"Have to," he said with a nod. "Enigmatic and all that. What would I do without it?" He looked at her, a half smile on his lips, trying to lighten a moment.

It said a lot, perhaps, that Jack could try that now. Little steps; tiny ones. Steps, but steps nonetheless. Closer even than he likely realised.

"So if we're not sharing secrets today," he said, "we'll share the ice cream." He grinned again. "Double cone?"

As though he expected her to even have a vague understanding of what that was.