Page 24 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

‘In my experience, women are never predictable,’ he says.

‘Oh, and have you had a lot of experience?’ She feels herself blushing as she asks this.

‘Some,’ he says. ‘About what you’d expect from a man of my age. I’m Italian, but I’m no Casanova. But I’m not a virgin either.’

She presses the button on the door, lowering her window slightly to get some air. ‘Something beginning with S,’ she repeats.

‘S. S.’ Jack repeats the letter, his fingers strumming on the steering wheel. ‘Steering wheel?’

‘Nope. Give up?’

‘Give up.’

‘Swaledales.’

‘What?’ He turns to her, lifting his hands from the wheel, palms upturned in a gesture of complete bafflement.

‘They’re sheep,’ she says smugly.

‘I said sheep.’

‘You didn’t say Swaledales, and that was my word.’

‘That’s cheating, being too specific.’

‘It’s not cheating, it’s being accurate. It’s all in the detail. That’s what I used to tell my authors. Be specific. Your prose will come alive if you write about the little details. A Skoda rather than a car. A Barbour rather than a jacket. If you’re going to live in Yorkshire, you need to know your Swaledales from your Texels.’

‘Do I?’

‘Yeah, you do. There’ll be a test later.’

He laughs. ‘When we get home – if we ever get home – I’d better do my homework.’

‘So is Yorkshire home now?’

‘The jury is still out on that one. Babbo – my father – hasn’t got all his test results back yet.’

‘Do you miss London?’

‘A bit, I suppose. I miss my friends. The buzz of the place. But I like the peace and quiet of Applethwaite too.’

‘And what about work?’ she says.

He frowns slightly, then says, ‘I think we’re moving,’ and she hears a note of relief in his tone.

‘Yay,’ she says, tearing her eyes away from him. In the distance, the traffic is indeed starting to move.

‘Yay,’ Jack echoes. ‘I was getting a bit bored of I Spy. Was thinking we’d have to move onto Never Have I Ever.’

Louise laughs. ‘Could have been fun.’

‘Definitely.’ He restarts the engine, slipping the car into first gear as the car two ahead of them begins to move forward. ‘Although it’s better played over a drink.’

‘I’ve a bottle of red in my flat.’

‘Italian red?’

‘No idea. Just red red.’