‘You’re the boss,’ replied Penny, shuffling to close the door behind him. It put them in very close proximity to each other, and so when he made a hooting noise behind her it was practically in her ear.

‘Ha!’ he bellowed and she turned to see what he was reacting so strongly to. ‘If you’re offering to be second-in-command, I’ll take it. Something tells me the arrangement won’t last long, though.’

‘You don’t think I can be a deputy?’ Penny said, aware of the musky, manly aroma of him. He was shorter than she remembered – not much taller than she was, and his shoulders were broad in a way that made him seem strong and self-possessed. Francesco pulled a face. ‘As long as you don’t ever call me bossy,’ she pressed. ‘Nobody uses that word for men. I prefer instructive. I can be an instructive second-in-command.’

‘Oooooh,’ nodded Francesco, rubbing at his stubble. ‘Great word.’ He looked her up and down. ‘You look pretty, by the way.’

Penny was dressed in an oversized shirt and jeans, her feet bare. She’d done her make-up lightly and tried not to fuss too much with her hair – it was a Sunday morning, after all. It struck her that it was a funny time for a first date. Sunday mornings were for lovers, not strangers cooped up in narrow corridors.

‘And you look very handsome,’ she said, trying to remember to smile, despite her nerves. They were stood so close, and he smelled so good. She almost wanted to kiss him, just to see how it felt. But kissing can’t be rushed – that’s another thing her mother used to tell her. ‘The best kisses happen long after you want them to,’ she’d said to Penny and Clementine when they were little. ‘So don’t go giving them away willy-nilly. Except to me. You can always give mummy a kiss.’ Penny wished she’d kissed her mother more.

‘Shall we go upstairs?’ he said to her. ‘This bag is pretty heavy.’

Penny snapped out of herself. ‘Follow me,’ she commanded.

‘So. Fun fact,’ said Francesco as they went up to the flat. ‘I actually don’t know what “Avon calling” means. I just saw it in a movie once.’

Penny laughed.

‘An American movie? Is that what you watched growing up?’

‘Yeah, I’m an army brat. American TV was what we all had in common – German, Greek, us Italians, even the English kids. No matter where the base was, the one constant was watching Nickelodeon together. I can barely speak Italian properly.’

‘Ahhh, that explains the accent then,’ Penny said.