But Jake surprised her. “No, actually,” he said, still sounding baffled, and Leora heard in his voice that he really was awake. “I wasn’t sleeping so well, so I just got up and was reading for a while. I wasn’t exactly expecting to hear from anyone. Even the telemarketers usually wait until sunrise.” She could hear the smile on his face. But then his tone changed to worry, almost panic. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, really,” she tried to say calmly, but she heard her voice crack into another wail. “I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. It’s stupid. I’m so sorry to call you—I shouldn’t have called. I’m just not thinking straight,” she blubbered. She wished she hadn’t said anything at all, that she had hung up after she heard him say hello.

“It’s not stupid,” he answered her. His voice didn’t sound at all condescending, as she had thought it might. “I had that problem a few years ago.”

“Really?”

“Sure,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep for months. I don’t even remember why it happened, now. Something was upsetting me, I guess. But the worst thing about it is the feeling that you’re all alone. You’re just lying there waiting for hours to pass, and it’s like everyone in the world is dead except for you. It’s very scary, I remember.”

“It is,” she heard herself say. But already she felt less scared.

She heard Jake put something down on a table. “Listen, Leora, would it help you if I came over? Just to keep you company, I mean. I think it would have helped me when I couldn’t sleep if someone had been with me.”

She struggled to speak again. “You don’t need to do that,” she said, feeling even more embarrassed than before.

“No, seriously,” he said. “It’s no trouble. Do you think it would help?”

She paused for a moment. “Yes, maybe.”

She wanted to die as soon as she said it, but the words had escaped. “Great,” Jake said, and his voice betrayed an eagerness unnatural for four in the morning. “I’ll be there soon, okay?”

“Okay,” she answered. The phone clicked as he hung up. When she heard the click, she released another sob, a long, loud one. She hung up the phone and continued to wail.

SHE WAS still crying when Jake arrived. He took her in his arms until she stopped, escorting her back to her bedroom and sitting down with her on the bed.

“I’m not sure what to do with a person who can’t sleep,” he said. Leora, comforted by his presence until just then, heard something strange in his tone. He glanced straight ahead before turning to her, as if he were reading his line off the wall across the room. “Do you want a glass of milk or something?” he asked.