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‘We all have our talents,’ said Claire, winking at Rob, who then threw his arm around her, pulling her closer to him with affection.

Perhaps that tennis match had helped after all. I caught Theo’s eye over Rob’s shoulder and he seemed to notice that I was kind of gatecrashing Claire and Rob’s moment and came straight over.

‘Hey,’ he said, standing so close to me that when I took a sip of my wine, my elbow knocked against his. ‘How did the writing go today?’

‘Good,’ I said, trying not to acknowledge the smell of him, that woody pine again. ‘I pitched up in the garden. Wrote another chapter and a half.’

He nodded pensively. ‘Did you give any more thought to us plotting the story out together?’

‘I’m coming round to the idea,’ I admitted. ‘When did you have in mind?’

As if on cue, Melissa clapped her hands, gathering the group together. I really hoped she wasn’t expecting us to do one of her tasks because for once I was properly enjoying myself. The blanket of tension that I’d felt wrapped around me since I’d seen Theo again had all but disappeared this evening and standing here now, next to him, felt safe and familiar in a way that it hadn’t before. And I didn’t want to risk setting things back a step, which I was pretty sure would happen if we were made to talk about our ‘relationship’ or – worse – in any way touch each other.

‘I wanted to let you know about a very exciting day I’ve got planned for you tomorrow,’ said a tinkly voiced Melissa, who somehow managed to sound enthusiastic about absolutely everything.

‘We’ll meet at 9.30 in the foyer,’ said Melissa, ‘when I’ve arranged for taxis to take us up to the beautiful medieval village of Mougins. We’ll spend a couple of hours there, exclusively in your pairings, and I will be giving you something specific to focus on while you explore.’

This was more like it. I’d read about the pretty villages dotted around Provence and the Côte d’Azur and was looking forward to wandering through its narrow cobbled streets and taking some nice shots for my Instagram page, which I’d neglected of late. When I’d first become an author, social media hadn’t felt quite so pressing, and it was mostly about Facebook plus my author newsletter, which was relatively fun to write as long as I actually had stuff to say. Sometimes my life had been as mundane as hell and the newsletter would be particularly short that month. At least when I got home I could pepper my next instalment with pretty shots of the French Riviera. I might even tease the collaborationwith Theo, although maybe that was tempting fate; there was still a huge chance it might not work out.

‘I wonder what this mysterious task is,’ Theo said to me.

I shrugged. ‘Dread to think. Something excruciatingly awkward, probably.’

‘Still thinking about that couple’s yoga?’ said Theo in a teasing tone.

‘I wasn’t, but I am now,’ I said, having an instantaneous flashback of myself and Theo pressed against each other, my head cradled in the curve of his shoulder blades. Heat rushed through my body at the memory and I buried my nose in my wine while my heartbeat returned to normal. Which it didn’t seem to be. I was going to have to extract myself from this situation pronto.

‘Think I’ll take a glass of wine back to my room and do some writing out on the balcony,’ I said, making as little eye contact with him as possible.

He nodded. ‘Same. We should probably check in with Carla tomorrow. Let her know we haven’t killed each other yet.’

‘Yet being the operative word,’ I said.

He laughed lightly.

As we said goodnight to the others, Claire raised her eyebrows at me at the sight of us leaving together and I shook my head at her. Her imagination knew no bounds – perhaps she should try writing a novel sometime. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I swiped it out, checking it wasn’t anything urgent. It was a voice note from my brother and I assessed whether it was urgent or whether it could wait, deciding on the latter.

‘Everything all right?’ asked Theo, as we headed up the stairs towards our rooms.

I nodded. ‘Family stuff.’

‘Ah,’ he said.

We reached Theo’s room first and he stopped, fumbling to find his key in his jeans pocket.

‘Happy writing,’ I said, pulling mine easily out of my bag.

‘Let’s catch up tomorrow. See where we’re both at with chapters,’ he said.

‘Sure. And we’ll try the plotting thing, maybe. It’s a different way of working for me, that’s all. But as you say, something needs to change, so . . .’

He grinned at me.

‘I knew I could bring you around to the not-so-dark side.’

‘I’m still a pantser at heart, you understand.’

And then we laughed. Genuinely laughed, like we used to, not as some attempt to act as though things were fine between us when they weren’t. It felt natural, easy. And as I turned my key I couldn’t resist one more look at him as he pushed open the door to his room. He must have had the same idea because our eyes met in the middle, stopping me in my tracks for a couple of seconds before I refocused and carried on because I could literally lose myself in his eyes if I let myself. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, my stomach flipping left, right and centre. Theo’s lovely face was burning bright in my mind’s eye, which was highly disturbing. Perhaps if I thought about it objectively: he was handsome and authorly in a way I admired. It didn’t mean any more than that. I remembered the queues of giggling women at book signings, who couldn’t wait to move past me so that they could get to the main spectacle: Theo, in all his polished, charming glory. I was not alone in finding him attractive, which should have made me feel better but didn’t. It was fine. I was fine. So fine that I felt strong enough to listen to my brother’s message.