He takes a seat. “This house is important to me. It’s the location of our first second-time-around date, and where I opened that letter. I don’t want you to ever feel that if you come to live with me, you have to give up this town completely. We can holiday here.”

“I love it.” I chew on my bottom lip. “How much did you pay for it?”

Josh chuckles. “It doesn’t matter. We negotiated a fair price. The settlement date is still a couple of weeks away, but Richard was happy to hand over the keys early. So, anytime you need to get away we can come up here.”

“And you’re still here for a few weeks?”

He nods. “I’m all yours.”

I flop back on the bed. “Wanna come and show me, then?”

We spend so much time christening the house, we get to school just as the bell rings.

But I have no regrets at all.

* * *

Having Josh home is wonderful.

It’s like he never left and the past few months didn’t happen as he slots into our daily lives effortlessly.

It helps that there aren’t people waiting for days outside my place, hoping for a glimpse of him. It’s peaceful, and while he gets stopped in the street sometimes for the odd selfie or autograph, he settles in like one of the locals.

Melly’s happy she’s got her daddy.

By the middle of the second week, he’s well established. He drops Melly at school in the morning and picks her up in the afternoon. For the first time, I haven’t had to rush anywhere, and I like it. Maybe a little too much.

All it will really do is make it harder when the inevitable happens and he leaves.

During the day, he sits at home on his laptop, working on something. I’m not sure what it is, but the little bits he has let me in on tell me it could be big. I don’t really care what it is because he’s smiling, and Melly is smiling, and I love him being there at night with us and waking up with me in the morning.

It’s Sunday morning, and I’ve been lounging around in my pyjamas. The house is warm, so I can get away with wearing shorts and a tank top, my hair piled up into a messy bun so it looks like I’ve made a little effort when I haven’t.

Josh has been with us for three weeks, and hasn’t said anything about leaving yet. I’ve just decided to make the most of it until that day comes.

“Want to see what I’m doing?” Josh pats the leather couch beside him in invitation.

“Of course.” I sit and lean against his arm.

“Reece and I have started a production company. We’re going to make our own movie.”