘But I know you aren’t—’

He grins. A disarming, cheeky grin that means the words die on my lips. ‘Come on, Bea will be wondering where you are! I’ll book a table somewhere for our date, if you’re sure about it? Tomorrow?’

‘Of course, I’m sure! But, Noah?’

‘Yep?’

‘No fancy table, I’m not sure that’s me. Can we just meet at that bar? The one where we first met. Erase it, start again?’

‘Well we can,’ he looks doubtful, ‘but it’s a bit flash, obvious.’

‘Meet there, have a drink, then move on?’

‘It’s a deal.’

‘And Noah?’

‘Yes?’

‘What’s wrong with tonight?’

‘My God, you’re a pushy woman! What am I getting myself in to?’

I smile, all sweet and innocent.

He grins. All naughty. ‘But just this once, do you mind if we do it my way? I need to sort something?’

Chapter 28

Luckily when I got back to work after lunch yesterday, Bea was busy with a huge delivery of books, plus text-swapping with Jed so I could creep in unnoticed and wander round in a daze without her passing comment. She was also leaving work early for a dentist appointment, so I could try and get my head round the whole idea of a date with Noah in relative peace – apart from the odd annoying customer asking questions like ‘do you know that book with an orange cover, and maybe a black bit, that’s got a character whose name begins with an “s” or “d”, who does something to the parrot halfway through? The funny one? It’s great, I want to buy it for my sister’.

I hate these guessing games because they nearly always end up with them totally changing half the story and saying the parrot was in another book, and the name actually could have been Quentin, or saying, ‘never mind I’ll have that thriller instead’ and leaving me trying to work out what they were talking about for the rest of the day.

But it didn’t wipe the smile off my face. I just wandered around serenely and did my best to help.

I knew it wouldn’t last though. It is Friday afternoon and Bea has been stalking me all morning.

‘What’s this?’

‘It’s a book recommendation, Bea. You told me to write some!’

‘But it’s nice! I can actually leave it on display!’

I shrug. ‘It’s a great book, even better than the hype.’

‘What’s happened? Something has happened, hasn’t it?’

‘It’s past closing up time.’ I point out, so we do the rest of the stuff we need to do and head for the door. She grabs hold of my handbag strap as I step outside.

‘Hang on, you’re not going anywhere! You’re up to something. You’ve been weird.’

‘I’ve got a date,’ I say as casually as I can, because I know Bea. She won’t give up. Just saying it makes my heart pound a tiny bit harder. I swallow hard, it’s nothing, it’s just a date!