‘But I don’t get it.’ I look at him, puzzled, over the top of the large dog.

Noah looks back at me shiftily, then strokes the dog’s ears for a moment, avoiding my gaze. Then he looks back up.

‘Rosie, I might have done something a bit crazy.’

‘Even crazier than asking me out?’

‘Even crazier than that.’ He grins. ‘And I wanted to know what you thought before I, er, committed.’

‘This sounds dangerous.’

‘Well the doghouse wasn’t exactly a huge success.’

‘And you call yourself an architect!’

‘Hugo likes company, he doesn’t like being home alone, and so I er, well I might have …’ Hugo thumps his tail even harder. ‘I might have told Ophelia that there was a chance I could take him, if you thought it was a good idea.’

I laugh. I can’t help it. ‘You want to know if I think it’s a good idea? Me?’

‘Yes, because, well I thought you might be here a bit … with me. And, am I rushing? Is this wrong? Yes, I’m mad, I know. Maybe I spend too long in my office, I just … I’m rushing, aren’t I? You can say I’m bonkers.’

‘You are bonkers,’ I point out in a quavering voice; I’m feeling all funny inside. Noah means this; Noah is asking my opinion about something, as though he intends there to be a second date, maybe a third date.

‘I don’t expect you to be here much, well not more than you want, and I know Hugo’s a bit of a handful, but we kind of clicked.’ They did. I grin as I think back to that disastrous dog walk. Hugo fell in love, and I think I did as well. Just a bit. ‘And it’s not a huge commitment, because well, Great Danes aren’t around forever but I was thinking he needed a good life now, as soon as he could, and if I put it off too many years Hugo might be,’ he puts his hands over his ears and whispers, ‘dead.’

‘I think he’ll be fine for a good few years yet.’ I chuckle. I’ve never seen him this flustered.

He wipes his brow. ‘Bloody hell, for a guy who doesn’t want to get involved I think I’ve overdone it. A proper date and a dog.’ I glow. He just called me a proper date. ‘I might need a lie down. But you’re both, well, irresistible?’ He runs out of steam. ‘Am I right?’

I chuckle. ‘You’re comparing me to a bloody dog again! You’ve really got to stop doing that.’ I stroke Hugo’s ears. ‘How can I say no? It’s a great idea. He’s infatuated with you!’ Hugo feels at home with Noah. Like I do. ‘You’ve not said “am I right” for ages, you know!’

‘I say it when I’m nervous!’

‘I make you nervous?’

‘Damned right you did, you do, you are. You scared the hell out of me then and I was right to be afraid!’