* * *
* * *
Once we’ve wrapped filming, I have to run; I’m meeting Ted for dinner after his shift at the hospital.
“Laura, are you sure I can’t persuade you and Ted to do an interview for us?” Suki asks. “Your story is almost as good as ours, and it’s always good to have friends of the Love Life family doing their bit to support the brand.”
“No, I don’t think so, Suki. We’re—” I try to think of a tactful way to say that we don’t want to share our story with anyone else. “We’re trying to keep things low-key.”
“Fine.” Suki sighs. “Well, I’ll give you the nod at our wedding to make sure you catch the bouquet. Oh, and Henry Cavill is coming too, so if you want an upgrade on Ted, let me know and I’ll sort out the seating plan.”
We say our good-byes, and I run to the train to take me down to Chelsea and Westminster.
The Fulham Road is damp from an earlier rain shower, the pavement busy—people queue for buses, pull their coats around them, and hurry off to wherever they are going. The streetlights have just come on in the early evening light, and there is an amber glow in the air. After waiting outside the front of the hospital for five minutes, I see Ted come out through the doors, looking left and right a few times before he clocks me. I don’t call out to him. Sometimes, I love just watching the way he is in the world; I savor this stolen moment to take him in before he sees me. He’s grown his beard back, at my request, but it’s short now, well groomed, and I love it, my Beardy McCastaway.
He sees me and tilts his head, shrugging as though to ask why I didn’t call out his name.
“All right, Lady Muck?” he says.
“How was it? Your last day.”
But he doesn’t answer, he just picks me up off the ground, folds me in his arms, and kisses me as though it were the first time. It’s his I-don’t-care-who’s-watching kiss, and it floors me every time.
“What was I saying?” I ask, light-headed, when he finally puts me down.
“You asked about my day.” He smiles. “It was fine, emotional, but I’ll stay in touch with everyone, I hope. How did the interview go with Suki and Jasper?”
“Bizarre,” I say. “I still can’t get my head around those two together. Nothing about them as a couple makes any sense, but then you see the way they look at each other and—”
“Kablammo?”
“Well, yes. Vanya says Suki’s completely changed; she even lets people work remotely now, mainly because she’s in Jersey half the time herself. Oh, before I forget—Dee rang. She, Neil, and baby Isaac are all going to come and stay next weekend, Vanya too, so they’ll all be there for the exhibition launch. We might put Vanya in the house and the others in the cottage—apparently Isaac’s a terrible sleeper and is up half the night with colic.”
“If we ever have a baby, Laura, you do know we won’t be able to relegate it to sleeping in the cottage?”
“Yes, I know, but we’ll cross that sleep-deprived bridge when we come to it, shall we? Dee won’t mind, she loves it there; it’s cozy.”
Jasper pauses, unzipping his backpack to retrieve his copper bracelet from an inner pocket, then he fastens it back onto his wrist. He’s not allowed to wear jewelry on shift, but otherwise, he wears it all the time. I made it for him; it’s a plain copper band with his half of the coin embedded in the front.
“I’ve got so much to organize before the jewelry exhibition next weekend. It might have been ambitious to think we could move everything out of my flat, get all our things over on the ferry, and plan the launch of my first official collection, all in the same week,” I say, hugging his arm tight into mine as we walk along the damp pavement.
“Well, Ilídio’s made all the display cabinets already, and Sandy’s invited half the island to the opening. It will be fine, don’t worry,” says Ted.
“Do you think Gerry will be able to make it?” I ask, turning to see Ted’s face in the streetlight. He pulls my hand up to his lips and kisses it.
“He’ll be there, Laura. We’ll all be there for you.”
And I know, as I have for a while now, that this man will be there for me, as long as I want him to be, as I will be there for him.
I have no illusions about happily ever afters—I know life will bring its challenges and nothing is forever—but I hope we might be happy today, and for as many todays as we are lucky enough to have.