It was still early when Ellie left her flat, not quite eight o'clock, but she could tell it was going to be a nice day: quite warm, and hopefully sunny. Which justified her wardrobe choice of short-sleeved top and loose midi-length skirt, and – for the first time this year, and at least a month earlier than normal – no tights. And glasses, just because. She had a cardigan on for now, but suspected she might not need it later. She'd spent some time over the weekend wondering how Sam was, but had been very good at not obsessively checking her phone, even though there was a twinge of disappointment every time it had pinged with a new message alert and she found it wasn't Sam. She had noticed a distinct lift in her mood on Sunday night, though, at the thought of going in to work the next day.

Near the office, it occurred to her that Sam might not even be in work – perhaps she'd have a day off in lieu of the weekend or something. She picked up her pace with a slight sense of nervous anticipation, and slipped down the small driveway at the side of the building to the back door. There was a car in the car park, but as she didn't normally pay much attention to cars she couldn't really remember if it had been there the previous week or not. She thought it probably had, though.

The alarm wasn't set, but there was no sign of life in the kitchen, and no response when she called out Sam's name. She dumped her bag in the supervisor's office and rummaged for a chunky plastic hair grip, pulling her hair up and fastening it in a loose twist as she set off upstairs.

From the first floor landing, she tried calling again. An indistinct reply came back, and although she couldn't really tell what was being said, she was more relieved than she liked to admit that it was Sam's voice – even if it sounded like she had something in her mouth. There was a slight pause, then Sam called out again, telling Ellie to stay there as she'd be down in two seconds.

Ellie was by this stage almost halfway up the stairs to the second floor anyway, but paused on the turn where she'd first given Sam such a shock. "Are you OK, Sam?"

There was a pause, then Sam's head appeared round the corner of the stairwell. "Fine. Hi. Um, listen...if you're putting the kettle on, though, I'm gasping. I'll be down literally in two ticks." She grinned but didn't move.

Ellie wondered why she didn't come and say hello properly, and wondered if she was imagining it or whether Sam really did have toothpaste round her mouth. She also felt a bit as if she'd been told – however sweetly – to piss off and make tea.

"Er, OK." She started to move back down the stairs, but glanced back up. Sam hadn't moved, and was watching her go, still grinning. Her hair was even messier than ever, literally looking like bed hair. Ellie was amused – she found Sam's quirkiness quite endearing, and couldn't deny she looked pretty damn good with messy hair – but also slightly puzzled by the very faint sense that Sam was embarrassed, or had been caught unawares. At the landing, she twisted back to look up again and noticed Sam withdraw her head and disappear in the direction of the toilets. Maybe she had been brushing her teeth after all – which, although a slightly odd thing to do at work, wasn't exactly anything to be embarrassed about.

When Sam did appear in the kitchen, hair more or less tidied, Ellie passed her a mug of tea and they sat at different tables. "Bloody Monday mornings," remarked Sam.

Ellie was conscious of how much she'd been looking forward to this particular Monday morning. "How was your weekend? Busy?"

"Nah. Dull as fucking dishwater. Especially yesterday." Sam gulped tea thirstily, and waved her mug in Ellie's direction. "How was yours?"

Ellie smiled sympathetically, and shrugged. "Uneventful. I sat around reading and watching TV mainly. Facetimed my parents yesterday. Went for a couple of walks along the canal." She twitched her skirt around her crossed legs, and felt pleased when she noticed Sam watch the gesture.

"Ah yeah, the canal. I found that yesterday, when I went out for my state-sanctioned daily walk. Was going to the Co-op actually, but took a massive detour to string it out for as long as possible. Glad I did, it's nice down there." She glanced at Ellie for a second too long, then blew upwards to get her hair away from her eyes. "So, you live down there somewhere?"

