“So that’s a ‘no’ for New Year’s resolutions, then?”

I broke the hug and started walking again, shaking my head at him. “You dork. We were having a moment, don’t you know?”

He caught up. “Yeah, but in my defence, this whole romance thing is new to me. Or, at least, I’m a little rusty.”

“Dork!” I shook my head at him again and rolled my eyes. I was glad there was a full moon so he could see my face while I made fun of him.

“I wear the mantle proudly.”

“You know, I usually do make resolutions.” I said, getting back to his question.

“Actually, scratch that—I don’t make them, I agonise over them.”

“But not this year?”

“Well, no. You see, I read this blog post last week about New Year’s absolutions.”

“Absolutions?”

“Yep. That’s where you only resolve to absolve yourself of something.”

“Hah!” he laughed. “Love it.”

“Yeah, you like that?” I asked, adding my own laugh. “You’re thinking about what to absolve yourself of now, aren’t you?”

He nodded, grinning. “Guilty, but I’ll wait. Tell me yours.”

“Well, the first one is probably obvious. I absolve myself of writing resolutions.”

“So, the equivalent of the infinite wishes wish?”

“Exactly! So, with that out of the way, I’ve been thinking about all the things on my ‘should list’.”

“Should list?”

“Yeah. You know? I should do this, I should do that,” I replied.

“Sounds like you’re quite the taskmaster.”

“You have no idea. Anyway, the biggies I came up with are”—I held up my thumb—“catching up on Game of Thrones—”

He interrupted me. “What’s wrong with Game of Thrones?”

“Too many characters!” He shook his head at me. “Moving on! Two: drinking kombucha, or coconut water, or apple cider vinegar.”

“Well, that’s just common sense. Those are all disgusting, especially coconut water.”

“Exactly! Not to mention that the so-called ‘health benefits’ are somewhat dubious.” I did the air quotes—don’t judge me.

“You’re very passionate about this.”

“I am.” I lifted my chin proudly.

“Anything else?”

“Well, the last one is a little vain and makes me sound like a total chick, so I’m not sure I want to say it.”

He laughed. “Sarah, I’ve seen you without any makeup on many, many times.” Okay, Josh, thanks for the reminder—maybe dial it back a bit. “I think you can tell me your last absolution.”

I chewed on my lip, considering it. But what about mystery? Wasn’t it the key to keeping the romance alive? I didn’t want to become one of those couples who went to the toilet in front of each other— if we actually were a couple. I mean, who does that? No, really, who?

I digress.

What I didn’t want to tell Josh was that I had absolved myself of going grey. I was starting to accumulate quite a few of the little grey buggers, and I’d be damned if I was going to be one of those women who gave in to nature. I wasn’t even forty yet and one of my boyfriends was a Millennial. I was keeping my standing monthly appointment to get my roots done, damn it!