We drive away from the airport and I can’t help but notice a plane taking off in the distance, one I know carries Tom and his band back to London and to the life he craved and is now living. I hope he finds love one day, just like I have. I hope he learns to be happy and, like me, takes a chance to make sure it comes his way.

‘I can’t wait to get home,’ I say to Jack, and then we put the windows down and turn the radio up loud. It’s Blind Generation on as usual, but I don’t turn it over this time.

Instead we just laugh and sing along with Tom as he makes his own way home, back to London, across the sky.

Epilogue

Wicklow, Christmas Eve 2019

I jump up like a child on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa when I hear the first car arrive to our home in Ardara. The living room is decorated, the tree is up and both Jack and I have been busy in the kitchen preparing food and drinks for our expected guests. A smell of mulled wine and cloves lingers in the air and the sound of Sinatra fills my ears with joy.

We’re hosting a bumper festive season this year, and I can’t wait to see everyone who has been invited, even if some of them have agreed to sleep on the floor in the makeshift beds we’ve put up for them all.

I peep out of the curtains to see who has got here first. Since I started my job at the local primary school here in Ardara where they put the most wonderful emphasis on outdoor life and alternative teaching, where they love my music and songs, I haven’t been able to see my family as much as I used to, which makes this holiday season even more special.

‘It’s Emily!’ I squeal, racing out through the hallway where I bear hug my sister, minding her growing bump, which I then kiss and stroke in total awe. ‘How are you feeling? Boy, you’ve got so big! Not fat, pregnant, I mean!’

She laughs and pats her belly. Kevin’s chest swells beside her.

‘You’re right, he sure is going to be one big boy,’ she says, letting Jack and me know she has found out the gender of her much anticipated arrival.

I feel my own belly flutter.

‘Ah! A nephew!’ I coo. ‘Oh, we’re all going to love you so, so much, little boy!’