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“I love you more.”

“Not possible.”

A loud groan came from behind Charlie. “Please, stop. This is nauseating. Gem, remind me to never fall in love.” Rocky pretended to throw up, and Charlie punched him in the arm.

Gem ignored them both, turning her attention to me. “Congratulations, Nate.”

“Thanks for coming down for it.” The fact that both of Charlie’s siblings had made the trip to London just for my graduation meant a lot to me. Charlie had been my boyfriend for a relatively short time, yet his siblings had recognised the deep connection we had as soon as I’d met them in person, and they’d reacted accordingly, making me feel like part of their family from the very beginning.

“It’s our pleasure. It’s the school holidays; we get free accommodation at Charlie’s student house and a couple of nights in our capital city. Why wouldn’t we come?” She smiled at me and added, “But the main reason for us coming was to see you graduate. You’re a part of the family now, and we support our family.”

“On that note, I think it’s time to celebrate.”My dad glanced at his watch. “Jonas and his parents are supposed to be meeting us at the restaurant at two, aren’t they?”

I nodded. “Yeah. We’d better go.”

“Wait. I want to get a photo of you and Charlie. Please?” Gem shot us a pleading look, and there was no way I was going to say no. Of course I wanted a photo with my boyfriend at my graduation ceremony.

Arms around each other, we smiled for the camera, and then I pulled out my own phone and took several selfies of the two of us. I sent one to Jonas with the message,You kicked this whole thing off with your app. Forever grateful.

“Alright. Everyone ready?” My dad glanced around our small group, and at our nods, he began to make his way towards the exit doors.

We left the Southbank Centre behind and stepped into the sunshine.

EPILOGUE

FIVE YEARS LATER

At the sound of the key in the lock, I jumped to my feet, attempting a casual pose next to the bookcase in the lounge. It clearly wasn’t casual enough because Charlie’s brows flew up when he took me in, and then his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What?”

“What, what?”

“Why are you standing there like that?”

Time to distract him. Striding forwards, I wrapped my arms around him, kissing all over his face until he was laughing breathlessly and trying to shove my face away.

“I want to know how it went today.” Ididhave a secret I was keeping from him, and I wanted to share it, but truthfully, this was more important. Much more important. It was the reasonwe’d moved to this three-bedroom apartment in the town of Cheltenham. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

He rested his head on my shoulder. “Mmm. Really good. Tiring, but I’ll get used to it. All day, I kept thinking it was a mistake, that they’d meant for the job to go to someone else.”

“No, Charlie.” I stroked my hands down his back. “You got that job because of your skill. You were meant for this.”

“It’s just…to actually be employed as an assistant physio for Glevum, only a year after I got my master’s in physiotherapy… I can’t believe they picked me out of all the people who applied. I bet there were loads of people with way more experience than me.”

“They wantedyou, though. That’s why you’re there.”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “It blows my mind. Maybe one day, I’ll see it as normal, but today isn’t that day.”

“You’re where you’re supposed to be,” I reassured him, and he held me tighter.

“How was your day?”

“Same old, same old.” I hesitated for a second, not wanting to steal Charlie’s thunder, but I knew he wouldn’t be happy later if I delayed my own news. “Except my boss told me today that I’m going to be taking the lead on the new housing estate project.”

“Really?” His wide green eyes met mine. “That’samazing. I’m so fucking proud of you.”

Downplaying it, I shrugged. “Yeah, well…this branch of the firm is new, and I was in the right place at the right time. It all worked out for the best because if you hadn’t applied for this job, I’d probably still be in the London office, assisting on whatever architectural projects get thrown my way. Not that I didn’t enjoy it all, but now…”

“You get to lead,” Charlie finished. “This is huge. We need to tell our families.”

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