“You know, I meant to tell you about this weird thing that happened when I went into that antiques store,” Jake said many moments later, his head close to hers. She could tell he wanted to keep talking, even if there wasn’t much left to say. At first Leora thought it was rude of him to change the subject. Then she realized that he had done so for her sake, to remind her that they were both alive. She smiled, feeling sleepy. “There was this guy there who was talking with the owner behind the counter, and I thought he looked familiar. When I started talking to them, he said he was the owner’s nephew, and then I realized that I knew him from elementary school.”

“You mean Tony Random?” Leora asked, her voice dull.

She felt Jake jolt beside her. “How do you know Tony?”

Leora laughed, a slow and sleepy laugh. “I don’t know him. I just—well, his uncle sort of tried to set me up with him.”

“Tony’s a jerk. He was probably the biggest bully in the school. I remember one time he was teasing me on the playground, and he had all his little cronies with him. Soon his whole little gang was teasing me and pushing me around, and he basically provoked everybody until they started beating me up. I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt—I mean, that must have been twenty years ago. Still, I wouldn’t date the guy if I were you. People like that don’t change much, I don’t think.”

“You don’t have to find me a date, Jake,” Leora said slowly, slurring her words. A wave of fatigue had washed over her, lapping at her limbs. “Jake?” she asked weakly. It was as if sleep were water and the room were slowly filling with a rising tide. The soles of her feet were already drowning in it. Then her legs, and then her hands—

“I think it’s time for you to go to sleep, Leora,” Jake said to her, his voice shrinking into a whisper.

“But I want to—tell—tell you—something.” Words were beginning to escape from her mind, scurrying into the tangled sheets.

“What do you want to tell me?” Jake asked, brushing her hair away from her forehead and onto the pillow beside her.

But it was too late then, very late, and too early too. He reached over to the night table and switched off her lamp, expecting the room to fall into total darkness. But instead, as his eyes adjusted, he noticed that the room was beginning to fill with a dim, dull light, dripping softly through the window. “What do you want to tell me, Leora?” Jake asked again, but Leora’s eyes were already closed. Her breath flowed in and out in hushed rhythms, like gentle waves on a beach.