Penny smiled. All morning she’d let herself sink into doubt as to whether Francesco actually would text her like he’d promised. Dating felt so full of booby traps that way. She hadn’t texted the first time around because she’d been scared of being optimistic only for it to all come crashing down, then when she’d seen him again she’d tried to say as much because it felt like he was still interested. But was he? She kept pulling up their texts from the night before to try and calm herself down, but the thing about texts is that the tone of them depends on who is reading.

When Sharon messaged to see if they’d arranged a date yet, Penny had snapped at her by saying: Don’t tell me you don’t remember that dating is psychological warfare! NO. HE. HASN’T. MAYBE HE NEVER WILL.

Sharon replied: Well, it is only 8 a.m. He could still be sleeping.

Penny texted back: I hate this!!!

Up until the time her phone had pinged at two minutes to eleven, in the middle of brunch service, Penny had decided to write him off and, what’s more, it would serve her right for being so optimistic in the first place. It wasn’t even twelve hours between seeing him and his text. Traversing all of that wretched emotional landscape in less than half a day – no wonder dating knackered her.

He texted! she sent to Sharon, in between plating up an order of mushroom cornbread and accepting a delayed – and incorrect – order from the veg supplier.

Well thank god for that, Sharon replied. I’ll get the dogs to stand down

In her text thread with Francesco Penny typed out, Blocked out in permanent marker it is, then.

They talked back and forth for four days. Francesco’s texts weren’t heavy or over the top – just chatty. Penny was old enough to be wary of ending up with a pen-pal who couldn’t possibly live up to the reality of himself, and was also cautious about being too clever or pithy with her responses to him. It was a fine balance. She wanted to be flirtatious and have fun, but if she spent too long thinking up what to reply to him she probably wouldn’t live up to the image she was creating of herself by the time they actually met again. She tried to respond in the moment, not think about it too much, and not let her mind wander to where it could all go. That was the kiss of death with the texting thing – real life and texting life could often veer off in opposite directions and cause heartbreak.