After Ruth leaves in a taxi, Harry takes his brand new diary, and climbs the stairs to bed. It is only once he is sitting in bed, his back propped against a couple of pillows, that he opens the diary, preparing to write in it for the first time. He opens the leather bound book, and leafs through to the first lined page. There he reads, written in Ruth's hand writing:

your slightest look will unclose me

though I have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, I and

my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility: whose texture

compels me with the colour of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

Harry recognises the excerpt from a poem by E E Cummings. He hadn't thought Ruth would be a fan of Cummings, but he knows she appreciates all things American. He can only surmise that, in considering the poem extract, she sees him as fragile – not an adjective anyone has previously associated with him - with a need for opening himself up. Thus, the diary.

Suddenly, his phone rings from the bedside table. He takes a deep breath, hoping the caller is Ruth. While waiting for the taxi to arrive, they'd exchanged phone numbers.

It is. Harry smiles as he answers the phone.

"I just wanted to let you know that I got back to the B&B in one piece."

"That's good," he says, grinning like a fool.

"And I want to thank you for dinner. It was lovely."

"I enjoyed every minute of your company, Ruth."

"I'm planning to take the train to Cheltenham first thing in the morning. I may be a few days, but I thought I should come back to London and see the new year in, and …... I was thinking …... Harry ….."

"Yes?"

"Are you doing anything on New Years Eve?"

Is this Ruth asking him out? Ruth has never asked him out. Well, apart from that one time she asked him for a drink, and then Tariq interrupted the moment, and it became the drink they never got to have. "I'm …... I've already agreed to babysit Ellie, while Catherine and Mark attend a party. She's asked me to sleep over, because they don't know when they'll be home."

"Oh. It's alright, then. I have a cousin in Cheltenham who might …... like …..." and then her voice just fades.

"Ruth …... I have an idea. I hope you don't think this is inappropriate, but would you like to join while I babysit my granddaughter? I can take a couple of bottles of wine, and once Ellie goes to bed, we can have our own celebration …... together." Harry hears Ruth's hesitation. He can almost feel it. "But, if you don't think it a good idea -"

"Will I have to stay the night?"

"You don't have to do anything, Ruth. I'm inviting you to see in the new year with me. Maybe we can stay up all night, but if you don't want to, I'll -"

"I want to. I want to …... very much. I just thought I'd check on the sleeping arrangements."

"Ruth, I haven't even thought that far ahead. When I stay over, I sleep in the spare room, next to Ellie's room. There's a double bed in the spare room, and …... I'm not handling this very well, am I?"

"You're handling it fine, Harry. It's me who's having difficulty working out what I'm getting myself into. I'd love to spend New Year with you. Just us …... and your granddaughter."

"She's usually asleep by seven, so we'll have the whole evening to ourselves."

"You still haven't said where I'll be sleeping."

"I don't know. They have a sofa in the living room, so I can sleep there, and you can have the bed."

"I don't want to push you out of your bed, Harry. I'm sure we can share a bed without it becoming an issue. After all, we're neither of us young and horny."

"Speak for yourself, Ruth."

"Harry!"

Ruth then hears his chuckle over the phone. Of course, he's joking. By her calculation, Harry has just turned sixty one. If he tries to jump her during the night, then he's either overly ambitious, or very, very foolish. In her heart, Ruth knows that should Harry approach her for sex, she'll not be turning him down …... but she's not about to tell him that. It might be more fun were he to discover that for himself.

After making an arrangement to speak on the phone each night Ruth is away, they end their call. Harry places his phone back on the bedside table, and picks up his new pen. He then makes his first entry in his diary:

Saturday 27th December 2014:

Today my life began again, and this time I must be brave. This time there is no room for timidity, for hesitation.

It was mid afternoon when I heard the doorbell ring, and unable to imagine it being anyone I'd want to see, I ignored it. I almost ignored it when it rang a second and then a third time, but something in the insistent tone had me wandering down the hallway, curious about who would want to see me enough to be standing at my front door on a bitterly cold, late December day. It was she, the one I have thought about daily for many years, and especially the last forty four months.

I feel our time has come, and this time, I will not stand by while she walks away from me. I see in her eyes a reflection of the hope which fills my heart, and that makes me glad. It surprises me that, after everything that has happened, I still love her, and what surprises me even more is that it appears she still has feelings for me. For the first time since Ellie was born, I welcome the future.