‘Today’s the day. Come in for coffee?’ She asks, her words tripping out even faster than usual.
Inside, Natalie hands me a box of bubble wrapped vases with a theatrical scowl on her face, then turns to Alice. ‘You will obviously be coming back to hang out with me, like, seven nights a week, right?’
‘For sure. Well, maybe one?’ Alice says.
‘Oh I see. You spent the start of the summer encouraging me to stand on my own two feet and now you’ve had the audacity to go totally off-brand and get a boyfriend, I get left behind? This is all your fault, Zach.’
I set the box down and hold my hands up.
‘You leave him out of it,’ Alice laughs. ‘And as if you’re getting left behind. You’re finally making some sensible choices.’
‘You’re right,’ Nat grins. ‘Boys were clouding my vision and I am so good on my own, now. As for you? Shutting love out was clouding your vision. You two are too cute together. You deserve to be completely happy.’
‘The funny thing is, I thought I already was. But Zach’s brought this whole other level to my life. I’m ready for this, now,’ Alice says, grabbing my hand. ‘Part of it is thanks to you, Zach, and a lot of it is how I’ve grown as a person, under my own steam. I finally feel ready to let some new stuff in and to be brave. I thought romance was the last thing I needed but with Zach in my life, it feels as essential as oxygen.’
If I could bottle the things Alice just said, I would.
Natalie pretends to throw up. ‘Jesus guys, I’m still here you know? How about you wait ’til you get back to your own pad before you go all Ed Sheeran on me?’
‘Shall we, then? Head home?’ Alice asks me.
‘I’d love that.’
We pull up outside my house and I race out of the car so that I can open the door for Alice.
‘So chivalrous,’ she laughs.
‘You know what’s next?’
‘Don’t tell me, you’re going to insist on carrying me over the threshold.’
‘That’s exactly right.’
‘Oh hell no. It’s not the nineteen fifties any more, Zach.’
‘I am well aware of that,’ I grin. ‘But you know how I love a romcom and this the perfect opportunity for a romantic moment …’
She covers her face with her hands. ‘Okay fine.’
I scoop her into my arms, kicking the passenger door shut with my foot and carrying her towards the house as she gets the giggles.
‘People can see,’ she snorts.
Turns out it’s not so easy carrying the woman of your dreams into your new home when your house is locked and you can’t find your keys. I have to set her down, jog back to Gerty to find the house keys and then run back to her.
This time she leaps up and we’re both roaring with laughter as I carry her inside.
‘Welcome home,’ I say before I notice the flowers. They are everywhere.
‘I picked some of my favourites,’ Alice beams, watching my reaction. ‘I gave Eve my house key and she snuck in while we finished up packing. I thought it would be nice to make everywhere look super cosy before our date tonight.’
‘That’s really thoughtful of you,’ I say, kissing her. ‘I’ve a little gift for you too.’
I lead her through to the living room and hand her a leather-bound sketchbook. She takes it out of my hands and opens it up. On every page is a pencil sketch I’ve done after each of our alphabet dates. Alice traces her fingers across the trailing ivy on page one, laughing at the memory of how we first met, when I’d wondered why a guest at my first art exhibition spent most of the night taking pictures of the plants by the toilets. The pastries we ate on our second date. A sketch of her face lighting up with laughter at the comedy gig we went to.
‘Zach, did you draw these after every single one of our dates?’ she asks quietly.
‘I figured pretty early on that I wanted a memento from every day I spent with you. It became a bit like writing a diary for me, sitting down and sketching out my favourite memory after each date. It kept the spirit of our dates going for even longer for me. Like keeping a little piece of you with me the whole time.’
