It happened in the pub. Jonathan* and I were talking about where we wanted to go on holiday that summer when the idea of Kilimanjaro came up. I told him that climbing it had been a dream of mine for years. Given how much we had in common with one another, I had expected him to say the same. I had expected him to say we should book it immediately. I had not expected him to laugh.
I met Jonathan in 2009 on a dating website. We clicked immediately and bonded over our shared love of travel and adventure. I was 27 at the time and had never been in a serious relationship before, let alone ever said the words “I love you” to anyone outside my own family. Needless to say, Jonathan became a big part of my life pretty quickly and, after two months, he moved in with me.