Ellie nodded. "By the basin. In one of the warehouse conversions...which sounds posher than it is," she added quickly, noticing Sam's eyebrow shoot up. "My block's quite old now, it's the scruffier one on the corner. I think they were done 20 years ago or something, so it's in need of a bit of sprucing up. They're pretty cheap to rent now...at least, ones like mine are, because what's supposed to be a second bedroom is tiny. I'm using it as a home office of sorts at the moment." She realised she was talking for the sake of it. "It's nice enough, though," she added lamely.

"Think I probably went past that, on the other side. It was good to get out and stretch the legs, I can tell you." There was a pause, as the conversation sort of ran out of steam. Sam spent a moment too long glancing over Ellie's figure in her cute top, and the shape of her legs under the folds of the skirt, and the way the girl's hand was resting casually on her crossed thigh while it swung back and forth gently in her direction. Ellie kept unconsciously slipping her flat shoe off her heel, as well, which Sam found distracting (in a nice way). She also noticed that the specs were back, which with the skirt and top combo did good things to her insides. She found something to say. "You're early today." She held up a hand. "Not complaining, it's nice to see you." She risked another glance at Ellie's high breasts and slim waist in the tight bodice of the top, and the smooth skin of her neck and throat above the relatively low, square neckline. "Nice top again, by the way."

Ellie flushed. She quite liked Sam's off-hand, casual compliments. She liked this top, it was blue with a pattern of tiny red and white flowers, and being close-fitting contrasted quite nicely with the loose line of her white skirt. So it was pleasing that Sam liked it too. "Thanks." She went to fiddle with her hair, but realised it was up in a twist on the back of her head, so instead took her glasses off and checked them for dust, then put them back on and rubbed her neck and pulled on an earlobe. She had the feeling that Sam was watching her, and wished she knew why. "I was wondering over the weekend how you were, here by yourself."

"Were you? Thanks." Sam looked quite pleased, presumably at having been in Ellie's thoughts. She blew her hair out of her face again. "It was OK. But it is nice to see someone else. It was a long two days." She stood up, as if to head off back upstairs, and used her hand to brush her hair away where it had fallen straight back across her face.

Ellie also stood up quickly. "You could've rung, you know. I wouldn't have minded." She put out a hand and touched Sam's upper arm quickly. "Stay there a sec. I've brought something." As she passed Sam near the door, she definitely smelled toothpaste as well as tea, and also caught a whiff of Sam's musky deodorant mixed with a more natural, bodily smell, and felt a little twist of instinctive interest inside: Sam smelled nice. She realised they'd brushed past well within the six feet distance thing, but she didn't really care. It had been a long weekend for her too, spending two days by herself in the flat, knowing Sam was probably quite close by and feeling maybe lonely, but unreachable in some ways. For a moment, she was very aware of the line of Sam's curves in her polo shirt – and much less baggy jeans than last week – and quite aware of the swish of her own skirt around her legs.

She reappeared in the kitchen with a pair of professional scissors and a comb. "I did promise."

"Bloody hell, I don't believe it." Sam let out a full laugh, and leant her bum against the kitchen worktop. "I genuinely thought you were joking."

Ellie shook her head. "A good friend of mine in sixth-form college was doing hair and beauty. She gave me a few tips." She clicked the scissors quickly. "It's up to you, but I'm happy to see what I can do, if you want."

Sam just looked at her for a moment, grinning, and Ellie just stood in the doorway holding the comb and scissors up, grinning back. Sam pushed her hair back again, pushing away from the worktop, and shoved her other hand into her jeans pocket. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Ellie shrugged. "I mean, I quite like your hair like that, if you ask me. But if you really want it cutting, I can help. I'll try and stand a safe distance, if I can..."

Sam laughed again. "Piss off, Ellie, you cheeky girl. It's not that long." She put her head on one side, wondering why Ellie had chosen to say she liked her hair, rather than just it looked fine or whatever. She looked the girl in the eye. "Do you not think it needs cutting, then?"

