When they finally pulled apart he said to her, ‘Penny, would you like to come home with me?’

* * *

‘Francesco, there’s a Caroline in the bar for you,’ said Charlie from the doorway of the kitchen.

Francesco looked up from the pastry section where he was lining a dish with shortcrust.

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Damn. This needs to go in. Um …’ He glanced across to Penny. ‘Do you mind if she comes in?’ he said. ‘Sorry. I can’t leave this.’

‘No, no, not at all,’ she answered, thinking: Caroline? Who the hell is Caroline?

‘Would you show her in?’ requested Francesco. ‘Thanks Charlie.’

A second later a goddess of a woman stood amongst them.

‘Hey,’ she said, lingering by the sinks. She waved at everyone and smiled.

Francesco looked up at her. ‘Hey,’ he said, motioning that she should come down to where he was working. ‘How’s it going?’

‘Good,’ said the goddess. ‘Hey,’ she said to Penny.

‘Hey,’ said Penny, in a high-pitched voice. Who was this woman?

‘I just wanted to drop this by,’ she said. ‘You left it in my car this morning.’

Francesco’s eyes flickered to the leather jacket and scarf in her hand. His leather jacket and scarf, Penny noted. ‘That’s very kind of you,’ he said. ‘Thank you.’ He was covered in flour and he walked towards her with his hands held up in front of him. ‘Can you ask Charlie to hang them up for me behind the bar?’ he said. He lowered his voice, but Penny could still hear him. ‘Thank you,’ he said.

Penny tried to focus on what she was doing – prepping a parsley and shallot sauce for the cod option for evening service – but from under her eyelashes she watched Francesco bend at the knees to give the other woman a kiss.

‘See you tomorrow?’ he whispered.

‘See you tomorrow,’ the goddess replied, her pearly white smile wide.

As she left Penny said nothing, and Francesco didn’t either. He went back to moulding his edges and, in lieu of conversation, started to whistle.

‘Bit young, isn’t she?’ Penny said, eventually, right as he launched into the chorus of an Ed Sheeran song.

‘Young?’ said Francesco.

‘I mean, no judgement or anything,’ Penny said.

‘I don’t think she’s too young,’ said Francesco, resuming his whistling again. ‘She’s twenty-four.’

‘Uh-huh,’ said Penny, a weird feeling forming in her stomach.

Priyesh was outwardly a gentle man, with a purposefulness to him that meant everything he did was deliberate and considered.

‘I like to take my time,’ he said, as he traced his fingers over Penny’s arm from where they lay in his bed. ‘And truly appreciate the task at hand.’