Martin stayed for lunch at Sophie's and left happily, believing he had made a good impression that he was well again.
As he drove down the motorway at 80mph his mind casted back to Ryan driving the van, Martin and Zoe could relax, or even when he was completely stressed and Zoe was trying to help, it was Ryan who was keeping the rest of the band moving. When Alex had been taking photographs of them in Disney, and they were driving as fast as possible, and when he got the missed call from Emily, Martin had fallen apart, but Ryan was always there..
now he couldn't move. He could barely speak. The cancer had taken over in a matter of days.
Martin continued driving into the evening until he eventually pulled up at the house again, seeing Zoë sitting outside on the beach reading a book.
"God, you'd think we lived in Australia." Remarked Martin, taking off his fleece and unbuttoning the first button of his shirt as he sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"How was Sophie?" She asked him, placing down her book and leaning against him, he manoeuvred himself behind her with his legs around her body and his hands on her abdomen.
"She's good." He told her, nudging his nose against her cheek.
"Did you tell her about me?" She Asked,
"I did." He murmured,
"What does she think?"
"Well at first she was shocked, then she was sceptical, but now I think she's happy about us." He told her, making eye contact with her and smiling,
"That's a reasonable reaction, I guess." She giggled, stroking his cheek before he kissed her gently,
"So what did you get up to?" Asked Martin, remaining very close to her.
"Just took some stuff from my old house to our home." She told him, nudging her nose against his cheek.
"Mmm home." He echoed, lying back and allowing her to lie down beside him, her hand on his chest and her leg over his.
"I could spend the rest of my life like this." Whispered Zoe, resting her head on his shoulder and looking out at the blazing sunset.
"Yeah, I think I could too." He breathed, holding her and never wanting to let go.

That night they lay in bed together, Zoe had fallen asleep. Martin watched as the moonlight from their curtain-less windows shone down upon her porcelain back and the contours of her perfect face while her blonde hair looked almost silver on the pillow.
Martin couldn't believe how deeply he had fallen in love with her, and how quickly. Of course this was the honeymoon stage of their relationship, but he could never imagine loving her any less.

The next morning he woke up at 6am and had a flick through the document that Lottie had emailed him with the names of all the other principles that would be at the meeting today before taking a shower and getting changed into a shirt, tie and blazer.
At half seven he woke Zoë up by kissing her forehead.
"Hey Zoe, I've gotta go." He whispered, stroking her cheek as her eyes opened. "I brought you some coffee and toast."
"Aw thanks hun." She murmured, stretching and covering herself with the white duvet before taking hold of Martin's collar, "looking smart."
He laughed before kissing her cheek, "I'll be back in a few hours."
"Have fun!" She chuckled sarcastically as he stood up,
"Yeah... I will." He replied, waving before closing the door behind him and walking outside, into his car which he decided to wash while on his way to work.

When he arrived at the school he parked, with a smug face, in the Principle's parking space, even though nobody else was there.
He unlocked the entrance and walked up to his office, neatening up the huge table and grabbing glasses and filling up large jugs of water, arranging them evenly around the table.
He then did what he had always wanted to do; he opened the door onto the small balcony-area and up the fire exit staircase onto the roof. He stood up there with a flask of coffee he had taken with him and drunk it, leaning against a chimney-type barrier and watching the young sun dawn the sky. He began to hum the tune to 'At Last' which had been stuck in his head for the last day or so,
"You smiled, you smiled.. and then the spell was cast... and here we are in heaven, for you are mine at last." He sang softly in the warm summer breeze.
"Beautiful." Interrupted Lottie from the fire escape behind him.
"Bloody hell!" Gasped Martin, almost spilling his coffee and standing up straight, "since when were you here?!"
He turned around to see her laughing by the top of the stairs,
"Not long, not long." She responded, walking over and patting his shoulder, "how's Zoë?"
Martin shook his head before looking up to the sky and squinting, "oh come on, don't ask me that."
"Alright then, how are you?" Asked Lottie, leaning on the wall beside him,
"I'm well."
They stood in silence for a few moments, looking out at the sky before Lottie broke the silence, "you were widowed too young."
Martin, somehow, had a similar thought stream to her and was not surprised by her statement.
"I was married too young." He responded, shaking his head.
"She loved you." Lottie told him, "and so did Martha."
"She didn't. But... but Martha did... I think that's the worst part, Martha loved me and trusted me.. and I just couldn't be the- wait.. why am I saying this you don't even know-"
Martin turned around to face Lottie but she was gone. There was no sign of her until he heard a car driving in the car park and saw Lottie step out of the front seat of her Mazda.
Martin took a few shaking steps backwards, covering his mouth with his hands in shock.
What the fuck is wrong with me?! I thought I was okay! This isn't okay! I'm not okay! This can't go on!