Sophia's heart jumped.
Then she opened it.
Not ring.
Inside:
The old electrical connector from her sedan.
She stared.
"What is wrong with you?"
Jake laughed.
"I cleaned it."
"Jake."
She held the tiny component.
"This caused breakdown?"
"Yes."
Sophia shook head.
"You kept it?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it broke at exactly the right time."
She looked at him.
His expression softened.
"I spent years thinking broken things were problems."
"Sometimes they are."
"Sometimes they stop you long enough to notice where you're going."
Sophia's eyes filled.
"You practiced this."
"A little."
She stepped closer.
Jake continued.
"I'm not proposing."
"Good."
He blinked.
Sophia smiled.
"Yet."
He laughed.
"I wanted to ask something else."
"What?"
"Move in."
Her smile disappeared.
Jake swallowed.
"Not because it saves money."
"It doesn't."
"Not because Molly needs a mother."
"She doesn't."
"Because I want to wake up with you."
"Because I want your ridiculous throw pillows in my house."
"Because I want to argue about coffee."
"Because I want you there when things are ordinary."
Sophia looked toward him.
"Ordinary."
"That's your pitch?"
"Yes."
She kissed him before answering.
"Yes."
Jake smiled against her lips.
"Yes?"
"Yes."
Then:
"But we're remodeling your bathroom."
He groaned.
"Deal canceled."
She laughed.
Living together was less romantic than dating.
That was good.
Sophia learned Jake left towels on hooks but not always correctly.
Jake learned Sophia owned seventeen decorative pillows and used none for sleeping.
Molly learned having Sophia in house meant better pasta and stricter homework proofreading.
Jake learned Sophia sometimes woke at three in morning after dreams about Daniel.
Not because she missed him.
Because betrayal still lived in nervous system.
Sophia learned Jake sometimes woke from dreams about hospitals.
Not because he lived in past.
Because grief left fingerprints.
They held each other through both.
Not fixing.
Just staying.
Summer came.
Then autumn.
Two years after first meeting, Jake proposed.
This time ring.
No roadside.
He did it in garage.
Sophia had complained all week that he never finished restoring an old 1969 Mustang.
Jake asked her to stop by after work.
She arrived wearing black trousers and cream blouse.
Garage lights low.
Mustang hood open.
Sophia groaned.
"You called me for an engine?"
Jake smiled.
"Come here."
She approached.
Inside engine bay sat small velvet box.
Sophia froze.
"Jake."
He leaned against fender.
"Thought about roadside."
"Too predictable."
"Café."
"Too public."
"Lake."
"Too cold."
"So garage."
Sophia started crying.
He smiled.
"Good sign?"
"Shut up."
Jake picked up ring.
Then became serious.
"I love you."
"No speeches about broken things."
Sophia laughed through tears.
"Please."
He smiled.
"I love you when things work."
"I love you when they don't."
"I love Molly."
"She loves you."
"I want children with you if we get lucky."
"I want a life with you either way."
Sophia covered mouth.
Jake continued.
"I don't want you to replace Rachel."
"I don't want to replace who you were before me."
"I want the life only we can build now."
He knelt.
"Sophia Lauron, will you marry me?"
She stared.
Then: