Page 35 of Italy and Forever

‘I’m sorry Kira felt the need to give you a warning over nothing. Although it’s kind of true that weddings mess with your head, we both see she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’

He licked his lips, his mind racing to find a casual lie. He should have predicted that if he waited long enough, she’d fill the silence anyway.

‘I mean, we’re not exactly fated mates and I’m on my dating ban anyway. It could be me who bursts your balloon!’

He wanted to hold his head in his hands and laugh and weep at the same time. She had no idea – and he had to keep it that way. It was exhausting when he was with her, the hair on the back of his neck constantly on end.

She had her dating ban and he hadn’t been on a date in six years and didn’t want to now. If they went out together, they’d sit opposite each other, breathing in the same air and being deeply uncomfortable. It might be enough to turn her off dating altogether.

‘You’re still doing the dating ban thing?’ he asked, remembering her saying it sounded like a driving ban back in Bath.

‘Did you think I’d crack and reinstall Hinge?’

‘What’s Hinge?’

‘Never mind,’ she said drily. ‘Wait, could you use a dating app? Can you tell enough from their face in a profile picture?’

‘I couldn’t tell you what makes a face conventionally attractive. I just notice if they have a big nose or a high forehead.’

‘Or big ears?’ she prompted, giving hers a tweak.

‘Yours aren’t big, they’re just…’

‘They stick out, I know.’ She was sensitive about it, deep down. He should have realised.

‘I like that I can remember your ears – as your ears,’ he admitted.

She was silent for a moment. ‘Wow, I think I like that better than “pretty”.’

‘I meant that too.’

Her throat bobbed and colour rose to her cheeks. ‘What does that mean, though? You like specific features or can you find someone attractive as a whole?’

I find you attractive. Not the right answer. ‘You’re asking me what I find attractive in other people? Will you go first?’

A T-intersection seemed to come out of nowhere and she had to brake hard so she could observe the stop sign. Rhys shot out a hand for the dashboard, clutching his camera bag in the other one, and Ginny stifled a grimace.

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. Accelerating with a jerk to take the turn onto the main road, she continued, ‘That was a nosy question, right?’ For a moment, he thought she would leave it there, but he’d underestimated her again. ‘Honestly, I find almost everyone attractive.’

He did laugh at that. She kept surprising him.

‘I’m serious,’ she insisted. ‘At first glance, I could pick one face over another for attractiveness, but I wouldn’t rule someone out because of how they look. If we click in person, then I’ll be attracted to them.’

Rhys gazed ruefully out of the window as they passed a pink baroque chapel with a bauble on the spire. A set of craggy summits rose behind, dusted with icing-sugar snow. He couldn’t say what he was thinking: I was attracted to you from almost the first moment, but we’ve never clicked.

‘Now it’s your turn,’ she said. ‘Do big noses and high foreheads do it for you? Or bodies?’ She seemed to choke on her own words. ‘I mean… Well, you don’t…’

‘Are you trying to say their face doesn’t matter so much in a casual relationship?’

She showed her teeth in a rather dramatic grimace. Despite all his discomfort, it was strangely addictive being able to read her so well. ‘Kira said you’re away a lot and that…’

Kira had a lot to answer for.

He gathered himself and answered her original question. ‘I do find some faces attractive, in a way, often if they have a dominant feature,’ he said. ‘But usually familiarity with the rest of the person makes more of a difference to whether I want to…’

‘Burst their balloon?’ she quipped.

‘That’s a terrible metaphor that doesn’t bear repeating.’