Much of that afternoon was spent filming Dave and Michelle ‘working’ on their new shelving, with Rose occasionally stepping in to fix things up in between takes. That gave her plenty of time to text Nicola with updates on the Dave situation. Rose wasn’t entirely sure her friend was taking it as seriously as she should have been: half her replies were just screenshots of Dave from previous episodes, with love hearts drawn around him or giant glowing arrows aimed at his crotch.

That wouldn’t have been a problem, except Dave kept glancing over at her and seeing her looking at her phone. She just knew he was going to come over and ask her what she was smirking at. She kept trying to think up some plausible excuse for her phone smiles in between fitting shelves, but nothing came to mind. Well, plenty came to mind, thanks largely to the screenshots of Dave’s butt that Nicola was constantly texting, but nothing she thought of could divert her attention from that surprisingly muscular pair of firmly curved cheeks.

When an assistant director finally announced they’d finished with the shelves and were going to break for dinner, Dave made a beeline for Rose but she was already heading for the door. ‘See you at the depot,’ she said, not looking back.

That may have been a little premature; she hadn’t cleared their after-work training session with anyone yet, and she had a nagging suspicion that it might be the kind of thing the producers would frown upon. Or worse, they might want to make it part of the show. Heading towards the site office, she saw Moss the Boss crossing the court from the footy players’ house. She called out; he stopped and waited for her to catch up.

‘So,’ she said, ‘I’ve been having a bit of trouble with Dave.’

‘Has he been trying to help out?’ Moss shook his head. ‘That man is all thumbs. Except for his actual thumbs, which are toes.’

‘He has, and I was thinking I could maybe give him a few basic lessons? Just so he’s not so clumsy?’

‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘That’s story-level shit. Usually that kind of thing would have to go past the producers.’

‘I don’t want to make a big deal out of it,’ she said. ‘It’s just that he really does seem to want to help out.’

Moss the Boss stopped, and Rose halted alongside him. ‘The last two story breakdowns I was given said that we were to show her as a competent go-getter and he’s a likable klutz who gets in her way,’ he said. ‘Which is boring as hell if you ask me, but they’re the chosen good guys for this season, so we’re to make the fights seem light-hearted and their mistakes have to be easily fixable. But as it stands Dave is coming across as too passive and annoying.’

‘This would totally fix that.’

‘If you could it would definitely make my job easier. Are you sure you want to spend your spare time teaching Mr Thumbs, though? A little knowledge can be dangerous.’

Rose nodded. ‘He’s already dangerous. He nearly stabbed me with a pencil and drilled my knee.’

‘Again? Shit. Okay, do what you can.’

‘I thought we could use the depot?’

‘Too public. Try one of the supply trucks.’ He unclipped a key ring from his belt, pulled one of the keys off, and handed it to Rose. ‘If the other contestants see you giving private tuition they’ll crack the shits, and if the producers hear about it they’ll either put a stop to it or make it a whole segment. And just quietly, you really don’t want that kind of attention.’

‘Definitely not. Low profile all the way. Thanks.’

‘Just keep him away from the pencils,’ Moss said, walking up the path to the site office. ‘I predict a serious injury in that man’s future.’

Rose turned and hurried towards the depot, where Dave was waiting for her. When she arrived, he was bending over beside a stack of pine planks. Several of the planks had been knocked onto the floor like pick-up sticks, and from the guilty look on Dave’s face, Rose thought she knew who was responsible.

She opened her mouth, then realised that her planned comment – something along the lines of ‘I thought you’d be better at handling wood’ – would set the wrong tone. It was bad enough that they’d spent so much time flirting up a storm. She didn’t want to go down that path twice in one day.

Dave looked up as she approached. ‘I was hoping to impress you with my wood handling skills,’ he said ruefully.

‘For now, leave the wood handling to me,’ she said, and then realised what she’d said a moment too late. ‘Oh – I … I didn’t mean …’

‘Mean what?’ Dave said; but the twinkle in his eye told her he knew exactly what she meant.

The tone had been set, but Rose was determined to keep things professional. ‘Maybe after this morning, we should start with drilling,’ she said.

Oh no – that was sexy too. ‘No … maybe that’s too much.’ She was getting flustered. ‘Perhaps we should start from the start: polishing, rubbing, buffing …’

Dave was looking at her with mild puzzlement as she rattled through a list of basic carpentry skills. ‘Look – forget it. Let’s go to the truck and see if there’s anything you are good at.’