Ellie felt herself blush quickly, and decided not to mention how Sam's hair quite often made her think about bed hair, and what the implications were if she was associating bed hair with Sam. "I mean, it's up to you." Then she stepped forward, slightly holding her breath so as not to betray herself in what she was about to do. She reached out gingerly, and between two fingers took hold of the swept-over fringe which kept falling down. "You could do with a bit off this, to be fair." She was aware of Sam suddenly standing very still. "I think it looks quite nice, but you obviously find it irritating. You keep brushing it away." She let the fringe trail out of her fingers and brushed Sam's cheek, accidentally on purpose. Taking another step closer, she moved her hand round to the nape of Sam's neck where the hair had begun to curl against the collar of her polo shirt. She stood on tip-toe to reach round Sam without getting too close, but felt the front of her top just skim the shape of Sam's quite large, round breasts anyway. For a moment, it felt as if they could easily hug, but Ellie kept the hand with the comb and scissors down by her side, in the folds of her skirt. Sam's cheeks were faintly pinkening, and she felt that she herself was warm and flushed. The illicit closeness was exciting. Ellie fingered the hair at the nape of Sam's neck. "And here could maybe do with tidying up a bit?" Her voice was practically a whisper, her throat was so tight.

Sam blinked and didn't move, apart from to move her hand to the same spot and stroke Ellie's fingers quickly. She cleared her throat. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking." They looked at each other carefully for a second or two, neither hiding from the other the fact that their gaze flicked all over the other's face and lingered on lips as much as holding eye-to-eye. If they'd been any closer, it would've been hard not to kiss. Sam cleared her throat again, but her voice was still hoarse. "This isn't social distancing."

Ellie bit her lip and shook her head, but stepped back again. "Sorry." She took a deep breath to get over the thrill of having been so close to Sam. "Did you see...your...your girlfriend over the weekend?"

Sam shook her head. "Haven't seen her for over a week now." She looked at Ellie seriously. "I've been..." Then she shook her head again and changed what she was going to say. "No. We've not crossed paths. Shift patterns and that, you know? To be fair...I mean, she's not..." She started again. "We've split up, if I'm honest. "

"Oh, Sam. I'm sorry. Over the weekend?"

"No. Two weeks ago." She sighed and waved her free hand vaguely. "That's why it's been difficult. And why I've been spending all my time here."

Ellie didn't know what to say for a while, she was conflicted between interest that Sam was in fact single and sadness for the awkwardness of the situation for all involved. Eventually, all she could offer was: "Do you want to talk about it? I'm quite a good listener. As well as an OK amateur hair stylist."

Sam chuckled, to Ellie's relief. "Not really. Sorry, Ellie. Not just now, anyway." She blew her hair out of her face once again, and checked her watch. "I should get on. I'll think about the haircut offer, though."

"OK. I'm serious."

"So am I." Sam followed Ellie out of the kitchen, and made her way upstairs.

*

At lunchtime, Ellie went up to ask if Sam wanted a walk to the bakery again; Sam felt she had to stay at her desk, but gave Ellie a fiver and strict instructions about how she liked her sandwich.

"Mayo, not salad cream," interrupted Ellie with a smile. "I remember from Friday. What've you got against salad cream?"

"Apart from the fact it's evil?" Sam gave a mock shudder.

Ellie took her hair out of its loose twist, shook it out so it fell down her back, then clasped some of it behind her head with the grip. She noticed Sam watch her surreptitiously while seemingly concentrating on her screen. "A friend of mine at uni liked it on cheesy chips."

Sam looked at her properly then, in genuine horror. "You're actually disturbing me for real now, Eleanor Foster." She glanced over Ellie's loose hair. "And distracting me. Go away."

*

On her walk to the bakery, Ellie reflected that no-one had called her "Eleanor" for years. And that there was something about the way Sam said it that was quite nice.

Back in the kitchen, while they ate their sandwiches on either side of a table, Sam picked up on Ellie's reference to university, and they spent some time discovering each other's pasts: Ellie's English degree, and how she'd taken this job for a short time but was still there almost three years later; Sam's early career in coding before she needed a steady job and ended up joining the council six years ago, and how she still did some in her spare time.

