‘You’re only in this for your taste buds?’ Penny said, eyebrows raised.

‘Penny, I find you incredibly interesting and largely elusive. I’m in it for you. I’ve been trying to pin you down for months.’

Penny’s jaw fell slack in disbelief at what she’d just heard.

‘Really?’ she said, incredulous. And then before she could probe him any more she was distracted by a car pulling into the car park whose driver looked very familiar.

‘What the hell!’ said Francesco, walking towards Penny and Priyesh. ‘Look at this place!’

‘Francesco!’ said Penny. ‘You’re here!’

‘I’m here!’ said Francesco, grinning. ‘Are you happy to see me?’

Penny went in for a hug, not knowing what else to do. ‘Of course I am!’ she said. ‘Francesco! My old friend! My buddy! My chum-diddly-chum-chum!’ She may as well set the boundary early on, she figured.

The pair pulled apart and it seemed to be only then that Francesco noticed Penny had been stood with another guy.

‘Sorry, man,’ he said to Priyesh. ‘Hi. I’m Francesco, an old friend of Penny’s.’ It wasn’t lost on her that he’d used ‘friend’ to describe himself. That was good. He knew where he stood, then.

‘Priyesh,’ said Priyesh. ‘The wine supplier for The Red Panda. And I was just in the middle of asking your friend out to dinner …’

‘Oh,’ said Francesco, taken aback. Penny grimaced guiltily.

‘I’ll leave you two to catch up,’ Priyesh said. ‘Francesco, what a lovely surprise for a friend. Penny?’

‘Huh?’ said Penny, discombobulated by Francesco’s arrival and somewhat turned on by Priyesh’s charm, and class, and apparent unflappability. Had he really said he’s been trying to ask her out for months?

‘Perhaps you’ll call me. You have my number.’

‘Oh, she doesn’t call people,’ Francesco said. ‘It took me a long time to persuade her to get on the phone. She’s a texter.’

‘Very well,’ Priyesh said. ‘Either way, Penny, I have a favour to return.’ He winked after he said that, and Penny knew exactly what he meant and it made red blotches flare up her cheeks. Such a polite man, suggesting such dirty things!

‘Thank you again for the flowers,’ she said. ‘I’ll call,’ she promised.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Priyesh said to Francesco, heading down the steps and towards his car. Francesco looked from Penny to the back of Priyesh’s head.

‘Is that the guy you’ve been seeing?’ he asked. ‘Why are you only going to dinner with him now?’

‘None of your business!’ Penny replied. ‘But also, no. It’s not. Priyesh is a … different man to the one I told you about. Back off.’

Francesco held his hands up in surrender. ‘Backing off, your honour,’ he said. ‘Boundaries firmly established.’

‘Sorry,’ Penny said. ‘I didn’t mean to snap. I’m flustered you caught me flirting. That was mean of me.’