“We’ll be fine,” Liv said, muffling her own concerns. “We’ve been married for over twenty years. There’s nothing to worry about. We’re both busy with work at the moment. It’s a rough patch, but not between us. It’s other things in our lives.” She smiled at him, and knew it didn’t reach her eyes.

She’d only been nineteen when she met Jake. At the time she didn’t give it a second thought. Now it seemed so young. If Johnny told her he was settling down with someone, at his age, she’d think it was foolish at worst and optimistic at best. She’d ask him what the rush was and tell him to take his time.

She remembered for their third or fourth date, Jake had taken her to Paperpress before they went out to dinner. His face lit up as he told her about the printing presses and showed off his bookbinding tools. He’d made her a leather-bound notebook and demonstrated how to apply gold leaf to her name on the cover. When he’d finished, he handed it to her on his palms, as if it was a cushion displaying the crown jewels.

“Gosh, thank you, it’s so beautiful. What should I write in it?” Liv said. It seemed too precious to use. No one had ever done anything like this for her before.

“Whatever you like. Shopping lists, reminders...the names of our children.”

He said it jokingly, but they caught each other’s eye, both knowing there was something special between them.

If Liv could go back, in the time machine mentioned in Essie’s Book Ahead interview, she might whisper in her own ear, “Slow down a bit, Liv. You’ve only just met him. Are you sure he doesn’t do this for his other dates, too? Do you want to settle down with the first guy who shows you any interest?” But she was so wrapped up in him, she doubted she’d have listened.

As time passed, she and Jake chose Mack and Johnny’s names out of a baby book while watching TV. The little leather notebook still sat in her bedside drawer at home, waiting for her to use it.

Liv focused her attention back on her son. “I liked that your dad was older than me. He seemed so clever and mature, not like anyone I’d met before,” she told him.

Johnny slid his foot off her knee. “I’m never getting married. It’s weird promising to stay with one person forever.”

When he said it like that, it sounded true.