Soon he would have Ava to himself. Someone in Alice Springs had suggested they attend the Sounds of Silence dinner between Kata Tjuta and Uluru, and he’d booked that for tomorrow night. Apparently, one of the local Aboriginal elders shared Dreamtime stories from the night sky while the attendees looked through telescopes. It would be marvellous to just sit out under the starlight with Ava and soak it all in with the stories. He decided he liked the sound of the traditional names more than ‘The Olgas’ and ‘Ayers Rock’, which had been given by the Europeans.

But not tonight. Tonight he wanted Ava. Just Ava. Considering his plans for tonight, it was strange that tomorrow would be their first real date. He was just grateful for all they’d had up until now.

The gratitude word had become his biggest lesson since meeting Ava May. To learn to be grateful for the blessings instead of bitter about the pills in life. It wasn’t new or groundbreaking, but he’d missed that basic truth in the rush and drama of his world away from here. Life before Ava.

She’d gently suggested he shift towards being grateful for the good times, the friendship and early excitement with Roslyn, and that he’d had the time to say an extended goodbye, despite his ambivalence about her parents’ decision to continue life support. He certainly needed to be grateful that he’d been able to share the exhilaration of today.

But now he’d like to have time with Ava to resolve their future, to put his feelings out there and be sure she felt the way he did, because if she didn’t then he needed to move on from here before he was so far in love with her he’d never recover.

They needed to talk about whether they could both fit into each other’s lives, and that conversation required privacy for him to present his ring and ask to marry the woman he knew he was falling more and more in love with every day. He’d shifted the ring to the zipper compartment on the back of his wallet. He had no loose change and it couldn’t fall out, and he hadn’t wanted the bulky box to give away the surprise. He’d been hoping for a few hours before sunset, but they were running out of time.

‘You do draw drama.’ Ava’s voice came from behind him and he turned to look at her in the afternoon light. Her face was haloed by the sun, and every line and shadow seemed precious to him, making his chest ache with emotion.