"I should go," she said, not moving.
"You should. But I don't want you to."
"I know. I don't want to go either. But 4:45 AM comes early."
"Stay," Jake said. "Just to sleep. I'll set an alarm for 4:30. You can go straight down to the bakery."
Lucy knew she should say no. This was only their first date. But she was comfortable and happy and the thought of leaving this warmth for her cold apartment didn't appeal at all.
"Okay," she said. "But just to sleep."
"Just to sleep," Jake agreed.
He set the alarm, gave Lucy one of his t-shirts to sleep in, and they settled into his bed—small but comfortable. Jake pulled her close, his arm around her waist, her back against his chest.
"This okay?" he asked.
"More than okay."
They lay there in the dark, listening to the quiet sounds of Timber Falls at night—the occasional car, the wind in the trees, the soft creaking of the building settling.
"Jake?" Lucy whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For tonight. For everything."
"Thank you for giving me a chance. For seeing something in me that I'd forgotten was there."
"What's that?"
"Someone worth choosing."
Lucy turned in his arms to face him. "You were always worth choosing. You just needed to believe it."
They kissed one more time—slow and sweet and full of promise—and then settled back into comfortable silence.
Lucy fell asleep in Jake Morrison's arms, in his studio apartment above the hardware store, feeling safer and happier than she had in five years.
And for the first time since her grandmother died, she wasn't afraid of what came next.
Jake woke at 4:25 AM—five minutes before the alarm—with Lucy still in his arms.
For a moment, he just lay there, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, feeling her warmth against him, marveling at the fact that this was real. Lucy Chen was in his bed. They'd had a date. He'd cooked dinner and hadn't burned anything. They'd watched westerns and talked about their fathers and their fears and their futures.
And she'd stayed.
The alarm went off. Lucy stirred, making a soft sound of protest.
"Morning," Jake whispered.
"Too early to be morning."
"You have to open the bakery."
"I hate the bakery."
"No you don't."
