Epilogue
One year later
Jye held my hand as he drove down the Oxley Highway.
I knew I shouldn’t be nervous going to Jye’s family Christmas lunch, but I couldn’t believe we were actually doing it.
Jye and I had spent Christmas morning with my parents, Kayla and Cam in Somerton, then packed up to drive over to his family.
Who would’ve thought that Jye had been spending his Christmases only half an hour down the road from my childhood home.
Kayla and Cam were in Kayla’s car behind us.
They’d arranged to come camping with Jye’s cousins, like they’d talked about when they were all in London.
They were leaving early to move into their new home on the Gold Coast. Both of them had signed contracts to play for the Titans and were looking forward to living in the same city for the first time in a couple of years.
Jye had moved into my place in Tamworth, straight after his last season in the Super League. He’d started studying online during that time in London, and by the time he moved back to Australia, he had a youth support job lined up.
I thought back to the previous Christmas, and the series of what I thought was bad luck and where it had led me.
The reality was that it helped me shed things I was clinging on to, things that I didn’t need in my life.
Things like planning every second of my life.
It included a boyfriend who was good on paper, but not good for me.
Sometimes the best things in life happen by accident or, as Jye’s nan would have me believe, sometimes you just need to let greater forces lead you to the life you’re meant to live. As much as I thought I knew how my life was meant to work out, fate had other ideas.
Jye pulled up outside his family's house in Gunnedah. His nan’s sister lived in an older-style clad house with cars parked on the lawn, in the driveway and on the street outside.
I’d spent time with his nan in Sydney when he first flew home, but this was the first time I’d been to a get-together with his large extended family.
We exited the car, and Jye put his arms around me. His touch was grounding. Spending the first ten months of our relationship in different countries was hard, especially when being within his proximity felt like home in a way that nothing else did.
“Don’t be nervous, gorgeous,” he pressed a light kiss on my lips. “I love you, Wynter and they will love you too.”
“I love you too, Jye,” I replied. We’d exchanged the words months ago, but each time we said them, it felt powerful, like it sealed our connection, confirming with each syllable that this was real.
Jye and I were meant to be together; all it took was a snowstorm on the other side of the world to throw us together.
The End