"Do you wanna know one really fucking big lesson I learned about hope, babe? It's not about us. It's about the people around us. The people close to us, the people we want close to us, and who we want to share life with. Which means, you have to let them meet you in the middle with it. You can't really get there without them. Maybe the reason you're scared to hope is because you've been too scared to let people close again? Which is okay. That can happen after we've been hurt and gone through things. But if there's one lesson I've learnt from Smooshie, it's that you've got to get back on the hope horse or life will just trample you and make it harder and harder to get back up. I know what it's like to be scared to hope. So damn much, it takes my breath away. I've had this strange tightness in my chest and throat ever since the pregnancy test turned positive because this is a hope I completely wrote off and I'm not used to how any of it feels. But it's happened, completely out of the blue. Like Smooshie said about the day he met Sash after he was completely numb after Bondi... 'I don't know what it was that I was feeling but I knew I had to feel it'." Reecy took Jude's hand again, keeping a hold of it this time. "He's right there, babe. And if Winnie's still there and hasn't noped out of it at the first moment he can, then he's all-in. You just have to let yourself feel it again. And it won't be the same as how you remember. That's what I learnt with Ky. It wasn't like I ever felt before and somehow, that's how I knew it was right because whatever was before, it hadn't worked. It wasn't that I wished never felt anything before, it's that everything before helped me find what really fit. And maybe it's too soon, but I think just from some of the things you're saying, you're feeling something different, aren't you?"

Far in the distance, she could see the moonlight reflecting on the surface of the ocean. The glass balcony fence meant this place didn't lose the benefit of the ocean views. It was a freaking beach mansion on Sydney Harbour and Justin and Sash owned it together. Sometimes, she still had these total WTF moments, no matter that she had known Justin before he was even made Broadway breakout status. It felt like so long ago. She rested her head back and exhaled deeply, letting the surroundings calm her. "It's so beautiful here. It's easy to think, even about the things I'm not sure I want to think about so much. Ky and me, is... shit, it's a hell of an origin story. Funnily enough, also involves some pretty spectacular drunk puking. Only my Prince Charming wasn't very charming at all. He was grieving and miserable. He smashed his way through half the hotel bar and chased it down with a whole minibar. I think maybe the strongest things get started with the not-so-easy stuff, you know? The history, grief, loss, trauma... working through that. We were in Colorado. His hometown. We went back to his childhood home where he nursed his mom, then went to visit her grave. It was only after the fact, when he'd sobered up, he opened up and confided in me that... she was an assisted death." She wet her lips and looked over at him, softly tapping his knuckles. "That's not public knowledge. I'm only telling you because you're a nurse and I know you'll understand."