They settled on Jake's couch. Lucy kicked off her shoes and curled into his side, and Jake pulled a blanket over both of them.
"Want to talk about it?" he asked.
"Not yet. Can we just... not talk for a little while?"
"We can absolutely not talk."
Jake turned on the TV—some cooking competition show that Lucy found oddly soothing. Watching other people stress about food was somehow less stressful than dealing with her own decisions.
The pizza arrived. They ate on the couch, watching terrible television, not talking about the bakery or Shayna's offer or the future. Just existing together.
Around 8 PM, Lucy finally broke the silence.
"I want to take the offer."
Jake paused the TV. "Yeah?"
"I think so. The money is good, obviously. But it's more than that. Shayna wants to expand my grandmother's legacy. She wants to share those recipes with more people. That's what my grandmother would have wanted—her food feeding as many people as possible."
"But?"
"But I'm scared. What if I take the money and travel and go to culinary school and realize I'm not actually that good? What if I was only good in the context of Timber Falls, with my grandmother's recipes? What if I'm not talented enough to make it on my own?"
Jake set down his pizza and turned to face her fully. "Lucy. Listen to me. You are incredibly talented. I've been eating your food for three years and every single thing you make is perfection. That's not your grandmother's recipes—that's your skill, your care, your talent."
"How do you know? You've only ever had my grandmother's recipes."
"Have I? The butternut squash muffins on Sunday—were those exactly her recipe?"
Lucy thought about it. "No. I adjusted the proportions. Added a bit more maple, less sage than she used."
"And they were incredible. Better than good—they were art. That's you, Lucy. That's your skill." Jake took her hands. "You've been hiding behind your grandmother's legacy for five years. Using it as a shield so you didn't have to put yourself out there. But you're ready now. I can see it."
"What if I fail?"
"What if you succeed? What if you travel and learn and come back and open a place that's uniquely yours? What if you become known for your own recipes, your own vision?"
"That's terrifying."
"I know. But you know what's more terrifying? Staying here, keeping everything the same, and waking up at forty wondering what might have been."
Lucy felt tears slide down her cheeks. "When did you get so wise?"
"About five days ago when I turned down the NHL and decided to build the life I actually wanted instead of the one I thought I should want." Jake wiped away her tears with his thumb. "We're doing the same thing, Lucy. We're both choosing to stop hiding. To stop letting fear make our decisions."
"What if we're making a mistake?"
"Then we'll make it together. And we'll figure out what comes next."
Lucy kissed him then—grateful and scared and full of something that might have been hope. When they pulled apart, she was smiling through her tears.
"Okay. I'm going to do it. I'm going to call Shayna tomorrow and accept her offer."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And then I'm going to research culinary schools. And plan a trip—maybe Europe? Asia? I've always wanted to see the bakeries in Paris and Tokyo and Seoul."
"How long would you be gone?"