"So if you left university three years ago...?" Sam asked conversationally. "You're, what, twenty-four, twenty-five, now?"

"Twenty-three actually," Ellie corrected, wondering why Sam was asking. "Twenty-four in July. I was young for my year." She smiled at Sam through a stray strand of her hair, before twisting the strand round a finger. "Is that a problem?"

Sam smiled slowly, and watched Ellie fiddle with her hair for a moment as if trying to work out if Ellie really was flirting. She wondered if seven years was too large an age-gap to even start pursuing it – if lockdown even allowed flirting with cute girls in deserted offices. Which she doubted. Finally she shook her head. "Only that I was more or less your age when I started here. Dunno where the time's gone." She looked down and pushed some crumbs around her plate. "It's actually my birthday this weekend."

Ellie made a reasonably informed guess, based on the fact that 23+6=29, and the slightly crestfallen look on Sam's face. "Your...thirtieth?"

"Mmm-hmm. Whoopee." Sam looked up again sharply as she felt Ellie's hand cover hers on the table.

"Things aren't going too well for you at the moment, are they?" Ellie's voice was gentle and sympathetic as she squeezed Sam's hand. "I mean generally. Nothing wrong with being thirty, but I suppose it'd have been nice to celebrate properly."

"Or get drunk with a load of mates and try to forget." Sam sighed. "Things could be better." Sam turned her hand to hold Ellie's properly, and squeezed back. "Could also be worse, though." For a moment they looked at each other, trying to understand the look in the other's eyes, then Sam took her hand away reluctantly, and looked at her watch. "At least we're not the Prime Minister. He may be a bit of a pillock, but I'm sorry he's ill. Anyway. We should get back to work."

*

By about twenty-past three in the afternoon, Ellie had been failing for an hour or so to concentrate on some boring admin, while daydreaming about Sam and the look in her eyes as they'd held hands for a moment in the kitchen. So she didn't hear Sam come downstairs, and was startled when Sam tapped on the open door of the supervisor's office and asked her if she wanted a drink.

"What? Oh...er, hi." She recovered herself. "One of my colleagues' normal reaction to that question is to ask for a large G&T..."

"Ho ho. Never gets tired, that joke." Sam rolled her eyes, then grinned. "We might have to wait for the pubs to reopen before I can buy you a large G&T."

Ellie was taken by surprise again. "I, er...I didn't...I wasn't trying to suggest...I do like to pay my own way, especially on..." It was something she prided herself on, especially on dates, but she just stopped herself saying so. Then she took a breath and realised that having been daydreaming about Sam in the way she had, this hint now of going on a date had hit home in a way Sam probably hadn't intended. Sam had been keeping things light-hearted, and just been having a bit of banter. She desperately tried to think of something witty to say to recover her blunder.

Sam saved her by holding up a hand and trying to look serious – although Ellie could see the laugh in her eyes. "Hey, I expect we'd have more than one drink anyway, so you can get the second round in. Not that I was asking you out." Sam looked her in the eye briefly. "Just for the record."

Ellie blushed and looked away. "No. Right. Yes." She fiddled with her hair. "Anyway. Yes. let's have a tea break."

They went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Sam got the milk out of the fridge, then fidgeted with the carton, also pushing her hair out of her face for the umpteenth time (nervously this time, perhaps, Ellie thought). "Actually, Ellie. I was wondering? I've set my digital calendar to Busy for a while, so I'm free for a bit..."

Ellie felt a rush of anticipation, and wondered whether Sam was going to seriously broach the subject of the growing closeness she felt they were developing. They'd maybe need to talk about it at some point, she thought. She stopped herself from fiddling with her own hair again, and clasped her hands in front of her skirt, looking at Sam carefully. "Mmm?"

