The job was pretty much what Anna had expected. It was a sideways step rather than an upwards one; she'd justified it by saying she wanted to work for a smaller company (there were barely forty people here, rather than the thousands at her previous job), but to tell the truth she wasn't exactly in the mood for anything challenging. In her immediate vicinity there was her boss Judy and the other graphic designer, Dan, who were both perfectly nice; after a couple of weeks she got to know everyone else. Their office was opposite the break room so everyone came past sooner or later.

"Why the face?"

Anna looked up from her notepad. Her colleagues were at a meeting involving some project she wasn't working on; she'd mainly been using the peace and quiet to draw cross faces and angry lightning bolts down the border of her to-do list. But now Kristoff was leaning in the doorway of the office, holding a box of toner.

"Mm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Oh. It's my birthday."

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that." He put the box down next to the printer and knelt down to open its front panel.

She pulled a face at him. "And everyone I know is busy and I'm going to spend this evening by myself at home, which is no fun and not a real birthday at all."

"OK, yeah, that is rough. Is it just the black that's gone on here?"

"I don't know, sorry, I haven't used it."

"No, it was Dan who rang, wasn't it….well, I'll do the black now, ring again if that doesn't fix it."

"Thanks."

"Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thanks."

He shut the front of the printer again and packed the old toner cartridge neatly back in the box. Anna turned back to her computer and tried to concentrate on her work.

Kristoff stood and took a step to the door. Then he turned, suddenly, and said "I'm free tonight."

"Sorry?"

"I mean - if you wanted to go out and get a drink or something. Just so you're not by yourself on your birthday."

"Oh!"

"I mean, just if you -"

"No, that would be nice! Just for a drink."

"Sure. Um, shall I come pick you up about eight, then?"

"Okay! Okay. Great."

Anna ate some cheese on toast after work and changed, after some deliberation, into a dress. She had no idea what kind of establishments this town had to offer, or, for that matter, what sort of place Kristoff might choose to take her.

There was something else she was wondering about, too.

"Kristoff," she said as they walked down the road into the town centre, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, sure."

"Is this a date? I mean, did you mean for it to be a date?"

"I - no - I don't know?"

Anna laughed. "You don't know?"

"No, I meant - if you want it to be? It's up to you. You're pretty and I wanted to get to know you better but I'm a bit out of practice."

"The lady in HR, April, said you just got divorced last month."

"We were separated for quite a while before that. But I guess I haven't asked a woman out in - six years? Nearer seven."

"I suppose I haven't been asked out in four."

They walked on a bit longer. "I think -" Anna said, after some thought - "I think I'd prefer it if it wasn't a date. If that's okay."

"Of course."

"It's only been a couple of months for me, since my engagement ended, and..."

"It's fine. I understand."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Friends?"

"Friends."

Anna fiddled with the strap on her handbag. "You think I'm pretty?"

"I - did say that, didn't I."

"You don't think I'm pretty?"

"I do. If that's okay."

"Of course it's okay...you don't have to apologise for everything. I mean, even if I don't want anything romantic right now, it's still nice to know someone thinks I'm pretty."

He smiled, then coughed. "I have an idea, since it's a school night, and we probably shouldn't drink too much. You're new in town, right? Have you been to Moonlight's?"

"What's that? A nightclub?"

"No. But I think you'll like it."

It was an ice cream parlour. Kristoff laughed at Anna's expression when she saw the counter, picked up a couple of menus and steered her into a booth. "I bring my nieces and nephews here sometimes," he said.

"You have a lot of them?"

"Three nieces, two nephews. Thanks to my two sisters and brother and their respective spouses."

"That's so nice. I just have my sister, and she's living in Vienna at the moment. That's my whole family."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. My parents aren't around any more, and they were both only children. So it's just me and Elsa."

"Huh."

"Do you have any children?"

Kristoff frowned. "No - don't you think I'd have mentioned it?"

"You'd be surprised. One time, I'd been seeing this guy for a month before he mentioned his four year-old son."

"No."

"Yup. Apparently he was worried it would be a 'dealbreaker'. The kid wasn't, I like kids, but I don't like men who don't think they're important enough to mention."

"That sounds fair. No," he said, "We hadn't got round to kids yet. Which is probably just as well, considering."

"We were getting married this summer and then we were going to start a family." Anna paused for a second, then pulled herself together. "But sadly he turned out to be a big cheating cheater who cheats, so. Who needs him."

Kristoff watched her face for a long moment, then said, "That's the hard thing, isn't it? Losing the future you thought you'd have."

Anna swallowed and looked down at her hands.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Sorry." He pushed her menu at her. "My niece would recommend the banana split, which comes with a wafer in the shape of a monkey."

Anna blinked hard. "What's the chocolatiest thing they have?"

He squinted at his menu, then said, "This definitely isn't a date, right?"

"No. Why?"

He grimaced, and pulled a pair of reading glasses out of his jacket pocket and put them on. Anna snorted, and he moved to take them off again.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at your glasses - I'm laughing that if it was a date you wouldn't have put them on, and wouldn't have been able to read the menu."

"I could probably - if I - " he held it out at arm's length. "It's not that my eyes are getting worse, it's that my arms aren't long enough."

Anna laughed. "My dad used to say that."

"That's very flattering, thank you, comparing me to your father."

"I found two grey hairs this morning. Does that help?"

"No, because I refuse to believe it. You're lying to make me feel better."

"How old do you think I am?"

"If you think I'm going to answer that question you've got another think coming."

"I'm thirty-three. That's mid-thirties, isn't it, not even early thirties any more. I'm allowed to have grey hairs. Well, no I'm not, I pulled them straight out, but. They keep growing back."

Kristoff put his head on its side. "Thirty-three? I wouldn't have said that."

"Thank you."

"I'd have gone more, thirty-nine, forty -"

Anna swiped at him with her menu and he laughed. "You're four years younger than me, anyway."

"Really, I would have said I was TWENTY years younger than you -"

"- there's no need to be rude. What ice cream do you want, woman, hurry up, they close in two hours."

The ice cream was delicious, and the evening was warm as they walked back. Outside her building they stopped and Anna fiddled with her keys.

If this was a date, Anna thought, He'd be thinking about kissing me. And I'd be okay with that? I think. But it isn't, so he won't. I think.

"Thank you," she said, "I thought I'd be sitting by myself feeling maudlin and instead I had a lovely evening."

"You're welcome. And the same, to be honest."

Anna looked behind her and up at the flat. It would be cold, and dark, and empty. Ugh.

"I still have the bottle of wine I bought for tonight," she said. "If you fancy coming up?"

Kristoff glanced at his watch. "No, best not."

"No?"

"I have to get up for work in the morning. As do you."

"True."

"Well. Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

Then, to her surprise, Kristoff stepped forward and hugged her. Anna hardly had time to bring her arms up round his shoulders before he was stepping back again, looking embarrassed. "Goodnight," he said again, then turned and walked away.