‘I do miss those good old days,’ Tarek says nostalgically, clinking Chas’s glass with his pint of Coke.
‘They were great, weren’t they?’ Dan agrees, patting his uncle’s chest affectionately.
‘Maybe it’s time for a reunion,’ Amy suggests with a grin.
Chas looks past me at Tom and raises an eyebrow. ‘Can you sing?’
Tom chuckles and shakes his head.
On his return, Chas was surprised to find me in a serious relationship.
‘I thought you were wedded to this place like I am!’ he joked, meaning Seaglass.
He seemed happy with the way I’ve been running things, and I did enjoy moving up into a managerial role, but I’m glad to be able to take a step back again now, even if I’ll still be working my arse off until the end of August. It will be good to have a bit more time to focus on the other things in my life once autumn comes.
I can’t wait to spend a winter here with Tom. He’s going to love having access to so many quieter beaches once the tourists have gone, and I’m excited to get into my garden studio again – Tom thinks I should have heating plumbed in so it’s not too cold once the weather turns.
It’s going to be good getting the rest of the house back too; being able to wake up and go downstairs to the kitchen-diner.
I never thought I’d be so keen for summer to be over.
Michael walks out onto the balcony, a big smile on his face at the sight of us.
‘There he is!’ Rach shouts, beckoning him over.
‘I heard you’re famous now,’ Chas says when my brother has finished exchanging hugs.
Michael side-eyes him circumspectly.
‘Your statue!’ Chas explains.
‘Oh, yeah!’ Michael grins again.
And then he looks past Rach to the other end of the balcony and his face lights up brighter still.
‘FINN!’ he shouts, wildly waving his arms over his head.
All the lights in the universe blink out and a single spotlight shines on Finn as he makes his way along the balcony to gasps and exclamations from our friends, who very evidently didnotknow he was coming.
I feel myself shrink as everything inside me contracts, getting smaller and smaller. Tom stiffens behind me.
Finn is only metres away when his Celtic Sea green eyes catch mine and I’m struck by the raw emotion I see in them. Then he severs the contact and stares past me at Tom.
A second later, he’s in the midst of our friends.
I tear my eyes away and look at Amy.
‘I didn’t know,’ she mouths, eyes wide with alarm, shaking her head at me.
And then I’m watching Finn again and the years are collapsing in on themselves, toppling and falling, as pieces of our love story slam into place.
I see him staring at me in the mirror, wearing a holey black jumper and grinning as he told me that I was Olivia Arterton.
I see him up on stage, a smile curving his lips, as it dawned on me that he was singing Taylor Swift’s ‘22’.
I see him seconds before the first time we kissed, after I’d tried to poke one of his dimples and he’d snatched my finger and bitten it.
I see him standing out here on the balcony, the wind whipping his hair into dark slashes across his cheekbones, minutes after I’d unsettled him by calling him Danny Finnegan.