"Yeah. Is that offer of a haircut still on the table? It's really beginning to fuck me off."

Ellie laughed. "Sure. Of course." It wasn't quite what she'd been expecting, so she wondered why Sam was nervous. "Are you nervous?"

Sam chuckled. "It's been a while, and I've been quite...particular about what I want in the past."

Ellie studied Sam's hair for a moment, and suggested she just cut it a bit shorter to start with and see how that looked. Sam agreed, and Ellie went to fetch her scissors and comb, plus her makeup compact and cardigan, while Sam made the tea.

"We actually should have waited till afterwards for the tea," Sam remarked when Ellie came back.

"True. Never mind. Sit down, then."

Sam pulled out a chair and sat on it, catching Ellie's arm in surprise when the girl spread her cardigan across her shoulders. "What're you doing?"

"It'll catch the hair. Less to sweep up, then."

Sam looked at the floor. "Oh yeah. We can't use your cardigan, though, it's way too nice. You'll be brushing my hair out of it for days."

"I don't mind."

"I do." Sam got up again. "I've got a towel in the car. Let's use that."

Ellie didn't ask why Sam had a towel in her car, but she realised the sense of it. She also realised that a lot of hair would go on the floor anyway. She looked out of the window. "It's quite nice outside. Why don't we just go out there? That would completely save us having to sweep up afterwards."

"Good plan. Can you manage my mug? I'll bring the chair."

Together they got themselves and a chair from the kitchen out of the staff entrance and into the car park. Ellie produced her makeup compact and handed it to Sam. "It's the best mirror I've got. In case you want to see what I'm doing."

Sam was looking around. "We could do with a window to be in front of." She tried sitting in front of one of the ground floor windows, but was too low down once on the chair. She glanced up as Ellie giggled softly at the surreality of the situation, and suddenly grinned herself. "Bit random, this."

"We live in strange times. So why not have an amateur haircut in a car park?"

"Hah, yeah." She sprang up and pointed over her shoulder at the car Ellie had noticed earlier. "The side of my car should do the trick. Come on." She picked up the chair and crossed the car park, settling herself so she could see herself in the passenger side window, having retrieved a towel from the boot and draping it round her shoulders. Ellie took a deep breath and started combing Sam's hair, in preparation, noting inconsequentially that Sam had a lot of crap in the back of her car as well as in her temporary office.

Sam sat still in the chair, elbows on the arms and her hands clasped in her lap, holding Ellie's closed compact. Ellie started cautiously, cutting evenly around most of Sam's head and tidying up the back where it was out of hand, but Sam didn't fidget or move much at all, and she relaxed into the job. She had cut various friends' and relatives' hair over the years, so felt she knew more or less what she was doing, but she was very conscious of each time the backs of her fingers brushed Sam's neck or cheek. As she moved from one side to the other, her skirt sometimes brushed Sam's arm or shoulder, and she was unusually conscious of that too.

At one point she felt her hip and leg lightly pressing onto Sam's shoulder, and although she was concentrating mainly on not accidentally cutting Sam's ear at the time, she was aware that neither of them was doing anything about what would normally be quite an intimate touch. Sam's shoulder was warm and firm through her polo shirt and Ellie's skirt. Ellie's fingers brushed the sensitive skin behind Sam's ear, and she felt her give a tiny shudder. She paused. "OK?"

"Mmm-hmm. Sorry." Sam shifted slightly in the chair, and the contact of shoulder and hip was broken. "You have nice hands, Ellie. Nice and warm, I mean."

"Thanks." Ellie reflected that her insides were getting nice and warm as well, with every little brush of Sam's skin and the pressure of Sam's shoulder just now on her leg. She finished trimming the strands she'd been halfway through, and moved further round Sam to take the troublesome fringe between two fingers. The skin of Sam's forehead was hot against her hand, and Ellie felt her skirt brush Sam's leg. She let her weight rest on one hip, wondering if that would allow her leg to touch Sam's as if by accident, but Sam suddenly crossed her legs, near leg uppermost.

