Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
Nico
“My mum wants to know if we fancy Christmas with them again this year,” I said as I stuck my head around Toby’s studio door with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits in hand. “Also, Mrs N sent me to fish you out. Apparently, she thinks you need to take a break.”
“Hmm? What? Oh, is that tea?” Toby asked, looking up from his seat at the piano where he’d been idly tinkering with the keys.
Neil had sent him a bit of a melody a couple of days ago and he’d been obsessively toying with it ever since.
When he was like this, he needed reminders to eat, drink, take breaks, and sleep.
Otherwise he’d simply keep going until he’d cracked whatever he was trying to do.
The first time I’d seen him like this, it had scared the fuck out of me.
Now I just left him to it and dropped in every few hours with food and cups of tea and the occasional reminder to take a break. Then in the evenings I’d turf him out of his office and make him go to bed, where he’d immediately pass out, then get up the next morning and do it all again.
I loved how fucking dedicated he was to his work, even if it meant I barely got to see him for the week or so he was fixated on something. I knew he’d come back to me when he’d finished writing.
Or when he needed someone to test things out on.
I’d gotten quite good at being a second pair of ears.
“It is,” I said, walking over to hand him the cup of tea and put the plate on top of the piano. “And some gingerbread. Mrs N’s made us some lamb shanks for dinner too. They’ll be ready about seven, which is in about three hours. She’s just headed off because she wants to go Christmas shopping.”
“Plenty of time then,” Toby said as he swiped a piece of gingerbread and nibbled it thoughtfully.
“How’s it going?”
“I think I’m almost there. It’s just this final verse into the bridge that’s giving me trouble, but I’ll figure it out.
I might send what I’ve got to Neil and see if he’s got any suggestions.
And if he complains, I can remind him that he wrote the fucking thing to start with, so it’s all his fault it’s been so difficult to work with. ”
I chuckled and kissed the top of his head. “Proud of you. You’re smashing it.”
“Thank you,” he said, smiling up at me sweetly. “How were rehearsals today? Is Araminta getting the hang of the American Smooth?”
“Yeah, she’s doing a great job. I think she’s going to kill it on Saturday.”
“As good as me?”
“No, sweetheart, nobody was as good as you.”
“Liar, Araminta is a much better dancer than me.”
“Nope, your American Smooth will forever be my favourite because it gave me you,” I said, stealing a soft kiss.
Having Araminta as a partner for this year’s Come Dancing With Me was almost a dream come true—she was hard-working, dedicated, talented, and a lot of fun to be around.
She’d sailed through every week so far and been awarded the first ten of the series for her Argentine tango at the end of October during Halloween week.
I was pretty sure we could go on and win the whole thing if the public kept voting for us. And that would be the perfect way to end my final series of the show.
It hadn’t been announced that I was leaving the show at the end of the year—nobody would know until the dancer line-up was revealed for the next season—but I’d already told the producers I didn’t plan on coming back again.
I’d loved my time on the show, but now was the time to bow out on my own terms. Doing one final year with an amazing partner, was exactly what I’d wanted, and I was almost surprised how nice the production team had been to me.
Maybe they were still making up for Jean.
Or maybe it was because the ratings for last year’s Christmas special had been some of the highest ever thanks to Toby’s appearance. That wasn’t really to do with me, but I liked to think it was since I’d made him, and the show, look so good.
Toby had gushed about me every time he’d talked about his time on the show, giving me all the credit despite his hard work, and I had a sneaking feeling the producers were trying to capitalise on the renewed interest in me from the public.
It was probably why they hadn’t said a word about me and Toby being together, apart from a single public statement saying how happy they were for us.
I was trying not to give the internal politics too much thought, though, because I had so many better things to spend my time on.
Maybe there was a chance I’d go back to Come Dancing With Me in the future—maybe as a host of the weeknight talk show, or a guest judge, or even a judge of one of the other branches of the franchise across the world, but for now it was time to take a break from television.
After a roaring success with the Floor on Fire tour, Megan and I had finally gotten our dance studio open, and it was already filling up and going from strength to strength.
Doing the workshops and teaching classes had reminded me how much I adored teaching, and it was what I wanted to focus all my energy on for the foreseeable future.
“Aww, you’re the sweetest,” Toby said, nudging my nose with his and kissing me again, drawing me away from my thoughts about work. “I can’t wait to come and watch.”
“I can’t wait for you to see it. Do you think you’ll be done with writing by then?”
“I hope so! If not, I’ll be taking the night off.” He sighed and shook his head before taking another bite of the gingerbread. “You know, it’s the strangest thing… the more I write of this song, the more I’ve realised it’s not going to work for just one person.”
“Yeah? Who’s it for then?”
“I don’t know. A band, obviously, but I have no idea which one. There aren’t as many girl or boy bands in the charts at the moment. We might have to shop it around for a while.”
