EXCEPT WHAT I JUST SAID, AS THE LOGAN THING IS TRUE.

Weird, but fine—and nowhere near as good as the last one:

ALSO I’M A WET WIPE!! I MEAN YOU KNOW THAT. BUT I TOTALLY GOT THE WRONG END OF THE STICK. AND I’M BUYING YOU SO MANY AIRPORT TOBLERONES IN CELEBRATION OF YOU FINALLY BEING OVER EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

But then his phone died, and I couldn’t be sure Fred had even read them.

But I had.

Fred wasn’t with Eve.

So this was it. My last chance.

But with time running out, was I finally going to be brave enough to tell him?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Holly

“Hi, Dottie.” I put down two hot drinks on the small table by her armchair. The communal breakout area was full of visitors.

She held up her arms for a hug, her massive cardi dangling. “Well, this is a treat. You must have just missed Nick!”

“Oh, well, at least it means I get you to myself.” I said, leaning in to give her a big cuddle, hoping she couldn’t hear the cover-up in my voice.

“Everyone…” Dottie clapped to get the attention of the room. “Look who’s here—my British friend!”

The lovely people in the room actually clapped. I waved like a really cold, damp celebrity who was on the verge of full-on ugly cry.

I’d realized three things in the car park. How I really felt about Nick.

How I really felt about messing it all up.

And that I was probably going to have to have at least three toes amputated.

“You live with total dudes, Dottie.”

“I know. They’re a good bunch.” She picked up the tea and took a sip. “Boy, am I going to miss this when you’re gone! Finally someone who knows their way around a tea bag.” She slowly clinked it back on to the saucer.

Yup. This was a good idea. Dottie was cheering me up already. I pulled out the Christmas card I’d made for her, and she put it up on the table lovingly, like it was a work of art.

“Don’t tell anyone”—she pushed her glasses farther up her nose as she looked at it—“but these stopped being useful about a decade ago, but they look so good on, I can’t bear to part with them.” She pursed her lips. “One can never know when a handsome gentleman might appear…” She laughed, her naughty, playful laugh. Wow. When I grew up, I wanted to be like her. “So, have you got any more photos for me?”

With me holding my phone as close as I could without touching her face, I showed her some of the ones from New York. Every one made me feel both tingly with happiness and also really sad. I really had had the best time.