‘You don’t get to tell me you’re scared, Penny, okay? You beat bloody cancer. You can tell a man you love him back. Because you do, don’t you? I can tell. I think you’ve been in love with him this whole time.’ Her voice softened as she said the last bit, knowing not to push too hard.

Penny sighed dramatically. ‘You give tough advice, do you know that?’ she said.

‘You and Francesco could be really happy together. You just have to give yourself permission to trust it.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Penny. ‘That sounds terrifying.’

19

Havingley had, for inexplicable reasons dating back hundreds of years, always celebrated Valentine’s Day as a village event. The locals always looked forward to the street party and The Red Panda had, over time, become the unofficial hub of the events, which included fundraising stalls lining the road in front – which was pedestrianized for the occasion – an open-air performance from the am-dram society, and a variety of acts from bands old and new.

It started out as a bright, if brisk, day. The air was cold but the sky was blue, and after the lull of post-Christmas and New Year drudgery it was nice, before spring came, to have a big event that broke up the wait for lighter days and warmer weather.

‘I always come back for it,’ Thomas had told Penny over the phone from Germany. ‘I’ll be there,’ he said. ‘I’ve been going since I was a little boy.’ Penny had called him to talk about Francesco, but she’d dilly-dallied over her words and he’d had to go before she’d explained.

I’ll do it when he’s home, she told herself.

Priyesh, unsurprisingly, had never attended the Valentine’s Day celebrations, but after Charlie had told him about it when he stopped by with some samples of a white wine he was drumming up springtime interest for, pledged to be there. Penny had wanted to tell him about Francesco, too. She knew the honourable thing to do would be to end her other relationships before anything further happened with Francesco, but he’d come right in the middle of dinner service when Penny had twelve guests in the private dining room and everyone had ordered a different starter.

I’ll do it before the party, she told herself.

Francesco had heard at The Boot that it was quite the affair, and he was excited as well. He’d spent the past two days making Italian sweets and pastries for one of the stalls whilst looking too long in Penny’s direction and smiling at her like they had some beautiful secret. They hadn’t slept together – they hadn’t even kissed since the morning they’d talked.