I’d taken a shower and begun getting ready at four o’clock, a full two hours before Jacob was set to pick me up. I straightened my hair, painted my fingers and toes and even applied a thin layer of nude lipstick.Wear something really nice, he’d said, the words playing over in my head in the exact tone that he’d spoken them. I bit my lip as I stared in the mirror. It wasn’t a concern over my dress that was making me anxious, it was the entire statement as a whole. The fact that he’d prefaced our date with an expectation of, ‘really nice.’I certainly didn’t mind ‘really nice,’ in fact it was exciting, but that same excitement had been twirling in my stomach since breakfast and had now grown into a flurry of anxious anticipation. I had no idea where or what we were doing. The nicest restaurant in town didn't really qualify as a “dressing up” kind of place, so that meant we had to be going to at least the next town over.My belly felt empty yet somehow full, with weightless pulses of en

Jacob paid the bill. He made sure that I wasn't even able to sneak a peek at it, even though I could do the math well enough. This meal probably cost more than my groceries for two weeks did, but I had definitely enjoyed it.Together we walked hand in hand out the door to wait for his car to be valeted. The delivery of the bill had reintroduced my feelings of guilt, and I watched shamefully as Jacob slid his credit card into the leather folder. Again, I’d wanted to offer to pay, to contribute in some way, but he’d remained positive as he left the payment, almost as if he hardly even noticed the expense, and I didn’t want to change that by broaching the subject again.As we stood outside the night air was humid but cool and soft, a nice change from the controlled climate inside the restaurant. Jacob dropped my hand and reached to wrap his arm around me. I loved the way his heat wrapped around me, and even though the night air was cool, I barely noticed.I wanted anything but for the ni

Jacob sat back on the blanket and grabbed the bottle of champagne, filling up the glasses. He handed me one of them and then held his in the air. We clinked them together. “To us.”“To us,” I repeated.We both took a sip and I couldn’t believe how good it was. “This is amazing. What kind of champagne is this?”“It’s Dom Perignon,” he said. “My favorite.”“I don’t know enough about champagne to really know what that means,” I said. The bubbles tickled my nose as I took a sip. “But I can say that I think I may have found my favorite, too.”“I hope you’re hungry,” he said, reaching over and opening the basket. “And I also hope you don’t mind that I’m not a very good cook.”I watched as he pulled out a bunch of grapes and then two sandwiches. In addition, he set out sliced cheese and crackers, some vegetables with ranch dressing and some barbecue chips. I noticed the picnic basket still had the price tag on it.“Wow, you went all out,” I said, with a smile. I pointed to the tag. “Did you

After almost forty minutes, Jacob and I were finally able to get out of the craziness in the park. Luckily, Jacob had a tablet in his car, so we used the time to continue creating the imaginary updates for the game.I couldn't believe what the game was capable of. I hadn’t experienced anything like it in my life. One minute, we were enjoying a peaceful picnic and the next we were practically getting trampled over by a bunch of tweens and their parents, all in an effort to catch a rare Monster. I was still excited to tell Tommy about what had happened, but that was going to have to wait until I got back home. My date wasn’t over yet.“Thanks for agreeing to finish our date at my place,” Jacob said, as he pulled off of the highway. “I had no idea that was going to happen.”“How could you? That was crazy,” I said, as I reached over from the passenger seat and touched his arm. “I didn’t want the date to be cut short either, so this works out perfectly.”“I still can’t believe what happene

The next morning, I sat at a table in the corner of the coffee shop while I waited for Caroline. Since I was on the opposite side of town, I’d called her only a few moments after getting home from Jacob’s apartment demanding we meet up soon. And she’d agreed without any hesitation.Besides, I knew she liked coffee shops and I knew she liked double shot espressos with caramel and almond milk. I’d already ordered her one and a vanilla mocha for myself. Her drink sat across the table and right in front of her chair in what I hoped would be an enticing sight, something like using a bone to call a dog. If nothing else I wanted to bring her mood to a level near mine, and for Caroline, coffee was always the answer.The coffee shop was bustling at nine-thirty in the morning and I appreciated being able to sit and wait contentedly. It was the beginning of a warm day without any fog that sometimes accompanied California mornings.Even the sun is in a good mood, I thought.Caroline wore a tight