‘I have something to show you,’ he says.

‘What is it?’ I say, wary. Surprises, especially the ones I’ve had lately, put me on edge.

‘On the backseat, there’s a bag.’ He sounds very ominous.

I turn around and see a big brown paper bag sitting there.

‘Is it another stuffed toy dog?’ I ask.

‘Very funny, but no. It’s actually sort of worse than that.’ ‘I love that dog,’ I admit.

‘Well, I need to give you context for this first, before you look at anything.’

‘Set the scene,’ I say, pushing my sunglasses up onto my head.

‘So, after everything that happened back then, in school, the kiss attempt and me being awful and you ripping the map,’ he says.

‘After all that, yes,’ I say.

‘There’s a bit more I never told you.’

‘Oh?’ I say, my stomach suddenly bubbly with nerves.

‘I was feeling guilty. I knew I’d fucked everything up. And I thought if I could just show you how sorry I was, we could be friends again.’

‘Okay,’ I say. I had no idea he felt this way back then.

‘I thought I should get you a present. Well, first I thought about writing a letter but every time I tried, it was really bad. I had no idea how to write a letter to a girl without sounding cheesy. I still don’t. So I decided a gift was the best option,’ he says. He’s watching the road as he says this, occasionally glancing at me. I don’t know where this story is going, and I still have no clue what is in the bag.

‘I wanted to give you something meaningful and heartfelt.’

‘What is it?’ I say, reaching around and picking up the bag. It’s heavy.

‘Well, I took the ripped-up map home. At first, I thought I could tape it back together, smooth it out, but that didn’t work, so I drew the whole thing all again. I recreated it and made it better, put in a few more of the details that you had written into the story, and then I got it framed.’

I reach into the bag and pull it out, the map he drew of the world we made up together, in a lovely plain wooden frame, behind glass. I have to take a second, to swallow and make sure my voice won’t wobble when I speak, that my eyes won’t fill with tears. Because it’s so lovely and sentimental and gorgeous.

‘You really did this, back then?’

‘I did. And I kept it all this time. I went looking for it in a box last night, after I got home.’

‘Why didn’t you give it to me when you had it framed?’