‘Yes ma’am. I’ve got some spare gloves, too.’
I’m whizzing round with the floorboard sander like Carole Smillie inChanging Roomswhile Zach neatens up the edges by hand.
‘I had no idea you were into DIY,’ he laughs, watching me.
‘Me neither. It’s quite satisfying though, isn’t it?’ I waft the T-shirt I borrowed from Zach before I started sanding, hot from the effort.
‘I need to get a picture of this,’ Zach says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. ‘Don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing so few colours.’
I look down at the outfit I borrowed from him before I started helping out. Grey joggers, grey T-shirt.
‘I’m like fifty shades of grey,’ I laugh.
‘You did manage to keep your fluorescent yellow hair bobble in, though.’
‘What’s a DIY outfit without a scrunchie to add colour?’ I say, sneezing from all the dust we’ve kicked up before striking a pose. I know this is going to sound ridiculous but one of the many perks of having Zach in my life is that he captures brilliant pictures of us. He has one on his screen saver of me at the film festival we went to and it’s the most flattering picture ever. I love scrolling through his camera roll sometimes, smiling at the snapshots of our time together. Zach holds his phone up to take a photo now and …
Hang on.
‘NO! Put that away!’ I say, suddenly remembering.
‘What do you mean, no? You look adorable.’
I rush to bat the phone out of his hand and stuff it into the pocket of the joggers I’ve borrowed.
‘Thank you for the compliment but our U date has already begun.’
‘It has?’ Zach looks around the his empty top floor, ever so slightly underwhelmed.
‘U for unplugged. We’re going off grid for the next twenty-four hours. I know I can be on my phone a lot. Mostly it’s work but sometimes I just find myself scrolling for no reason and the next thing I know it’s the end of the day and I’ve racked up a frankly unacceptable screen time tally.’
Zach’s eyes crease up with a smile as I talk.
‘You mean like when we’re watching a real-life drama on TV and you insist on Googling it before we’ve finished the programme because you’re too impatient to wait and see what happens?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Or when we go out for dinner and your phone eats before we do?’
‘Ha ha, yes.’
‘Or when …’
‘I think we’ve had plenty of examples now, thanks. We can all agree that I’m on my phone a fair bit and for the next twenty-four hours, it’s going to be you and me. No distractions.’
‘Howwillwe fill our time?’ he jokes, his voice low.
‘I’m glad you asked that. Follow me.’
Downstairs in the hallway is the bag I dumped when I arrived and I grab it now, opening it up so Zach can look inside.
‘Board games?’
‘Bingo! I’ve brought loads because there is strictly no TV allowed on an unplugged date.’
Zach rubs his hands together. ‘All right then, but do you promise not to get grumpy when you lose?’
‘What do you mean,whenI lose?’
