‘Fine.’ It’s not fine though. He’s right, I shouldn’t be judging him. I just wish he wasn’t like he was. ‘So, what are your reasons?’

‘What?’

‘For being like you are! All this,’ I wave a hand, ‘not, not …’ his words come back to me, from when he was selling his services at being brilliant at chatting people up, at first dates, ‘not being so hot at second dates, or third dates!’

‘It’s the way I rumble.’ He shrugs. ‘Not everybody believes in happy-ever-afters, Rosie.’

I raise an eyebrow.

‘I’ve just, just,’ he hesitates as though he doesn’t know whether or not to say anything more, ‘I realised it wasn’t for me a long time ago, Rosie. Love is fine until it goes wrong, until you lose it, isn’t it? So sometimes it’s just better not to …’ He stops talking.

‘Get involved?’

‘Yep.’

‘Hmm. Fine.’ He’s got a closed look on his face. There’s an awkward silence. It’s not nice. We’ve never had awkward silences. ‘Why did you want to see me?’ I say grumpily. I’m unreasonably cross with him which is silly. It’s none of my business. ‘Not just about nails?’

‘Thought having a bit of fun wouldn’t do you any harm.’ He says the last bit under his breath, but it seems to resound round the café.

‘I heard that, I know how to have fun!’

‘Sure.’

‘I do.’

‘You just need to loosen up a bit.’

‘If I loosen up any more I’ll be on my back!’

‘Exactly!’ He grins cheekily and I can’t help myself, I smile back.

‘You’re so annoying at times. I was trying to stay grumpy with you!’

‘I know, on both counts. Like to keep you on your toes.’

It’s almost a cosy moment, but the waitress chooses this moment to gate-crash, which is probably a good thing.

‘Which pizza do you recommend?’

‘Depends how odd you are.’ She is the first woman I’ve met who seems immune to Noah’s charms. She is staring at the table, not at him.

‘This one? Bit of everything?’ He’s not giving up.

‘Oh my God, you must be kidding me? I am so not a fan of cross-cultural contamination on a pizza, putting Mexican chilli right next to American hotdog is like gross.’

‘But Mexico is next to the States,’ he says reasonably.

Our waitress rolls her eyes. ‘But there are borders, yeah?’

‘Have you never heard of fusion?’

‘Fusion? I’m not some kind of nuclear scientist! Look dude, I just want …’

‘Fusion food. Forget it. What do you fancy?’ He looks at me and I don’t know if I dare say.

‘Well, I, well you’re not exactly selling …’

‘Selling?’ She looks from me to Noah and back again, then shakes her head. ‘I’m not some kind of waitress man, I just wanted to borrow the salt.’ She points. ‘If that’s okay?’

Noah nods, and looks uncomfortable, and apologises. A lot. It’s quite cute actually. I smother my giggles in a napkin as she walks off shaking her head.