I chuckled. “You don’t fancy singing it yourself?” It was only a joke, but Toby’s face screwed up in a way that meant he was considering it more than he wanted to admit. “What?”
“I was actually thinking about that,” he said quietly. “It would be perfect for Underground Dreaming. If we ever decided to do a reunion, that is.”
“It’s been, what, five years now since you broke up?”
“About that, yes.”
“Well, if you ever fancied it, you know I’ll support you.”
“I’d have to run it past the others,” Toby said.
“And I’m not sure they’d be up for it. We’re all so settled now and we’ve moved on to other things.
But… I can’t help thinking that it might be fun.
I don’t mean like a whole new album and thousand-stop tour, but maybe one or two songs, a couple of dates. Just for fun.”
“Have a think and see how you feel after Christmas. Or you can ask them when they come over for New Year’s Eve.” After we’d ducked out of last year, we’d promised to host to make up for it.
As long as there wasn’t more snow.
I wasn’t sure whether to wish for that or not, but I did keep casually checking the long-term forecast for December.
“Maybe. If I can finish this song, I might just drop it into the group chat and then run away.”
I snorted. “I don’t think that’ll work, sweetheart. Not without context.”
“Fine, I’ll add ‘for us?’ and then drop it into the group chat and run away.”
“You know they know where we live?” I asked, kissing his forehead so Toby could eat another biscuit.
“Doesn’t mean we have to let them in,” Toby said with a grin. “I can just pretend I’m not home. You can deal with them.”
“Ha ha, fuck no. I love you, but if you drop that, you’ll actually have to speak to them, sweetheart.”
“Curses.”
I chuckled fondly. Living with Toby was definitely an adventure, but one I was really enjoying.
Technically, we’d been living together since June when my rental agreement had come up for renewal, but even before then I’d spent most of my time off at Toby’s place because it was so much nicer.
Plus it had him there.
And there was a lot more room to dance around his kitchen, which was something I loved doing with him.
Besides, it was kind of hard to take Toby to my flat when it was in a block that was easily accessible to the public.
My neighbours all knew that we were together too, so if anyone saw us, I was pretty sure there would be a queue outside my front door.
And even if they ignored Toby, in the way Londoners ignored everything that wasn’t their business, it would only take one superfan with stalkerish tendencies to turn it into something very dangerous.
Moving in had been a little challenging at times, because neither of us was used to having anyone else in our space, but we’d adapted quickly and the only argument we’d really had was over money.
He flatly refused to let me contribute to the mortgage or Mrs N’s wages, even sending money back to me when I’d tried to sneakily drop some into his bank account.
Eventually we’d compromised and agreed we’d split most of the bills between us, although he’d muttered something about taking less when I went back on tour with Come Dancing With Me in the spring for the final time.
We’d get to that argument then. Or maybe I’d find something else to spend the money on—like dragging him away on holiday.
“By the way, did you say something about Christmas?” Toby asked as he picked up another biscuit and offered me the final one. “I wasn’t really listening but I thought you mentioned it.”
“Yeah, I did. My mum wants to know if we want to go there again this year. Sian’s bringing her new boyfriend too.”
“Is that the one who’s dancing The Nutcracker this year? The one with the incredibly sculpted thighs.”
“Haruto? Yeah, that’s him.”
“I knew it! Gorgeous man! We definitely have to go now. I want to meet him. But you have to promise to be nice.”
“When am I not?” I asked with a laugh, biting into the chunk of gingerbread he’d offered me. Mrs N truly was a fucking gift because they were pure heaven. If she ever decided to retire, I’d cry.
Toby snorted and raised an eyebrow, looking at me fondly. “You’re bossy as fuck, my love, and we all know it. Luckily, I love you for it.”
“I love you too.”
“Please tell your mum we’ll be there and ask for a list of what we can bring. Oh! And ask what everyone wants for Christmas! I have to bring presents this year.”
“I will, but you need to think about what you want too. And no, sex is not an answer.”
“But I like sex,” Toby said. “What better gift is there than orgasms?”
“You can have as many of those as you want, whenever you want.” I grinned. “Do you want one now? Or do you need to get back to work?”
“Hmm, you do make a very compelling argument… and I haven’t taken a break for a while.”
“Shall I close the door?”
“Please do,” Toby said, turning around on his piano stool to watch me as I walked over to close the door.
It was funny how small things could change your life, little events that seemed like nothing at the time but altered everything.
Being moved to the Christmas show because Jean had been awful, being paired with Toby because Tina had been pregnant, Toby’s determination to make me smile… all of them had been small but together they’d given me the greatest thing in the world: a man I loved more than anything.
It might not have been love at first sight, but that didn’t matter. What was important was our future.
And nothing had ever looked brighter.
The End