He blew out a long, slow breath. “You have had a busy year. Why did it end?”

“We wanted different things.”

“Like what?”

“He wants a child-free life. I don’t.”

Harry’s face fell into serious lines. “So, here we are back at the crux of the issue. I know you can’t have kids but you want them. I love you, but do you have feelings for me or just for Holly and Hunter?”

It was a fair question and one that deserved an honest answer. She thought about something Elsie Gregson had said: good men don’t always make your heart race the first time you meet them, but they’re there for the long haul.

“Do you remember earlier in the year when we ran into each other at the coffee shop over the river?”

“You were speed dating?”

She nodded. “You walked in and Zadie told me you were cute in a shaggy dog sort of a way and maybe you’d make a good project.”

“Next time I buy coffee there, I’m not tipping.”

“It gets worse. I said I didn’t want a project, I wanted a fully functional man.”

“Ouch.”

“But that’s the thing. You look a bit scruffy and sometimes you annoy the pants off me, but underneath you’re one of the most functional men I know. You encouraged me to go back to drawing. You quietly dealt with my hot flashes and me crying all over you without making me feel foolish. You listened when I needed advice and when I arrived unannounced at your house with three kids in tow, you danced with me.

“I thought I wanted someone who just accepted me saying ‘yeah, all good’ when they asked me how I was. At first, I hated the way you dug just that bit deeper and how sometimes you seemed so serious, but when you went all old school taciturn on me, I missed you.”

Alice interlaced her fingers with his. “I’ve missed the silly photos, the very precise and grammatically correct texts and even the number jokes, although I only get half of them. But most of all, I’ve missed you and the way you’re in my corner. Love snuck up on me somewhere between that first hello on the pier and our rock pool ramble.”

He was grinning up at her. “So that’s a yes on loving me?”

“That’s a yes. But I want a do-over on the date with the serious yet often very entertaining Harry Waxman.”

“You’re on.” He kissed her.

Suddenly, the mattress dipped and Brutus’s face appeared above them.

“If it isn’t kids, it’s hungry dogs,” Harry grumbled.

“It’s the rich tapestry of the life I want.”

“And you’re sure? Because the kids—”