‘Oh yeah, I thought you said something about this being easy?’

‘It is,’ his warm voice has a hint of laughter in it now; he’s obviously forgiven me for my blunder about payment. ‘Dating is easy, look at all the dorks that do it! You just need confidence,’ he pauses, ‘great looks, sense of humour, smart clothes, toned body, stamina, witty repartee, the ability to look interested in the dumbest people, the—’

‘Oh God, I told y—’

‘Haha, gotcha! I’m kidding, Rosie! But you do need to tone down the whole direct, honest to the point of blunt thing … you just need to …’ he pauses as though he’s wary of saying it, ‘lighten up a bit?’

‘Lighten up! You do know telling somebody to lighten up has the opposite effect? It’s like ordering somebody to enjoy themselves!’

‘Okay, it came out wrong, but you need to sneak in under the radar, soothe, caress …’

‘I think I need a lie down.’

‘Really?’ There’s a hopeful edge to his voice.

‘On my own! This is exhausting! Are you sure about doing this?’

‘Totally. Stop asking.’ The way he says it, it’s almost like he’s here, putting his arm around my shoulders and giving me a reassuring squeeze. Spooky. ‘Are you going to bugger off and leave me to lesson plan in peace now then? I’ll see you and your chaperone, Hugo, on Saturday.’

‘Certainly.’

‘Oh, and Rosie.’

My end-call finger freezes mid-air. ‘What?’ I whisper, afraid he’s going to back out or worse, set some rules I can’t work with.

‘You’ve picked Hugo, so I get to pick what we do for lesson 2. Okay?’

‘Okay.’ I can hear the tremor of anticipation in my voice and sincerely hope he hasn’t. I end the call and can’t help but smile. This could be fun!

Chapter 6

My phone is buzzing again immediately, and my heart does a little flip. He’s forgotten to say something, or he’s changed his mind.

Sound breezy, like I don’t care either way!

‘Hi!’

‘Did you do it?’ It’s not him. Something inside me takes an illogical dive. Why on earth should I be disappointed that it isn’t Noah?

I clear my throat and try and smile. A smile shows in your voice apparently. ‘You are so nosy, Bea!’

‘Oh God, you’re upset. He said no!’

‘I’m not upset, this is my smiley voice! And why should he say no? What makes you think …’

‘You sound funny, sad. Oh my God, you sound funny because you did it, you did!’ I think she might be doing the Disney princess thing now. I’m sure she just clapped her hands. ‘You did it and he said yes!’

‘Might have.’ Bea knows me far too well.

She laughs. ‘This is epic, Rosie! Wow! I am well jel. He is such a catch.’

‘One, I don’t want a catch; he’s teaching me not dating me, and two, you can’t know he’s a catch because we only found one photo of him online!’