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“Your job is important,” Sophie said. “I’ve been thinking that it put me in second place, but this is your job, saving lives, making people safe. You putting your job first means that I get to hug my dad again. I was being selfish and stupid, thinking that an intelligent, decent person only had time for one thing in their life.”

Tilly watched her silently, eyes blue as the ocean.

“What I mean is,” said Sophie. “Is that we’re different, you and I. We’re different and that’s okay. We have different priorities about things, and that’s fine. You might not always love my family, and they might not always love you, but sometimes, just sometimes, we have to put ourselves first. And that’s what I’m doing.”

“Are you?” Tilly asked doubtfully.

Sophie sighed and sat down. “I’m doing a terrible job of explaining things. Okay, let’s try again. Thank you for saving my dad’s life.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And I understand that your job is important and that it’s important to you. I don’t want to stand in the way of that.”

“Okay.”

She took a breath. “And what I’m saying is… well, is there a chance for us? I’d like there to be a chance for us.”

Tilly was silent.

Sophie felt her heart start to crack. “I don’t want to be without you,” she said, more quietly. “I want to wake up with you. I want to see your smile when I come home. I want to feel you nextto me when I’m sad and laugh with you when I’m not. I can’t imagine a world that doesn’t have you and me in it together.”

Tilly reached out and took her hand.

“When you asked me to move in with you, it felt… right,” said Sophie. “Like the world just clicked into place like a big Rubik’s cube, all the colors in all the right places. I don’t think I realized at the time what that was. It was so quiet, so understated, so perfect in its normality. But I know now.”

“What was it?” asked Tilly, equally quietly.

“It was me falling in love with you.”

Tilly took a shaky breath. “You’re right,” she said. “My job is important. But people have been trying to explain to me for a long time why it’s important. It’s not the job, it’s the people. Max keeps telling me that policing is for the people. And I don’t think I really understood before.”

Sophie stroked her thumb on Tilly’s palm.

“It sounds stupid, but it’s easy to forget sometimes that people are who they are. This afternoon I was doing CPR on this man and I wasn’t thinking that he was a patient, a body, a potential criminal, someone who hated me. The only thing I was thinking was that this was your dad.”

Sophie gulped, but managed not to cry.

“My job is only important if I have someone to do it for, someone to give it meaning,” said Tilly. She looked up. “And that person is you.”

“Me?”

Tilly nodded. “I didn’t plan on falling in love. I didn’t plan on compromising my career. Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible. But these last few weeks with Max and Mila have made me realize that who you love is important. Who you come home to is important. Who you build a life with is important.”

“I think it is,” agreed Sophie.

“And for me, that person is you.” Tilly gave a small laugh. “I have no idea when it happened. I think the first time I saw you, I knew that there was something different. But it all crept up on me, this slow, stunning realization that actually, you are the other half of me. You’re right, we’re different, but that’s a good thing. It means we can complete each other, be stronger together.”

There was a long minute of quiet.

“What I’m trying to say is that I love you too,” Tilly said, finally, her voice cool and strong in the empty hospital corridor.

Sophie bit her lip. “Are we going to make this work?”

“I’ll always ask before I take any overtime,” Tilly said.

“I’ll try to remember that you’re saving the world before I get angry that you’re not home for dinner,” Sophie said with a grin.

“There is one more thing,” Tilly said. “Your family.”