He nods. “We’re over a year clear of turns now.” I smile at the word “we.” “You’ve got your license back.” He grins. “I saw it on the hall table and got the idea straight away. So, you’re going to drive us to Brighton, and I’ve booked a very beautiful hotel on the front for the weekend. But don’t worry,” he whispers into my ear. “There are no baths in this hotel bedroom. They’ve actually gone the whole hog and built a special room for that.”

I laugh and nudge him, still staring at the car. “I can’t believe it.”

“Do you like it?”

I turn to him and hug him tightly until he protests. “Oh my God, I love it,” I exclaim. “It’s so beautiful.”

“The colour reminded me of that first pair of your knickers,” he whispers, and I flush.

I still love wearing lacy knickers. The difference is that Misha more than loves it too, to the extent that I now have a drawer full of very expensive panties because he buys me something new every week. I generally only get one wear out of them because he really likes to use his hands and ripping lace floats his boat.

“It’s so expensive,” I say worriedly. “What if I have a turn again and can’t use it?”

He shrugs. “We’ll use it for something else.”

“What? A plant pot?”

He pinches me, making me laugh and flinch away. “I’m not sure when sarcasm found you, Charlie, but I wish it’d move on now.” I laugh again, and he tugs me closer. I go willingly, loving him so much it makes my stomach tighten. “But here’s a novel concept,” he says seriously. “What if you never have another turn and you drive this car until it’s too old to use it anymore? What then?”

“Is this a euphemism?”

He laughs and kisses my temple, nuzzling my hair. “Maybe, or maybe it’s just a simple way of saying that we can’t prepare for everything, so let’s just enjoy what we have now.”

“What happened to the man who prepared for everything?”

“You broke him with your happy Spotify playlists,” he advises me.

I hug him. “I love you so much, Misha,” I say, and in that fierce tone is everything that I can’t find the words to say. It’s the laughter we share, the home we’ve built, and the sense of finally finding the other part of me. It’s a good foundation for everything to come, and while I know that some of that might be bad, after over a year spent loving my best friend, I know that we’ll face it together because that’s the source of our real strength.

Misha