‘Fine.’ He shook her hand briskly and stomped off.

‘Bye, Elliott. Lovely to see you again,’ she called after him but she got no reply. She’d wear him down eventually; she always did.

***

The kiss had thrown Ros far more than she liked to admit. Although it made more sense when she realised her dad had walked into the kitchen behind her and if Cameron hadn’t stopped her talking she could well have given the game away. With hindsight she felt there may have been a number of other options available to Cameron rather than resorting to close personal contact. However, what she hadn’t banked on was her whole body reacting to his kiss. It hadn’t lasted long but wow, had it made a big impression. But then, she’d not kissed anyone for over a year so it was to be expected. Kissing was a very intimate thing and an area they had not fully thought through. There was only one way to solve it: get Cameron over for another workshop. They had to work around his shifts and university studies so they had agreed that Thursday evening was best for them both.

First, she had to get through the follow-up to the team awayday. Ros put on a smile and joined her team in one of the company breakout rooms where their yacht captain from the awayday was already waiting.

‘Welcome, Ros, nice to see you’ve fully dried out,’ he said.

‘Yes, thank you.’ Ros had heard most of the jokes since they’d returned to work.

Alastair strode in and broke into a grin as soon as he spotted Ros, which was not something she was used to. Rarely did he smile in her presence. ‘How’s the little mermaid today?’

‘Fine thanks. And you are hilarious as always, Alastair.’ Ros checked her watch. There was still two minutes until the meeting officially started.

The captain did some more unnecessary introductions before revealing a flip chart. She liked that he was prepared; it instantly settled Ros. She scanned the flip chart; it bore no resemblance to what she’d experienced. She raised her hand. ‘Yes, Ros.’

‘Sorry, is that the right list?’ she asked.

It made the captain have a quick look at the sheet. ‘Yep. Let’s quickly run through it. This is everything we covered on the awayday and what I’m sure you’ve all been applying in the office.’ There were a few shared guilty looks. Ros remained utterly confused. The captain read out the list. ‘Connecting on a personal level which we did on the day as part of the initial icebreaker. Uniting around a common purpose.’ Ros must have been frowning because the captain looked straight at her. ‘Which was when we came together to crew the yacht.’

‘Oh I see. Yes,’ said Ros.

‘Gaining new skills,’ he continued.

‘Like walking on water,’ said Alistair. This time everyone laughed.

Ros acknowledged the joke with a smile and a nod. She could see it was funny from their perspective.

‘Improved communication,’ said the captain. ‘Coming together as a cohesive team and celebrating success.’

Sonia was scribbling feverishly in her notebook.

‘Sorry,’ said Ros, holding up a finger. ‘Did I miss the last three things?’

‘Err.’ The captain seemed unsure as to whether Ros was being serious or not. ‘I only think you missed a little of the celebrations because you were getting dry.’

‘Oh.’ Ros didn’t feel she could press him further; there was clearly something she was missing because she didn’t feel they had achieved very much at all – not on the awayday or since.

‘This is our opportunity to give some feedback to each other about what we think individuals do well, where we feel they have improved and where we’ve identified opportunities for growth in the future. Who wants to go first?’

Ros had to fight hard not to let her disdain show. Sadly the company was probably paying a lot of money for this sort of rubbish.

‘I’ll go first,’ said Alistair. ‘Mike, I thought your knot work was excellent. Sonia, you got better once I’d explained which rope did what. And, Ros, maybe learn to swim.’

‘I didn’t mean on the awayday so that’s not exactly—’ began the captain but Ros was already responding.

‘Fine,’ said Ros. ‘Sonia, you were positive even when facing a day of mansplaining. Mike, things got much better once you’d stopped posing like a Bond girl. And, Alastair, why don’t you try not being a complete arse for once?’ She turned to the captain. ‘How did I do?’ But as the man had his head in his hands she felt that communicated his answer quite well.

Even Ros wasn’t in the mood for another flip chart session but needs must. The first outing for Cameron and Ros as a pretend couple had not been great. She wouldn’t go as far as to say it’d been a complete disaster but, in the captain’s words, there was room for growth. She opened the door on Thursday evening to a yawning Cameron.

‘I won’t keep you late,’ she said.

‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just last night they had games night at my digs.’

‘Ooh what sort of games?’

‘Drinking ones mainly,’ said Cameron. ‘Which rapidly got out of hand, ending in a food fight just after three this morning. So I’m a bit done in.’

‘That’s not on.’

‘Tell me about it,’ he said, flopping onto the sofa. ‘But do I gather you like games?’

‘Bridge. Do you play?’

‘Nah. I’m more of an Uno fan but I’m a demon at strip Jack naked.’

Ros pulled her chin in. ‘I definitely don’t play strip poker or the like.’

Cameron laughed. ‘No clothes are removed. It’s just a card game. Maybe I’ll show you one day.’

‘Maybe. Anyway, can I get you a drink? I did get some beer in if you’d like one but as I don’t drink it myself I have no clue if it’s any good, but I have seen Darla drink this brand.’

‘That’s really kind of you, Ros. Yeah, I’d love a beer.’

‘Excellent.’ She was delighted that he seemed genuinely pleased.

She popped the cap off and brought it to him on the sofa. ‘Scrabble,’ she said.

‘Thanks, and what now?’

‘I like a game of Scrabble. I don’t have a board here but Dad has one. We play at Christmas and Easter sometimes.’

‘Cool. I like Scrabble too.’ They smiled at each other.

‘I’ll add it to the list,’ said Ros. She turned over a new flip chart with the header ‘Things We Have In Common or Both Like’. Currently all that was listed was cricket.

‘I know you’re going to disagree but I think there was a lot about Sunday that went well.’

Ros stared at him. ‘For example?’ she prompted.

Cameron leaned forward. ‘Barry bought the fact that we were a couple. I know I’m currently not his ideal son-in-law but he didn’t suspect a scam.’

‘Please don’t call it a scam,’ said Ros, feeling the punch of guilt to her gut. ‘He may have accepted that we were a couple but if he can’t understand what I see in you then he’s going to get suspicious. Which is why . . .’ Ros tapped the flip chart; she needed to keep them on track.

‘I’ve had an idea,’ he said. ‘What if I took your dad out for a beer? Have a man-to-man chat. Say that I get that I might not be his first choice but I want to do whatever I can to make him like me.’ Cameron grinned at her, clearly pleased with his suggestion.