Rupert slides the light jacket from Emily’s shoulders and holds it out for the restaurant owner to take, even though the place is crowded, and Rupert can’t see any vacant tables.

‘Oh… of course, I apologize for my…’ Gino breaks off, turning to survey the room. ‘This way, please.’

Rupert and Emily follow him through the crowded restaurant to a table tucked away in the corner that Rupert hasn’t seen. It’s perfect – completely private, the best place for a romantic meal for two – Gino obviously wants to make things up to them. Gino scurries away to get menus as Emily and Rupert take their seats.

‘Em, I’m so sorry. I haven’t been here for… God, months and months. Way before Caro died. I just didn’t think.’ Rupert is being deadly honest – he really hadn’t thought about it, he’d just fancied a meal out at one of his favourite restaurants. It hadn’t even crossed his mind that the restaurant owner wouldn’t have known that Caro had passed away.

‘It’s fine.’ Emily gives a tight smile and fusses with her napkin, seemingly fully absorbed in making sure that it is spread over her lap perfectly.

‘No, it’s not. I should have thought about it. I’ll explain to the owner what happened to Caro… I feel awful, especially after what happened at yoga today with the instructor.’ Rupert wants to make it up to her, but if he’s honest he doesn’t really know how to even start. Nothing like this ever happened between him and Caro, obviously.

‘Really, Rupert, I’d rather you left it.’ Emily takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly and forcing her mouth into a smile. ‘Let’s just have a nice dinner, like we planned. Ahh, here we go, menus.’ She turns the full-watt smile onto Gino who hands over the menus and discreetly backs away.

Rupert eyes her carefully as she reads the menu, her face serious. Is that really all she’s going to say about his giant fuck-up? If it had been Caro then he would have been in serious shit, and they probably would have rowed for days. Emily must feel his eyes on her, as she looks up and smiles. ‘Are you ready to order?’

‘Yes.’ Rupert smiles back. She really does seem to be OK about things. He waves Gino over. ‘We’ll both have the veal, please, Gino. That’s OK with you, Em, isn’t it? It’s the best dish on the menu, I have it whenever I come here.’ Too late, he realizes he probably shouldn’t have said that last part.

‘Um, I quite fancy…’

‘It’s really, really good. We’ll have a bottle of Chianti to go with it, Gino.’ Rupert snaps the menu shut and hands it back, before turning to Emily. ‘Now, let’s concentrate on us. How was your first week as a lady of leisure?’