‘You two are so sweet, renewing your vows,’ Alice said. She was finding it hard to concentrate as Nate worked a finger slowly around the curve of her bum. After three months of teasing, foreplay had finally ended; the months since had been worth it.

‘It felt like the right time.’ Paul gazed at Jules, who put a hand on his cheek affectionately. Later, they were going to ask Luca and Kai for advice on beginning the adoption process. He raised his glass. ‘God knows the last few years haven’t been easy,’ he said. ‘For any of us. But I would marry you a thousand times, Julia Frey-Jackson.’ He stood, his glass high. ‘To love!’ he shouted, his deep voice carrying into the balmy air and out to sea.

They all grinned and stood, eyes and hearts beaming.

‘To love!’ they cheered.

*

Dusk fell, bruising the sky shades of coral and lavender, and a canopy of stars exploded above them. The terrace was festooned with lights, the ancient busts cast bronze from the glow, flares of gold spilled out from the houses lining the cliffs like fireflies. After a break for dinner the band had returned, its music more uptempo.

‘Is this our best ever dance floor?’ Alice said, shimmying her shoulders and her hips, not quite in time to the music.

Jules nodded, swishing her arms and rolling her hips around in circles: ‘The Ocean’, she joked.

Alice strutted over to the band and leaned in. ‘Do you know “Disco 2000”?’ she asked, and the frontwoman – a dazzling burst of energy with flaming red hair – frowned, leaning backwards to consult with her bandmates.

‘Hey, you know what next year is?’ Jules said as she returned. ‘Our fortieths. What do you think? A weekend in Paris for old times’ sake?’

‘Hm. I’m a big fan of Lisbon these days,’ said Nina.

‘I quite fancy Berlin,’ chipped in Alice.

‘But Paris…’ said Jules, and images of low-lit restaurants and crisp coupes of Kir royale and the Eiffel Tower hung in the air between them like a jet trail as the frontwoman shot a thumbs up to the group and the opening bars of ‘Disco 2000’ electrified the evening air. ‘Seriously though, we should do something to mark it?’

‘I think one Eiffel Tower tattoo’s plenty,’ Jules laughed.

‘I don’t think we need anything,’ said Nina. ‘Just us is enough.’ She reached her arms around them both, the sea behind them midnight blue, shards of moonlight glittering over its surface, all the people they loved moving and dancing around them. ‘We made it,’ she said.

They grinned at each other for a moment before Alice and Jules spoke in unison.

‘We really did.’

*

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Author’s Note

CHARLOTTE DIGBY is autistic, with a demand avoidant profile. Essentially this means that the more overwhelmed she becomes, the more she says ‘no’ to the everyday demands of life. Extreme demand avoidance such as Charlotte’s may be diagnosed as Pathological Demand Avoidance or ‘PDA’, a part of the autism spectrum (I say ‘may’ because the route to diagnosis is complex and, relative to autism in general, understanding of PDA is in its infancy).