Page 109 of One Night in Edinburgh

‘That you are.’ He pulls me towards him and kisses me on the nose. ‘So, are you ready to say goodbye?’

I look around the empty apartment. ‘I’m ready. This place has loads of great memories, and I’ll really miss living with Connor, but I’m so excited about us living together.’

‘Me too.’ Jamie sets me back down as Connor and Anna walk through the open door of the apartment.

‘That the last of it?’ Connor asks Jamie.

‘Sure is.’

They carry the remaining items to the lift, while Anna and I do one final check round the place.

As I’m locking up, Anna pulls out her phone and gasps.

‘What is it?’ I ask.

‘It’s your story.’ She looks up at me with eyes like saucers. ‘It’s gone viral.’

‘What do you mean?’ I grab the phone from her and I gasp in astonishment. ‘More than three thousand likes on Twitter… and counting.’

I watch, mesmerised, as the number of likes and retweets continues to grow in front of my eyes.

‘I told you this would get the charity noticed.’ Anna plucks her phone out of my hand delightedly. ‘The comments are mostly all supportive as well. Usual arseholes pitching in, but we ignore them.’

We take the lift down the ground floor and head out to the car park, which is cold and blustery from the bitter wind blowing in off the river estuary in front of us.

‘Jamie, look.’ Anna thrusts the phone at him the moment we reach the guys.

‘Wowsers.’ Jamie rubs the back of his head in wonder. ‘I believed you when you said you thought the story was worth sharing, but this is phenomenal.’

‘What is it?’ Connor’s clearly feeling left out of the excitement.

‘Anna persuaded me to share the story of how Jamie and I met on the charity blog,’ I explain. ‘She thought it was a strong human-interest piece. It’s also perfect timing now that Jamie’s had that offer of investment to start up a new brewery. The fact that he wants to run it as a social enterprise with a mentoring programme for disadvantaged young people linked in really well.’

‘Fantastic. Congratulations, both of you! That’s great coverage for your respective causes.’

‘Thanks,’ Jamie and I reply in unison while gazing at each other adoringly.

‘Aww… look at you two. Edinburgh’s third-sector power couple.’ Anna holds up her phone and snaps a picture of us.

‘Donotput that on social media,’ I immediately warn her and she gives me a sly look.

‘Sure, whatever, Steph. You ready, Connor?’

‘Bye, roomie.’ I pout at Connor.

‘We’ll see each other loads.’ He steps forward and hugs me tightly. ‘Lukas and I will only be five minutes away from you.’

‘I guess. And I suppose weareall having dinner together tonight.’

‘There you go. You’ll end up sick of the sight of me.’

Connor gives me a final squeeze and lets me go. Then he and Anna get into his car, which is crammed with his remaining things.

We wave them off, then put the last of my stuff into the back of the van we’ve hired. Jamie slams the doors shut and turns to me.

‘Ready to go to our new home?’

‘Am I ever.’ I bounce lightly on my toes with excitement.

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