He raised an eyebrow suggestively at this.

‘We can’t just do this where anyone can see.’

Dave raised his other eyebrow.

‘If the producers see me teaching you the basics, they’ll want to make it part of the show.’

‘Oh,’ Dave said, slightly disappointed. ‘I get you now. Where are we going, then?’

Rose looked down at the key in her hand, which was attached to a tag labelled ‘Truck 3’. She glanced up at the trucks parked outside the depot. ‘Let’s go,’ she said.

For the next hour, Rose showed Dave the kind of basics she’d picked up on her first day as an apprentice: how to hold a hammer; how to fit a bit to a drill; how to cut through wood with a handsaw. She showed him how to take measurements, which was more complicated than Dave had thought; and she showed him a spirit level and explained how it worked. He was a fast learner. It was just obvious that no one had bothered trying to teach him before now. She even gave the stud finder another try, and they both laughed at that.

The time flew by. Rose was amazed how much she was enjoying this. It wasn’t just that she was in such close proximity to the guy she was attracted to, or that he had a playful, teasing sense of humour; she was also enjoying the chance to share her knowledge. Dave was constantly asking questions, and sure, most of them were pretty basic, but it felt strangely intimate to have someone actually listen to her and take in what she was saying.

They finished up with the hand-sawing lesson. Rose put a length of two-by-four on the sawhorse, and sawed into one side until she’d created a deep groove for Dave to follow. ‘Your turn,’ she said, stepping aside and leaving the saw still embedded in the cut.

Dave put too much effort into the downward stroke. The blade of the saw bent alarmingly. ‘Not so hard,’ Rose said.

He tried again. This time the saw caught in the grain of the wood as Dave was trying to pull it out. The blade skipped and jerked out of his hand. ‘Let me show you,’ Rose said.

Automatically she moved to stand behind Dave, putting her hand over his on the saw handle. Slowly she pulled the saw back, then put her weight behind the downward stroke, leaning in to Dave’s back as she pushed the saw smoothly forward. The blade bit deeply into the wood.

‘See? It’s a rocking motion,’ she said. She repeated the movement, pulling the saw back and then pushing it forward. ‘Like that. You’ve got to ease it in.’

‘I get it,’ he said in a low voice. He took a deep breath, and Rose could feel his rib cage expanding. Suddenly she realised how close they were. Her arms wrapped around him. Her hand on his. Her entire body angled around him, from chest to thigh. For a second she wished he would turn around and take her in his arms, holding her the way she was holding him. She imagined him leaning down, his lips parting to meet hers …

But then reality kicked in. This couldn’t happen. Rose felt her cheeks burn, and not just from spending an hour in a truck that had been sitting in the sun all day. She was glad Dave couldn’t see her face. ‘Yes, um, right, so that’s how it works,’ she said, stepping away. ‘Now you have a go.’

Dave continued to saw at the plank, with growing confidence. With each powerful stroke, the blade plunged deeper into the wood. With a crack the plank finally split in two, and the halves clattered separately onto the truck’s metal floor. It was as if a spell had been broken.

He turned to her with a delighted expression. ‘Well done,’ Rose said. ‘That’s probably enough for today.’

‘Are you going to be around later on?’ he said. ‘We’re only filming some couch confessions after this – it’ll take about an hour.’

‘I’m really sorry, but I can’t,’ Rose said. ‘Tonight’s show is the one where they introduce me, and my parents have invited a few friends over to watch it with us.’

His face fell. ‘Oh, that’s a shame,’ he said. ‘I really thought we were getting somewhere.’

‘We are,’ Rose said. ‘You’ve definitely come a long way since this morning.’

‘I haven’t got there yet,’ Dave said. He was still holding the saw; now he reached past Rose’s shoulder to replace it on the hook on the wall of the truck. His face was close to hers. Close enough to kiss …

‘Dave!’ came a voice from back towards the depot. A young, female voice. ‘You’re needed back on set!’ Rose and Dave froze, listening. ‘Are you sure he’s out here?’ the voice continued, seemingly to someone else.

‘Did you hear that?’ Rose said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. ‘You’d better go.’

He was gazing into her eyes. ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ he said.

‘DAVE!’ the voice yelled, closer to the truck this time.

Rose looked back at him. ‘Dave,’ she said, ‘you’re married.’ She ducked under his outstretched arm, walked to the end of the truck, jumped down, and walked away, not looking back.