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‘Why? That ring’s a part of you, Holly. Evan’s part of you. And I wouldn’t change anything about that.’

‘I love you so much,’ she said.

‘The feeling’s mutual.’

She moved towards him. Her pulse drumming as she knew another kiss was only a heartbeat away, but before their lips touched, a loud throat-clearing stopped them.

Holly turned to find the air stewardess, and everyone else, looking at them.

‘Excuse me, ma’am, do I take this to mean you aren’t getting the flight?’

Holly looked up to Giles, where a glint in his eyes said it all.

‘You know what?’ she said to the air hostess. ‘I think I’ll take that flight bump after all.’

EPILOGUE

Holly Berry had always heard the phrase, ‘You should fall in love with your best friend,’ but she had never thought that would happen to her. Yet, somehow, it had. She was in love with her best friend, Giles Caverty, and nothing had ever felt more natural or more like home.

She had thought there would be a transition period – that it might take Hope some time to get used to the idea of Giles being more than just a close family friend. It didn’t.

‘You know it was obvious, right?’ she’d said. ‘I could always tell you had crushes on each other.’

‘What do you know about crushes?!’ Holly had replied. ‘You’re way too young for those?’

‘Am I? Weird.’

Holly chose not to respond to that one. She was just grateful Hope was happy. Three months after that airport incident, he moved into hers. Everything slotted together perfectly. She went over to the States every three months to offer Moritz advice on his ever-expanding sweet shop empire over there and Giles’s support offered her all the confidence she needed to set up a second Just One More up the road in Lower Slaughter.

A year later, on a Wednesday afternoon, they headed out for a drive in Giles’s car. It was still one of their favourite things to do, and they promised Hope that when summer came around, they would get a campervan so they could go on proper driving adventures. That day, however, it was just the two of them as Giles pulled up beside a small footpath and turned to face her.

‘Why are you stopping?’ she said. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Yeah, everything’s fine. Only I’ve been thinking about something a lot lately,’ he said.

‘Really? That’s not like you,’ Holly teased.

Giles shook his head and laughed. ‘I’ve been thinking about the right way to ask you something. And it’s been stressing me out. But then, when we came out today, it struck me. There is no right way, because there is no wrong way. And if there is no wrong way, then that means there can’t be a right way either. You understand?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Holly replied. ‘Actually, Giles, it sounds a little bit like you’re babbling there. You know what I think about babbling.’

He chuckled.

‘Well, let me ask another way then,’ he said. ‘One that doesn’t require any talking at all.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, round box. ‘Holly Berry,’ he said, ‘will you marry me?’

She didn’t need to think about the answer. She didn’t even reply with words.

Instead, her lips landed straight on his. It wasn’t the type of proposal some people would have wanted. He hadn’t gotten down on one knee and the ring box was still closed, so Holly had no idea what the ring looked like, but it didn’t matter. There could have been a piece of string inside and she would have said yes.

A feeling of pure happiness flooded her, only for a sudden thought to make her jolt back.

‘What is it?’ he asked, concerned.

‘Well, I can’t take your surname,’ she said.

‘Why not? Don’t you like Caverty?’

‘You can’t have a sweet shop owner with the surname Cavity!’ she exclaimed.

Giles’s head tilted to the side.

‘Wow, cavities and sweets. I’ve never noticed that before.’

* * *