Man to man, I told him the awful truth. I was sick, I was mortally injured, and I was bleeding out. I was probably going to be the first kid in my school who died of love, I told him. And you know what? My dear old dad didn’t laugh, he didn’t tell me I was being silly, and he didn’t tell me I was too young to feel the way I absolutely, categorically knew nobody had ever felt before. He just put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my miserable face and kissed me on the forehead. Then he said, ‘Love hurts, Danny, I can’t tell you a lie. But getting hurt is the price of being human because, when it’s real and when it’s right, love is the most beautiful pain in the world. The thing you’ve got to work out, though, is: that pain you’re feeling now, is it love or is it indigestion?’ My dad, what a diamond.

And so, Sam, I’m going to say the same things to you that he said to me then, not word for word of course, because it was all a bit long ago, but I hope you’ll get the drift (and also I think you’ll appreciate the drama). He said, if you see an empty chair in a room and all you wish is that she was in it, if you hear her voice in a crowd and the rest of the world goes quiet, if you can’t imagine anything worse than never seeing her face again, that’s when you put away the Gaviscon and hold on tight, son. And you’re never a fool if it’s love. (Well, that was a bit of a surprise because I think that actually is word for word, and it’s pretty much the first time I’ve thought of it since my old man died.)

So take a deep breath and ask yourself those questions, and if the answer is yes, then I say go for it. Go hard, go for broke and have at it with your heart, mate. Because when it’s good, there’s nothing better than love and that’s the truth.

And look, full disclaimer, it didn’t go well with Alison Bailey in the end, but she was never in doubt about how I felt, and we had two pretty good weeks before it turned into a case of genuine indigestion on her side. I’m not sure I’m over her yet, but I’ve never regretted shooting my shot. Not then and never since.

The Greeks were right – love is a lovely, lovely lunacy.

Courage, my friend.

Sincerely, Danny Mulberry

29

Danny

‘Come in, you don’t have to knock, Danny.’

Lou was already sitting on the edge of the bed when I arrived to do her leg dressings. I had to stop myself from doing a double take when I realised that this older, more angular version already looked more familiar than the eighteen-year-old girl I’d tried so hard to forget. Gentleman pushed past me and snuffled her hand on the way through, before flopping down in the corner next to the stack of boxes camouflaged with a Laura Ashley sheet.