He was fifty-two, she remembered, like Lucas. But so not like Lucas. Another species.

‘It’s all nonsense,’ he went on, ‘but that’s what it’s feeling like, right? Between us? Now? You and me, Esther? The stars aligned?’

‘It’s certainly feeling…’

‘Blimey, you must get tired of hearing it, but you are bloody gorgeous. Your hair. Those blue eyes. Seriously, Esther. Seriously.’ He reached for his pint, keeping his eyes fixed on her over the rim as he swigged.

‘Oh… thanks… I… my mother is half Swedish…’ Esther faltered, both because compliments were impossible to respond to without sounding like an idiot, and because she was starting to get the unsettling sensation of having boarded a runaway train.

‘I’m not mad about wine, to be honest. I much prefer this stuff they make from hops.’ He tapped his glass. ‘Are you okay with that? You won’t tell me off?’

‘Tell you off? For liking beer? Why would I ever do that? In fact…’ Esther was going to mention some of the wine-snobs she had met round Cambridge dining tables, but Chris appeared to have hit a groove.

‘Because being told off… Jesus, have I had enough of that, I can tell you.’ The gleam of charm in his eyes darkened for a moment. ‘But what I want to hear,’ he urged, making a visible effort to compose himself, ‘is more about you. The stuff you write that you mentioned on the phone, for those business magazines, for instance; how you keep the wolf from the door. Tell me more. I want to know everything about you.’ He grinned mischievously.

He proceeded to listen, with a touching show of intense interest, while Esther tried to inject as much sparkle as she could into the music degree that had somehow led, via menial editorial jobs, to a patchy career as a writer of business copy and provider of private piano lessons.

‘Lucky students, having such a hot teacher, is all I can say.’

Esther laughed uncertainly. ‘Thanks… but to be honest, Chris, which I think is important…’

He glanced up quickly, a forkful of food poised in front of his mouth. ‘Oh, blimey, yes. Bang on, Esther. Honesty. Every time. In everything.’

‘Good, because…’ Esther paused, shooing Lucas from her mind ‘…because actually, my students are far too young to think along such lines. Only two of them are boys anyway, Billy and Craig, nine and thirteen respectively…’

‘Hah, well, Billy and Craig will have you in their fantasies, that’s for sure.’ He took a hearty swig of beer that left two dots of froth at the corners of his mouth. ‘Boys start very young. Trust me, Esther. I speak from experience.’ He swiped the froth away, his eyes holding hers again in their intense way. ‘Mind you, with that teenage son of yours, you presumably know a bit about—’