In January 2016, Nick’s mother died. He had only been living in Bristol for six months when it happened. “It was difficult because I didn’t know many people,” he says. A week later, his girlfriend dumped him by text. “It was a really bad time. I’d relocated from my home town of Wrexham to be a theatre operations manager, but I was lonely,” he says.
He decided to cheer himself up with a trip to France to watch Euro 2016, so, that summer, he travelled to Bordeaux with a friend. “We weren’t able to get tickets, but the city had set up massive fan zones with huge screens for watching the games,” he says. “We were supporting Wales in their game against Slovakia.” All around, there were promotional stands giving out free merchandise. That’s when Nick spotted Tess, a French student who was working as a host at the event.
“She was giving out free footballs, and I thought she was really beautiful,” he says. Tess thought Nick was “cute”, too. “He tried to convince me to give him a football, but I couldn’t because we had a limited supply and children were prioritised.” She told him to come back at the end of the day to see if she had any left. “At that point, I stuffed one under my seat so there would be one left,” she says. When Nick returned, he asked if she’d like to go for dinner before he returned to the UK. “I said yes, but wasn’t expecting him to remember,” says Tess. Like many other supporters, he’d had a few drinks. “I had a good excuse because Wales had just won their first tournament game in 58 years,” he says.
They exchanged Facebook details and agreed to meet at a traditional French restaurant the next day. “We spoke about everything, starting with typical date questions, then moving on to politics – Justin Bieber came up at one point but I can’t remember why!” says Tess. The conversation flowed easily, but there was no kiss at the end of the night. “I was a bit confused and wondered if he just wanted to talk,” she admits. The following day, they met for coffee before Nick travelled home, but there was still no kiss. “I was disappointed because I liked him and he was leaving,” says Tess.
As she lived near the airport, she decided to give things one last try. “There was only one flight a day to Bristol, so I went to see if I could catch him before he got on the plane,” she says. Just as she was about to give up and go home, she spotted Nick. “I was checking in for my flight and thinking about the amazing time I’d had,” he says. “It was the first time I’d felt truly happy in months. When I saw Tess, I was blown away. It’s one of the best things that has ever happened.” They shared their first kiss at the airport and agreed to meet up again. Over the next few weeks, Nick made two more trips to Bordeaux. By September, they had agreed to give their long-distance relationship a shot.
In 2017, Tess moved to London with a friend, so she and Nick were able to see each other more regularly. The following year, they began making plans to move in together. “We decided to move to Liverpool, as it’s cheaper than London, and closer to Nick’s family,” says Tess. “I was working for Pret a Manger and they were able to transfer my job.” Nick joined her, six months later, in early 2019. He now works for the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. That year, Tess proposed on a trip to Edinburgh. “It was meant to be at the castle but the wind was so strong he wouldn’t have been able to hear me,” says Tess. “The restaurant was noisy, too, so in the end I proposed while watching TV at our B&B.” Their wedding was delayed due to Covid, but they plan to marry in Bordeaux this May.
“The thing I love most about Tess is her positivity,” says Nick. “She always has a great outlook on life and it’s really infectious.” Tess appreciates his respectful nature. “From the start, we could have a mature conversation about so many different things. He is so interesting and has so much knowledge. There’s nothing we can’t talk about.”
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