He pointed his screen at me. “Yep. Tomorrow night, six o’clock. Their place.” His grin was wide and smug. He’d been seeing a married couple for some extramarital fun. “You?”

“Eleven o’clock.”

“Oooh, an all-day date.”

“I hope so.”

Angus grinned. “I hope so too, man. I know you like him.”

“You be careful tomorrow, and if you need anything, you text me.”

“I’m cool, they’re cool. You know that.”

“Yeah, but you know. I just worry.”

He snorted and waggled his eyebrows. “I’ll be in very, very capable hands.” I threw a cushion at him and he snatched it and shoved it under his head. “Same goes to you. If he tries anything or treats you bad, you text me.”

I knew he would come to my rescue if I needed him, even if he was in the middle, the very literal middle, of one of his dates. Just as I would drop everything to help him, it’s what friends do.

“I don’t think I need to worry about my bus guy,” I said.

Angus craned his neck to give me a long look. “You really like this one, don’t you?”

I nodded. “He’s different to anyone I’ve ever met. But he’s kind of like me, and he… I don’t know. He’s just a nice guy and he knows books and—”

“I know, I know,” Angus said. “He doesn’t expect anything. Just promise me one thing.”

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow, find out if he’s on the same page as you.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I want to know because it’ll be a step forward, but I also don’t want to know because what if he’s not on the same page?”

“If he’s not, Jay, then you and me can watch that Colin Firth movie on repeat tomorrow and order in pizza and beer.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks.”

He gave me his serious face. “But if he is on the same page and he expects to be calling himself your boyfriend anytime soon, then I need to meet him, ’kay?”

“Yes, Dad.”

Angus laughed. “I usually only let a certain couple call me that.”

I snorted. “Jesus, please don’t elaborate. There are things I do not need to know.”

But ten to eleven the next day, I stepped off the bus at my work stop, and when the bus drove off, I scanned the park across the road to see if Hennessy was here already. But I was early, so I wasn’t surprised not to find him.