But then Sam shifted in the chair again, and Ellie felt a little skip of her insides when Sam's legs twitched back against her skirt. She leant in a bit, bringing her own leg against Sam's knee and taking the opportunity to rest her hand lightly on Sam's thigh as if for balance. She gently drew her fingers through the longer, swept-over hair at the front. "What do you want to do with this?"

"The hair?" Sam asked, staring carefully at Ellie's face, acutely aware of how close the girl was leaning in, and wondering if Ellie could even begin to imagine what Sam wanted to do with her. Ellie's hand on her leg was giving her all sorts of nice ideas too, which weren't safe for work. "Er.."

Ellie sighed lightly, her breath warm on Sam's cheek. "I kind of like it floppy, to be honest, Sam." She caught Sam's eye and felt a sharp kick inside as she realised the woman's gorgeous blue-grey eyes were wide and bright and completely focused on her. She blinked, but Sam was still gazing at her. "Um. It's...it's really...cute." She moved her hand slightly and held Sam's cheek lightly, thumb just brushing the end of the offending unruly hair.

"Er...yeah?" said Sam again, before not being able to continue.

Ellie decided she could happily spend a long time gazing into Sam's eyes, because the way they were looking at her was doing some very good things to her. If Sam just staring at her could arouse her, what on earth would it be like to kiss or feel her hands and body on her? Ellie decided not to think about that just here and now, because it was dangerous. Or not think about it much, anyway: she did allow herself a very quick moment to imagine the feel of Sam's nose stud on her skin as their lips met, then refocused before she got carried away. "Yeah. Still. It's your hair, your choice." She pulled back reluctantly, and felt Sam breathe out heavily. She moved her hand with the scissors and comb off Sam's leg, bringing it up and accidentally brushing Sam's breast on the way – genuinely by accident, this time. Ellie blushed. "Ooh, sorry."

Sam grunted. She wasn't in the least sorry, because she'd been imagining kissing Ellie and having her breast touched so fleetingly had turned her on even more than she already was. She hoped Ellie wasn't really sorry either, even if it had been an accident. She wondered what Ellie's soft, warm hands would feel like on her bare skin; she had a sudden mental image of Ellie kissing and touching her, maybe sliding a hand up inside her shirt while Sam took her specs off gently...she closed her eyes and succeeded in partially pushing the thought away for the time being.

There was a short period of silence, while Ellie concentrated on trimming and layering what she found the most complicated bit of Sam's hair, in such a way as it kept the sexy sweep she liked personally but wasn't any longer as unmanageable for Sam, and wouldn't keep falling in her eyes. She made no attempt to stand back, leaning her hip firmly against Sam's thigh. Sam sat very still, particularly not moving her leg at all.

Eventually, Ellie said, "You're very good at not fidgeting. My brother used to be terrible when he was younger."

"He's younger than you, then?"

"Yep, by six years. So he was eleven or twelve when I was cutting his hair, poor boy." Ellie chuckled. "Mum takes him to a proper barber's now." She stood back and quickly surveyed her work, then leant back in to finish up a few little points. "Have you got siblings?"

"Mmm, one of each. I'm in the middle." This kind of conversational territory was a lot safer. Sam let the heady rush of lust die down – though a background throb of arousal remained. "They're both more conventional than me. But my nephews and nieces like having a wacky Auntie Sam."

"That's nice. I bet you're good fun as an aunt."

Sam grunted. "They're fun kids, but it's tiring keeping them entertained. I like being able to hand them back when they get snotty or teary or whatever. Wouldn't want any myself."

"No?"

"Do you?"

Ellie waggled her hands in the air quickly. "I don't know. Wouldn't rule it out outright. It'd need to be with the right partner, though." She wrinkled her nose in mock disgust. "But it might need some planning given, you know, er, the mechanics of getting to that stage." She realised that she'd never actually come out to Sam as plainly as Sam had to her. She wondered if this was an opportunity.

