‘Getting those two together.’

‘Yes, but how? He’s in Matlock and she’s here.’ She bit her lip.

‘Hmm, that’s a good point. But I’m sure we can work something out.’

‘Are you gossiping?’ asked Ros, whipping open the patio doors and making them both jump.

‘Admiring the view, and the big boats,’ said Darla, pointing at them with her glass.

‘I expect you’re enjoying having the place back to yourself. Not having to share with a messy student,’ said Barry and out of sight Darla mimed: What the hell are you doing? Barry waved away her protest.

‘Er, not exactly,’ said Ros. ‘He wasn’t messy. And strangely I’d got used to having him around.’

‘Right.’ Barry pouted. ‘Would you say you’re missing him then?’

Ros swallowed hard. ‘It was a business arrangement that always had a finite duration.’

‘Admit it, you liked Cameron, didn’t you?’ said Darla.

‘It’s all academic now and not something I want to dwell on. And dinner’s ready,’ said Ros, going back inside.

‘Lovely,’ said Barry. As Darla went to walk inside, he caught her arm and held her back for a moment. ‘They’ve done so much for me, I think trying to get them to realise how good they are for each other is the least we can do. Failing that we’ll bang their heads together.’

‘Agreed,’ whispered Darla. Now all she had to do was come up with a foolproof plan that Ros wouldn’t see straight through. She had a feeling that wasn’t going to be easy.

A few days later Darla had invited Ros to meet her for dinner at the little Italian restaurant in town and was sipping her water while she waited. She and Barry had dreamed up a plan, but it was far from foolproof and certainly not up to Ros’s planning standard. As Darla sat there she went over all the things that could go wrong. She checked the time on her phone. Three minutes until Ros was due. Darla bit the inside of her lip and watched people go by out of the window. Her phone pinged with a text message and she almost leapt out of her chair; she was that jittery because there was a lot riding on this. The message was from Barry.

How’s it going?

Darla replied:

Nothing to report. Will update when or if anything happens.

Barry replied:

OK. On tenterhooks here.

Darla:

You and me both.

Darla took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She was pleased to see Ros walking towards the restaurant. Darla could mentally tick off one thing that was going to plan. But that was only a small part of what needed to happen if this was going to work. Ros came inside although she was frowning hard as she approached.

‘Hiya,’ said Darla, trying possibly too hard to sound breezy. ‘You okay?’ she asked as they hugged. ‘You look well.’

Ros pursed her lips. ‘Do you remember the last time we came here?’

Darla was instantly delighted. She had picked this restaurant for a very specific reason. ‘Err, I’m not sure. We came here a few months back. I liked the linguine. The wine was chilled. Am I missing something?’ Darla retook her seat and pretended to peruse the menu.

‘I was coming here when I got a pie in the face from a bunch of students. And one of them was Cameron.’ Ros was staring out of the window as if rewatching the scene.

‘Oh yeah. Bloody students,’ said Darla, hiding behind the menu.

‘Anyway. How are you?’ asked Ros, sitting down.

‘Good. Elliott has already started handing over responsibility at the farm. Before he starts his new job as a civil engineer we’re having a bit of a staycation with some added decorating. I’ve invited my parents down, which is both terrifying and exciting, and Nibbles might be pregnant.’

‘That’s quite a lot going on,’ said Ros, although she was distracted by something outside. ‘What on earth?’

Darla turned around and saw her cue to leave. ‘I wonder what that’s all about,’ she said before grabbing her bag and dashing off.

***

It took Ros a moment to realise she had been set up. Cameron was standing outside the restaurant window wearing a tutu. He waved tentatively and pointed at Darla’s now vacated seat. Ros nodded and Cameron grinned back at her. Oh how she’d missed that smile.

All heads turned as he walked confidently through the restaurant. ‘Hiya,’ he said, seeming shy as he reached the table. ‘Can I join you?’

‘If you want to, I’d like that.’ He slid into the seat opposite. Ros tried to ignore the bright orange tutu that was sticking up above the table. ‘It’s lovely to see you but I’m wondering what’s going on.’

‘I heard you’re not taking the job and that you’re sticking around,’ he said.

‘And that warranted dashing back to Southampton in a tutu?’

He laughed. ‘Not exactly. I think I might have been a bit hasty and I’m sorry for the way I reacted on the boat. I’d just heard that message on the answerphone and I felt you were making decisions for both of us. Ending things. It felt like a real break-up and I guess I was more invested in us than I wanted to admit.’

‘I think we both were. So how have you been?’ she asked.

‘Miserable.’

‘Oh.’ That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. ‘Why?’

‘I missed you.’

Ros’s stomach clenched. Did that mean what she hoped it did? ‘What about Gina?’

Cameron pulled a face. ‘Turns out she was also very drunk the night I promised to marry her and has absolutely no recollection of it whatsoever. She thought it was hilarious that I felt I had to honour that commitment. She laughed so hard I feared she was going to rupture something. She’ll be dining out on this forever.’

‘That was a little hurtful,’ said Ros, feeling for Cameron’s ego at being rejected and laughed at.

‘No, she’s cool. We’ll always be the best of mates, but there’s nothing else there.’

Ros swallowed. ‘I see. That’s a shame.’ She felt that was probably the right thing to say.

‘Is it?’ He leaned forward. ‘I was hoping you and I could start again.’

As if Ros wasn’t confused enough a waiter appeared and placed a paper plate piled high with shaving foam in between them.

‘I didn’t order that?’ she said.