‘Well, I do,’ he said, raising his head to look her in the eyes again. ‘You don’t even realise it. You don’t realise how people see you, or how great you are. You don’t realise how you have this incredible ability to make people feel better about themselves. To make them feel like they’re important. And here’s the thing,’ he added, ‘you’ve made me realise that my life isn’t over. That I still have some control over it. For so long, it felt as if everything was happening to me, and I had no say over any of it. You’ve made me realise that I do have a say. You’ve made me realise that I had been hanging on to some idea of what I thought Sophie and I should have been, rather that realising what we really were. We hung on to each other out of habit, rather than being the best people for each other.’

Her heart was in her throat. She couldn’t believe what he was saying, but with every word, she felt as if she were closer and closer to where she wanted to be.

‘You’ve taught me to be brave, and take chances,’ he continued.

‘I’m glad,’ she muttered while she felt unable to say anything more. Not until she knew, exactly, where this was going.

‘So I’m taking a chance,’ he said and dipped his head closer to hers.

Jo felt her breath catch in her throat.

His hand was on her cheek, angling her face towards his. ‘I don’t want to be the person who hurts you,’ he repeats. ‘I want to be the person who takes chances with you. Who sees the world differently. Who watches cheesy movies with a charming six-year-old. Who helps you rescue dogs like Paddy, and old men who really should be taking it easier. I want to be the person who kisses you, right now.’

His lips were on hers, soft at first. Hesitant, as if he was afraid this wasn’t what she wanted.

It was her turn, she realised, to take a chance right back. She raised her hand to his cheek and kissed him back, losing herself in the sensation. And she knew in that moment, this was what she had been waiting for. The kiss that all those movies promised came as a reward for true love. The kind of kiss Westley and Buttercup shared in The Princess Bride. The kiss she knew signalled the start of her own happy ever after.

Epilogue

One Year Later

The pop of the champagne bottle made Jo jump, even though she had watched as Noah had started to twist the cork slowly and had known that the noise would follow.