Pounding the London streets at 6 a.m. on a dark winter’s morning would seem like most people’s idea of hell. I loved it. There was an energy about this city, kind of like an electric pulse that made everything feel alive and connected. But I fucking loved Ireland too. Killarney was maybe the most beautiful place I’d ever seen, but this city had been my home for most of my life. As I thumped one heavy foot in front of the other, I realized that I loved it because London at this hour of the day was so very different to the one people thought they knew. Shopkeepers, bakers, and tradesmen that I passed on my daily route waved and called out words of encouragement. There was a camaraderie among the morning crowd that made me feel like I belonged.

I pulled open the door of the gym just as a light rain started to fall. No matter how early I arrived, Danny was always there first. He was just putting on his coat when I arrived. Sometimes I wondered if he slept here.

“You off for breakfast?” I asked him.

“Same as I do every morning.” He huffed at the stupid question it was. Danny was a man of routine.

“Take an umbrella,” I warned him. “It’s just starting to rain.”

“Do I look like I own a feckin’ umbrella?” he barked, tucking his scarf into his long coat and donning his flat cap.

“What’s got into you today?” I asked him. Danny was the crankiest fucker I ever met but he was in a special mood today.

“Did you see that sky this morning? Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.” That sky was redder than I’ve ever seen it until those black clouds rolled it. It’s gonna be a bad feckin’ day. I feel it in my bones,” he informed me, lighting up his cigarette and shivering a little.

“Don’t be so superstitious. It’s gonna be a great day,” I answered him with a grin. My girl was going to be by my side all day today. When we were together, everything was good.

“Pisses me off when you’re feckin’ cheerful at this hour of the mornin’. At least before you got married, you were too hungover to get on my nerves.” I laughed at that.

“Yeah, ’cause me showing up half-baked for training cheered you up no end.”

After a pause he looked at me. “You’re right. You’ve always pissed me off in the mornings. Maybe by this afternoon, I’ll warm up to you. Now you know the routine. All circuits, no bag work until I get back. Most of the guys are working today so Earnshaw’s on point. Don’t give him shit ’cause I ain’t in the mood.”

“Don’t stress it,” I reassured him. “Didn’t you hear? We’re friends now.”

“That mean you’re not going to knock him out again?”

“Maybe,” I answered with a grin, which at least got a chuckle out of him.

“Get to work you, cheeky fecker,” he told me, still smiling.

He let the heavy door close behind him, and I looked around the empty room. Like London first thing in the morning, this place had its own special energy at this time of day. Since I met Em and quit drinking, it became the best time to work things through.

It was crazy how excited I was having Sunshine with me for the whole day. Some arsehole told me once that the bloom would fade from the rose soon enough, and after a couple of years of marriage, we wouldn’t be able to stand each other. Kieran convinced me not to smack him, because the man was in seventies and Em wouldn’t like it. Also he’d be dead soon anyway.

I think the fundamental problem was that people didn’t understand Em and me. They saw two horny, impetuous kids with no money who’d rushed into marriage and who’d regret it later. Fuck most people. We’d been through more shit than most people went through in their whole life. There was a billion-to-one chance of us finding each other, and now that we had, there was no fucker on this earth who was separating us. Let them try.

Old men in pubs sounding off about how love fades don’t know shit. The bloom fades because you fucking let it. You take your woman for granted, you become complacent with your lot in life, and that’s when you stand to lose the best thing you never knew you had. My wife was the center of my fucking universe. If that ever changed, I deserved to lose her.

Only I knew better. That would never change. When Em finally met her maker, I’d be right behind her, scorching the earth behind me. We were for life. As I contemplated this, she walked through the door carrying coffee and a box of pastries and wearing one of my hoodies. That right there made my morning. “Hey, baby, how’s the training going?”

“Better now you’re here,” I called out.

“How many you up to?” she asked about the number of press-ups I’d done.

“I don’t keep count,” I told her. “Only Danny does that. I just keeping going until I can’t lift my arms.” Flipping onto my back, I beckoned her over for a kiss then swapped the press-ups for sit-ups. The view was better. Earnshaw chose that moment to walk in through the door.

“Hey, part-timer”

“Fuck you. It’s still the arsecrack of dawn as far as I’m concerned, and the States are five hours behind us. So when you’re at home with your feet up, I’m making magic happen.”

Shit, I really didn’t have any idea what he did or how much work it took. I was just glad I only had to put on the gloves. “Fair enough,” I told him.

“You got one of those things for me?” he asked.

“Sure,” Em said. “I always get extra in case some of the guys are around. Kieran literally hoovers these things.”

He sat down close to her on the edge of the ring and reached into the box to grab one of her pastries. It was halfway to his mouth when I stopped mid-sit-up and growled. Pausing, his arm still in the air, he stood up and put about two feet between him and Em before sitting back down on the ring. Satisfied that he’d gotten my message, I carried on, and he got his breakfast.

“You know, you’ll never get abs like mine you keep eating that shit,” I told him.

“I think I’m okay,” he replied, lifting his shirt with the hand that wasn’t stuffing his face. Em took a sneak peek at the six-pack on show, giggling when I growled again. I still wasn’t entirely comfortable with her being around Earnshaw, mainly because I was a possessive, jealous arsehole, but I’d put up with almost anything to hear the beautiful sound of her happiness, however fleeting it was.