Ugh. That dreaded question. She wonders if she should warn Ty about Carla and how draining her sister can be. How Carla will not only drill him about his intentions but also try to extract his past demons too. Carla would demand to know if Bonnie is the one, when clearly that’s something Ty wouldn’t be able to tell her. Bonnie chooses to sidestep the question. ‘I’d love to show you around my hometown. Port Macquarie is a beautiful place and it’d mean a lot to be able to share it with you.’ Suddenly images come tumbling into her head of Ollie and all the places back home that she’s been with him. She bites down on her lip, pleading with her mind to let such thoughts slip away. She can’t be here and thinking about Ollie anymore. He has a life with Sophie and she needs to see this thing through.

‘Where would we go?’

Bonnie can’t help but look up at Darcy, who helped her outline her ‘ideal’ hometown date weeks ago. The field producers had to plan the dates well in advance even though only four will go ahead. ‘I’d love to show you my photography studio,’ she tells him. ‘It was a large empty space when I first bought it, pretty run-down and not much to look at, but I’ve been in there almost eight years now and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done.’

‘I’d love to see your studio.’

Bonnie wants to know if that means he’ll give her a key or whether he’s said something similar to all the girls tonight.

‘I must say, I’ve been worried about how you’re feeling,’ he admits. ‘You kind of rushed off last time we spoke. It made me think that you were doubting things here.’ He gestures between the two of them.

The anxiety she’d been feeling earlier comes rushing back. Bonnie glances at Darcy, painfully aware that she knows Bonnie tried to contact Ollie after that. ‘I freaked out.’ There’s no point lying to him. ‘I kind of assumed the whole baby thing would be a deal-breaker for you.’

He stares at her blankly for a moment.

She’s waiting, hoping he’ll say that of course it isn’t a deal-breaker, but his expression looks so unsure that maybe he’s still trying to figure that out himself.

‘Sorry, can you excuse me?’ Ty’s whole face has become ghostly white.

‘Sure,’ Bonnie says, looking between him and Darcy.

‘Is everything okay, Ty?’ Darcy asks, looking as perplexed as Bonnie feels.

He stands, walking straight past Darcy as he heads towards the house. ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘What if that was it?’ Ty says. ‘Maybe she broke up with me because she found out she can’t have kids.’