Nothing in particular had happened, just their usual terseness with one another. Bonnie wonders if Darcy had suggested to Ty that he ask her about it. Or maybe with fewer girls on the date, he just had more of an opportunity to notice their interactions.

So many words hang from Bonnie’s tongue. Part of her wants to vomit out the vicious complexities going through her head. Oh, she can imagine what Imogen would say about her if given the chance.

‘We’re just very different people,’ Bonnie offers as an explanation, her eyes darting to the camera as though the equipment, along with Ben, would know she’s making a very large understatement.

‘O-kay.’ Ty’s mouth twists and Bonnie’s sure she sees a flicker of amusement.

‘Anyway, I’d prefer to not spend our time talking about Imogen, or any of the other girls for that matter.’ She tries to smile breezily but hears the irritation in her voice.

Ty looks to Darcy as though waiting for her permission.

‘Yep, move things along,’ Darcy calls out. ‘Let’s get things focused back on your time with Bonnie.’

Ty nods at this. He looks at Bonnie for a moment before speaking, as though giving the two of them just a moment to forget about everything else and concentrate on their connection instead. Bonnie’s heart flutters under his gaze and a calmness settles over her.

‘So, you don’t like being in the limelight, or cooking, or doing physical activity?’

Bonnie sounds far from the ideal partner but she can’t lie about who she is. ‘I don’t even like yoga,’ she admits. ‘I know it’s supposed to be relaxing, but …’ She shakes her head as she trails off, indicating it’s anything but relaxing.

‘I tried it once,’ Ty says. ‘I was awful. The instructor said she’d never had anyone as inflexible as me.’

Bonnie grins, imagining him in his sports gear attempting a downward-facing dog. ‘How did you get conned into doing that?’

Ty hesitates for a moment. ‘My …’ He begins, but stumbles on his own breath before steadying himself. ‘My ex. She used to do it a couple of times a week. She begged me for months to go with her. One day I finally did. Afterwards she told me I never had to come again.’

They haven’t talked about specific exes before, so Bonnie isn’t sure exactly how to tread. ‘Are you sure you weren’t purposely bad?’

He almost laughs at this. ‘You’re giving me too much credit. I wasn’t smart enough for that.’

There’s silence for a moment. Bonnie doesn’t think it’s necessarily awkward silence, but the atmosphere has shifted. She sees movement out of the corner of her eye, causing her to take a sideways glance. Darcy is moving closer to the monitor, whispering something to Ben behind the camera.