Rachel, however, is delighted and offers to sponsor my work visa. She promises to tell me whose wedding I’m doing when we’re face to face. No amount of, ‘Do they work on EastEnders, or Corrie, or have they been on The X Factor…?’ sways her. She’s staying silent until I sign my confidentiality clause.

Alex and I speak on the phone every day – sometimes twice a day – and, although physically we couldn’t be further apart, by the time I’m packing up my things and walking out of my empty Bondi Beach studio flat, I feel closer to him than ever.

I do go for one last cuppa at Lucy’s house in Manly, and it’s strange stepping off the ferry and walking past our old home. I feel a pang as I cast a poignant look up at the balcony. There are no wetsuits hanging outside.

We did have good times there. But life moves on. I’ve moved on. Lachie has. Even Elliot has started seeing someone – a friend of Fliss’s older sister, bizarrely. And Lachie is still with Fliss. I’m at peace with it.

I’m sad to say goodbye to Lucy, though. I’ll miss her – and Nathan, Finn and now little baby Izzy, too. Lucy promises that they will all come and visit me next year when they’re in the UK and I tell her I’ll hold her to it.

‘Are you going to see Lachie before you leave?’ she asks.

I shake my head. ‘I haven’t spoken to him in months.’

Elliot was the one who told me that he’s still with Fliss. I don’t make a point of catching up with El, but he does work near me in the city, and sometimes we bump into each other and go for a coffee.

‘I think you’ll find him at the beach if you change your mind,’ she says. ‘He and Nathan have gone surfing.’

My head is still swimming with this information as I walk back to the ferry terminal via Manly Beach. I stand and stare out at the grey waves and the slick seal-like surfers sitting up on their boards. Pelicans fly low across the ocean as my eyes seek out Lachie. He looks my way and seems to freeze.

He catches the next wave in.

‘Hey!’ he calls, his smile hesitant as his feet pad across the sand towards me, his black wetsuit streaming with water.

‘I was just saying goodbye to Lucy. She told me you were down here.’

He rakes his hand through his blond hair, several shades darker than it would be if it weren’t wet.

‘Nathan told me you’re moving back to the UK,’ he says.

I nod. ‘The day after tomorrow. Rachel has asked me to do a wedding with her.’

His face lights up. ‘So you’re finally going back to wedding photography?’

‘At long last.’

‘Yeah, at long last,’ he agrees reflectively. ‘And Alex? Are things still happening there?’