‘No. It means I’ll drink wine instead.’ She felt warmed at the smile that split his face, remembering Bella’s words that maybe it was time she let herself live. ‘Tonight would be great.’

‘Oh! Good!’

‘You sound surprised.’

‘I am.’ He nodded. ‘But glad! You don’t really socialise with us, so I guess I thought you might prefer not to.’ He met her gaze.

‘I think . . .’ She paused, wondering how best to explain the state of isolation in which she had chosen to live. ‘I think I did prefer not to socialise, but now I might prefer not to do that. Does that make sense?’ Plus, my friend said I needed a kick up the arse and you might just be that very thing . . . This she kept to herself.

‘No. I literally have no clue what you’re talking about. So, just to confirm, we are going for a drink tonight after work?’

‘We are,’ she confirmed, and liked the way his face lit up.

At the end of her shift and having arranged to meet Miguel at the front gate, Merrin took her time getting ready, and it was nothing to do with slipping into her jeans and a shirt, cleaning her teeth and spritzing her perfume. Her preparation was more mental. She sat on the edge of her bed and took deep breaths.

‘You can do this!’ She glimpsed her reflection and tried not to see herself standing in front of the full-length mirror at home in a voluminous gown. With her heart racing and her palms a little sweaty, she trod the wide gravel path to the front gate, where she found Miguel kneeling on the grass, holding a sandwich crust in his outstretched arm.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Oh.’ He jumped up and dropped the bread, dusting his hands on his jeans. ‘I’m trying to lure the little wild rabbits from behind this bush with a bit of leftover afternoon tea.’

‘Why?’ She giggled, erasing the image of Digby proposing on the grass that had leapt into her mind. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, not tonight.

‘I just want to be friendly. Plus, I always wanted a rabbit, but I grew up in a flat on a main road and so it wasn’t ideal. I thought I could rectify the fact by befriending the rabbits that run around here.’

‘That’s not going to happen. We have wild rabbits around the cottage at home and they’re cute, but pests.’ She laughed again. ‘And trust me, it’s a compliment I find you funny. I don’t laugh half as much as I used to.’