best for REAL LIFE
Ever wondered about the one who got away? Claire Robinson and Simon Holt were at school together but never dated – until fate stepped in…
As Simon and I danced until dawn at a music festival last summer, we felt like teenagers again – despite both being 47 and a married couple. Drinks in hand and sporting sequin hot pants (him, not me!), we could have been back at an Eighties disco.
Despite only reconnecting a few years before, neither of us had changed much since our first kiss when we were 19. I love that we still share the same sense of silliness and fun as we did back then. But despite being friends at school, it took us 22 years to go on our first date.
Simon and I met at The Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis, Dorset, in 1987, when we were both 11. Although we weren’t close, we shared a mutual friend, Alan, so our paths crossed over the years. Simon was friendly, kind and became head boy. I liked him, but he wasn’t my type. As a teenager, I was more drawn to the bad boys.
After leaving school in 1994, I went to study English and History at the University of Chichester. One Summer, I was home from university and went to a party at Lyme Regis beach with school friends. There, dancing in the sand, was Simon, also home for the Summer.
Across the crowd, our eyes met and we exchanged hugs and hellos. We chatted throughout the night, then shared a kiss, before camping on the beach beneath the stars. It was lovely seeing each other, but we returned to our separate lives – me back to Chichester and Simon to Brunel University London.
I moved from Dorset to Cheltenham after university, had my daughter when I was 26 and married her dad. Sadly, my marriage didn’t work out, although we stayed friends.
I didn’t date much in my 30s as I was enjoying my independence. Simon had married in his 20s, too, and had two boys. By the time our paths crossed again, we were both looking for companionship.
It’s thanks to another school friend – appropriately called Ben Love – that Simon and I reconnected. In 2017, Ben organised a reunion to mark 30 years since we’d all started at Woodroffe, and messages from so many familiar names started appearing on the group chat.
It was great to hear from old friends – everyone sharing what they were up to and where they lived. People were writing from all over the world, and then Simon popped up saying he lived in a Cotswolds village that I drove through on the way to work.
As we were so local, I suggested we meet for a coffee. I was excited at the thought of seeing him again.
I remember
