Page 114 of The Life-Changing Magic of Falling in Love

Not that I’m looking to compete.

‘And when is your date arriving?’ Carlos asks, turning to me.

‘About that … I didn’t manage to find one.’

‘A guy who looks and sounds like you couldn’t find a date? Did you even try?’

‘I thought tonight was only a trial?’ I say, looking to Ashleigh for confirmation. The fact that bringing a date would have made it more difficult to concentrate on meeting who Ashleigh is dating is completely beside the point.

‘An authentic trial,’ Carlos answers. ‘And, hello? Bake-Date. The clue is in the title which you came up with.’

‘Ignore him,’ Ashleigh says. ‘He’s nervous.’

‘I like a man who has the confidence to attend solo,’ Oz says.

‘Thank you, Oz,’ I say, puffing out my chest a little.

‘Wow.’ Ashleigh inclines her head to indicate Oz as she says to Carlos, ‘Who knew he would be the more diplomatic?’

‘You’ll have to team up together,’ Carlos says, looking unhappy at the thought.

A similar unhappy look settles across Ashleigh’s face.

‘Fine by me,’ I say.

‘You can separate when Zach gets here, but we should probably start.’ Oz settles himself in front of the counter. ‘We’re hoping to have at least five couples per event, which means we can’t fit in the kitchen all at once, so we’ll be using tabletop hotplates and then I’ll put your tins in our ovens. The first thing I want you to do is?—’

‘Question,’ I interrupt. ‘What are we making?’

‘Shit,’ Oz says. ‘Not shit,’ he corrects, blushing. ‘Shouldn’t have said that. It needed to be something easy and enjoyed afterwards with a glass of something great, so I’ve gone for brownies.’

‘Sounds delicious,’ I say, encouragingly.

‘Maybe you should begin with a short introduction to Oscars?’ Ashleigh suggests, moving to stand next to me. She’s wearing scent.

I try to focus on what Oz is saying and not allow the lovely, fresh scent, to wrap around me like some sort of magic potion. ‘You should also include a little house-keeping – Health and Safety, allergies, where the restrooms are, etc.’

‘Maybe the two of you should run this event?’ Carlos mumbles.

‘Sorry, consider it read that you’ve gone through those basics. Oz, what do we do first?’

‘One of you needs to measure out the butter into the bowl and the other needs to break the chocolate into pieces and add them to the bowl also…’

‘So how did you and Zach meet?’ I ask Ashleigh as I’m adding chunks of chocolate to the bowl.

‘I thought we were here to learn how to bake?’ Ashleigh says. She makes a show of referring to the instruction sheet Carlos handed us but I know she’s no novice when it comes to cooking.

‘It’s called asking the person about themselves,’ I explain. ‘That’s what you do on a date and we’re supposed to be helping make this authentic, right?’

‘Yes, but we’re not – never mind.’ She breathes in and then breathes out. ‘I should have told you about Zach.’

I watch her efficiently repeat measuring out ingredients for her and Zach’s batch of brownies. ‘And why would you feel like you needed to tell me about you and Zach?’

‘Because…’

She looks so guilt-ridden I immediately soften, ‘You’re not obliged to tell me anything about your private life, Ashleigh.’

‘Okay, now you’re making me feel even worse.’

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