Catherine used her lunch break to catch the tram and visit Brent at the bookshop he worked in. She thought she'd surprise him; she used to surprise him all the time, so much so that he'd stopped being surprised by her, but she hadn't done it for ages. It was one of those habits from their early days together that she'd fallen out of.

He was surprised this time, not least because he was stacking the shelves of the shop and was completely absorbed in the work, and she snuck up behind him and hugged him before he'd even realised she was there. He almost dropped the pile of books he was carrying.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed. "You gave me a fright. I thought for a second some random stranger was hugging me."

"Do they do that kind of thing?" Catherine asked teasingly. "Do strange women come up and hug you?"

"No" Brent said, suddenly terse. "No, they don't."

"Good, I hope not."

"Are you here to take me out to lunch?" Brent asked.

"Why would I take you out to lunch? You should take me!"

"That doesn't sound like a lot of fun for me!" Brent grinned, and he flinched and laughed as Catherine slapped him lightly on his arm.

"Actually" Catherine said, checking her watch, "I have to get back to work soon. It took a long time to get here - I've used up just about all of my lunch break already!"

"So you came all the way here just to say hi?" Brent asked.

"Yeah."

"That's . . . That's incredibly sweet."

"But do you wanna get dinner tonight?" Catherine said. "Maybe go out and see a movie?"

"Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"I've got a short shift at the centre" Brent said. Catherine started to pout, and he continued hurriedly: "But I could be finished around eight, 8:30. We could get a quick meal and then catch a 9:30 session of . . . whatever."

"Okay!" Catherine said brightly. "What do you want to see?"

"I don't know. You choose."

"Me?"

"Yeah!"

"But then . . . that means I'm gonna have to choose something we both like, and then I won't be able to enjoy it 'cause I'll be worrying that you're not liking it . . . Can't you choose?"

Brent laughed again, and shook his head. "No, I'm not falling into that trap!" he said. Then, more seriously, he added: "Whatever you choose will be fine, honey. Just send me a text to let me know what's going on and I'll meet you at 8:30."