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‘Yeah, this,’ he murmured as he kissed me deeply in response.

I pulled away gently. ‘But is this what you want?’

‘It’s what I’ve always wanted.’

‘Always?’ I probed, kissing him again, finally getting to run my hand through that thick mop of hair. He hummed in appreciation.

‘Definitely.’ He created a filament of space between our lips. ‘Hey, I need to tell you something: you know that time Elle and Ryan went to the cinema together?’

‘Mmm.’ I was rubbing the base of his neck with my thumb, just like I’d fantasised about doing on our first date.

‘The reason I brought that up was because… well, I’d asked Ryan to set up a double date with the four of us for the following weekend. I never knew whether Elle had mentioned it to you. Or if you just thought the idea of it was so laughable that you concocted the bad breath plan between you.’

I was expecting to feel a rush of hurt at the revelation of yet another micro-betrayal by Elle. But it didn’t arrive. I couldn’t bring myself to be angry with her, because all of her poor choices – as well as my own – had brought me to this moment. And, in this moment, I could finally see what it was I needed to do. Who I needed to become. And the many people who would be by my side as I made the shift, instead of Elle and Elle alone. Plus, her decision to snub out my connection with Tom back then had only resulted in an even deeper one all these years later. And Tom Brinton, I knew, was so worth the wait.

‘She never told me, Tom.’

‘Yeah, I gathered. Oh well.’

‘Oh well,’ I whispered through a drowsy smile. ‘I would’ve said yes, for what it’s worth.’

‘I know.’

We kissed again. For longer this time. The room was definitely getting warmer, but I couldn’t tell if it was the central heating kicking in or the igniting embers inside me. I shrugged off my dressing gown as things began to move into a more horizontal direction, but felt a sudden vibration from Tom’s pocket.

‘Sorry. Hang on.’ He placed the phone on the coffee table and began to return to me. I glanced at it.

‘Umm, Tom, your mum’s calling you at seven o’clock in the morning. Don’t you think you should answer?’

‘Argh, yeah, you’re right.’ He cleared his throat before answering. ‘Hey, Mum. Yeah, all good…’

His voice trailed off as he wandered into the hallway, gently closing the door behind him.

I reclined on the sofa in a state of flustered arousal. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. I mean, years ago I’d played out countless imaginary scenarios of how me and Tom Brinton would finally declare our undying love for each other. Strangely, none of them had involved a reportable data breach and an emergency foil blanket.

Tom wandered back through after a few minutes. I scooched up on the sofa to create space where he’d sat before. He perched on the edge of it. Oh. Bugger.

‘Sorry about that. She’s been panicking about you almost as much as me. She needed to know you were okay.’

‘She knows you’re here?’

‘Yeah, there’s not much she doesn’t know, to be honest. Is that weird?’

‘No, it’s lovely. I just hope you didn’t tell her that I’m currently way more than “okay”…’

We kissed again. More urgently this time. If this’d been a cheesy Christmas movie, the film would’ve ended the instant our lips had touched, unopened, for the first time, our ‘happily ever after’ set in rock-hard gingerbread house frosting. But this wasn’t a cheesy Christmas movie; it was a real, messy life. And, in my very real brain, I had a thought that made me stop. Once it was there, there was no shaking it off. I pulled away.

‘What’s the matter?’ Tom asked.

‘This is doomed, isn’t it?’

‘What, us?’

‘Yeah. Us. Think about it. I can’t see myself living in Scarnbrook again, Tom. It was home for me once. But, for the time being, this flat in this city is my home.’

‘Yeah, of course it is.’

‘And you couldn’t ever move away from your mum, could you?’