By Rachel Allen 

She has butterflies in her tummy. A sense of disbelief that this moment is actually happening. Yet at  the same time, a sense that everything in the years prior has led to her being at this exact point. In  this moment, she is exactly where she’s meant to be.  

The other side of the door stands the life she has hoped and dreamed of. The life that has, until this  moment, been just out of her grasp. And she knows that it was all worth it. Every experience. Every  heartbreak. Every rejection. Every wrong turn. All leading to this point. 

The smiling face next to her asks: “Ready?” 

She smiles back and takes his arm. “Ready.” She says. 

The doors open. They lock eyes immediately. He turns around to see her – as if he knew instinctively  when she’d begin her descent to him. As if he didn’t want to waste a split second of this precious  moment. He needed to drink it all up. Commit it all to memory. 

Their eyes, holding each other’s gaze the whole time, shine with happiness because they know  they’ve finally got it right. Everything that came before, simply doesn’t matter. 

She arrives. They don’t break eye contact at all. It’s as if they are in their own private world, where  nobody else can reach them. The music stops. Her arm becomes free. 

“Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today…” 

“Whoa!” says Beau. “Hold your horses. You’ve got the happy ending all mapped out. Every detail.  Every feeling. Every emotion. But how do you know that you’re ready for this? How do you know that  you deserve this happiness?” 

Actually, Beau has a point. She’s a sucker for a rom-com. She’s dreamed of a happy ending for as long  as she can remember. She’s generally a very good person. Honest. Kind. Great integrity. Treats others  as she would expect to be treated. 

“But have you done the work yet?” Beau asks. “The work you need to do to fix the holes inside you. The holes you have given responsibility to others to fill.” 

Beau knows her well. On the face of it, she is very confident; she looks like she can hold everything  together completely effortlessly. Yet underneath, Beau knows there’s a little part of her that is held  back. A little part of her true self that she holds back through fear. Beau has always known it was fear.  

But he sees her doing the work. She’s understanding about herself what Beau has always understood  about her. She’s more open to things. She’s not in any hurry, rushing, dashing about, going from one  thing to the other with barely any consciousness. She’s making wise choices. She’s listening to herself.  And, she’s no longer afraid. Beau can see that, step by step, she’s revealing tiny little pieces of her soul  and he knows she will do this until she truly is the person she is meant to be. 

Beau thinks back to how this fear has influenced her choices in life. Yes, she’s travelled, always tried  different jobs, put herself out there. Is it fair to say that not much holds her back? Yet Beau knows 

that everything holds her back. Is it this fear of opening up to somebody, being who she truly is, the  thing that’s drawing her to these emotionally unavailable, slightly broken characters who she feels  compelled to fix? 

Beau knows he’s touching on a nerve with this one.  

Beau knows that to fill the void inside her, the one she’s looking for somebody else to fill, is an inside  job. She needs to do the work herself. This isn’t something she can outsource to somebody else. She  can’t put the responsibility in someone else’s hands. She can’t fix somebody else in order to give her  life purpose. Only she can give her life purpose. 

But before now, she’s been attracted to anyone who might be a project. She doesn’t do this  consciously, but somewhere deep inside her, she’s looking for people she can give wardrobe advice  to. Styling tips for their hair (assuming they’ve got enough to work with. Some hadn’t). Careers advice.  Ways to handle relationships with their kids, their families, their exes. Always getting a bit too  involved. Surely now, she knows her worth? Surely now, she will tell anyone who brings drama to her  door to turn back around and never darken her door again? Once they’ve gone, she will of course put  the burglar alarm on. She’s very security conscious).  

Yes, we want Fully Functioning adults only now please.  

And Beau senses this. He can see that she’s been through so much and he can see how, when she’s  had peace, she’s relished it. When she’s taken time out from her crusade for love, she’s actually found  peace within herself. As she hasn’t been dashing out trying to save everybody, fix everything, she’s  had the time to look at herself and has seen what she’s worth. She’s seen what she deserves. She now  knows that she’s looking for someone who is equal to her. Not a project to fix. Someone emotionally  available. Not a man-child masquerading in an adult’s body. A fully functioning, got his life together  adult.  

Beau knows they will have the best time. The happiness they have within themselves will draw them  to each other. They will be close, connected, but not annoyingly so. They will simply radiate this air of  happiness; they will just be better because they are now together. They will laugh. They will have so  much fun. And you will never know which one of them will look at the other one first thing in the  morning and just say “Beach?” It’s only after they’ve jumped up, got dressed and got in the car (travelling south) that they’ll decide which beach.  

Beau can tell that she knows all these things now. Beau knows that the lessons she’s been served in  life have been effective – they were sent to her to help her see who she truly is. Not the people  pleasing, fixer of the needy. No, she’s taken these lessons and done the work. She won’t make the  same mistakes again. This is her time now. Beau knows this and most importantly, she knows this. 

Beau turns to her and says: “Yes. I think you’re ready now.” 

She picks up her phone and types the text. 

Our Christmas Story by Faith Fox

Faith Fox is a blogger and is currently writing her first book, a non-fiction book about narcissism. Passionate about words and an avid writer, Faith saw the opportunity to write a short, fiction story and jumped at the chance to do something different and step in to a new, challenging genre. Despite being incredibly unlucky in love herself, she’s a hopeless romantic and has written the happy ending she believes she deserves in this short story. “This is her time” is part autobiography, although it hasn’t happened yet! Can you manifest a happy ending? Faith hopes so. And with Beau’s expert guidance, she knows she’s on the right track.