It gave us some peace, let us breathe a little easier. The world was still a fucked-up place, evident by the alert on our phones, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy the good parts either. Being together was one of those good parts. One of the best parts, honestly. Noah was the best thing to have ever happened to me, no matter what we had to go through to get to where we were. I would have done all that and more if it meant getting to wake up next to Noah every morning of every day, telling him how much I loved him while spending nights like these together.

“Come,” I said, leaning in and kissing him. I felt good about tonight. There was a certain magic in the air (and it wasn’t because of the brownies). “Let’s get lost in some lights.”

I held his hand as we walked down a path that had lights dangling down from the overhanging branches, making it seem like we were swimming through an ocean of stars. On the other side of it was a glass-blown fountain where dozens of lit-up benches were placed around it, each bench shining under bright white light, shifting as a wave of blue went through the circle.

We sat there for a couple of minutes, watching as a column of light shot up from the center of the fountain, fracturing the light into a hundred different colors.

“You’re seeing this, too, right?” I asked, suddenly becoming paranoid that the brownie had been too strong.

“Yes, yes I am.” More giggling, chuckling. I put my arm around Noah’s shoulders, and he laid his head down against me. I smiled, my fingers making soft trails on his arm.

“I love you, Noah.” I kissed him, his lips fitting perfectly against mine.

“I love you, too, babe.”

We drifted in a relaxing silence as people came in and out of my periphery, admiring the prism that appeared to be floating in midair, circled by a continuous wave of blue light. It hypnotized me, lulling me.

That was when Noah looked at his watch and shot up from the bench. “Crap. Crap, crap, shit.” His outburst startled a couple sitting on the bench across from us.

“What happened?” I asked, worried at the sudden barrage of curses.

“I totally lost track of time. We’re going to miss the special show at the Earth Mother. Come on.” Noah grabbed my hand and tugged me up onto my feet. Before I could ask another question—mainly: there was a special Earth Mother show?—Noah already had us running down the path, nearly tripping over a child who was trying to break free from the leash that was wrapped around his mother’s wrist.

“You know, I always wonder if kids shouldn’t be…” My train of thought trailed off as we turned a corner, coming up on the Earth Mother’s garden.