Cherry narrates a pivotal memory from three days after her eighteenth birthday. At the time, she was studying a double degree in Pure and Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Sydney University, fulfilling her late father's dream. She loved university for the learning, not the social life, and made no friends, keeping her focus entirely on her studies. Those around her considered her degree impractical, but she was blissfully happy.

One Saturday morning, a young carpenter named Jack Murphy came to the house to install floating shelves Cherry's mother had seen in a magazine. Auntie Pat was present to ensure the carpenter didn't overcharge. Jack was nineteen, tall, lanky, and graceful, with what Cherry describes as "the most vulnerable of necks and the kindest of eyes." He nearly hit his head on the family's hanging light fixture but swerved nimbly.

Cherry happened to walk into the room at that moment on her way to make tea. She stopped, checked her appearance, and was relieved to find she looked good. Her mother introduced her perfunctorily, and Jack complimented Cherry's name. He extended his hand for a handshake—unusual for a carpenter greeting a customer's daughter—and the handshake lasted a second or two longer than normal. Cherry says she can still feel that moment in the palm of her hand. They exchanged only brief greetings before Cherry returned to her studies and Jack took out his tape measure.

After Jack left, Cherry's mother and Auntie Pat were ecstatic, shrieking about the obvious spark between the two. They talked about that moment for years. Cherry compares their meeting to Steve and Terri Irwin's famous first encounter. She acknowledges the story might seem ordinary but insists it was extraordinary—something only understood by those who have experienced such an instant, powerful connection.