Sam glanced at her, unsure what she was trying to say. "What? You mean...?" She made a suggestive gesture.

Ellie flicked a quick grin at Sam, and held her eye for a moment. "I quite enjoy, you know, all of that. With the right person." She returned her attention carefully to Sam's hair. "Which wouldn't be a man."

Sam was very still for a long moment. "Oh," she said carefully, slightly pushing her leg back against Ellie's hip. "OK."

"Mmm." Ellie pulled her comb gently though Sam's hair one last time and stepped back, somehow also managing to push back onto Sam's leg briefly as she did. "There, I think that should satisfy us both. It still looks cute, but you won't have to keep messing about with it."

Sam studied herself in the car window, and Ellie showed her the back in the makeup compact. "Thanks, Ellie. Good job. Looks nice." She ran her hand over her hair, and around the back, and nodded. "And it feels so much better." She stood up and shook her towel free of the worst of her cut hair. There was quite a lot on the ground already, and she half-heartedly pushed some under her car with her foot. "So, er..."

Ellie glanced at her watch, and picked up her mug of now cold tea. "We should probably go back and do some actual work." But she smiled at Sam in a way that Sam very much liked. "That was fun, though."

*

Neither Sam nor Ellie got much real work done that afternoon: although they kept to their own work spaces – Ellie in the office downstairs, Sam in her lair upstairs – they were both acutely aware that the other was in the building, not far away, and that there was no-one else around. Ellie mentally replayed over and over the two times they'd been so close and somehow intimate that day, and wondered constantly whether she should have been more obvious, maybe encouraged Sam more in the hope that she'd make a move – and she kept telling herself off for breaking things up when they could've gone in another direction by suggesting they should go back to their work. Sam got up and walked to the stairs several times, on the point of going down to talk to Ellie about what she thought Ellie had been trying to tell her, but stopped herself each time – she'd begun thinking along wild lines, along lines which seemed in the churn of her attraction to Ellie to solve all her current problems, but she knew deep down that broaching the subject with the girl would be pretty inappropriate.

So, it wasn't until shortly before five o'clock that Ellie finally decided she had a legitimate excuse to go upstairs and see Sam. She stood in the doorway, as usual, feeling a little shy. "Er, hi. I'm off now." She pointed unnecessarily over her own shoulder, then clasped her hands in front of her skirt to stop herself fidgeting. "Are you finishing soon?"

Sam exhaled loudly. "I'm on till six." She looked at Ellie steadily, wondering what to say to acknowledge what may have happened in the car park. And that morning. She couldn't think how best to begin. "Listen, thanks again." She ran her hand over her hair quickly. "I owe you."

Ellie dismissed this with a little wave of her fingers. "Pleasure. So, I'll be back in on Wednesday. See you then? Unless you've got a day off or something?"

"See you then," Sam confirmed, much to Ellie's relief. "Not sure what I'm doing about days off at the moment, to be honest."

Ellie nodded, then took a deep breath. "I'd say yes, by the way."

"Sorry?"

"If you had been asking me out. The G&T comment earlier?" Ellie gestured vaguely downstairs, and pushed her glasses up her nose quickly before fingering the end of a strand of hair. "I'd have said yes."

"Ah, OK." Sam smiled slowly, and leant on her desk, resting her head on her hand to look at Ellie carefully. "Well, Ellie, when the pubs reopen and we don't have to social distance any more, I might just try asking you out seriously."

"Please do. I'll say yes then, too." Ellie made to leave, feeling relieved and happy that things were out in the open between them. "Just for the record, I think we've probably broken the social distance thing already today. At least twice."

Sam chuckled. "True. Whoops." For the first time in a week, she didn't try to hide how much she liked looking at Ellie.

"Whoops indeed." Ellie enjoyed Sam's gaze on her for a moment, then waved with her fingers again and finally made for the stairs. "See you Wednesday."