The First Date

The police lights cut through the darkness an hour later—Liam had called them the moment he saw Marcus’s car on the cameras.

Marcus was extracted, alive but broken, and taken away in handcuffs. The flash drive was recovered from the wreckage of Chloe's truck, still tucked in the glove box where she’d hidden it.

Two weeks later.

The Glass House was quiet. The rain had stopped, leaving the sky a crisp, clean blue.

Chloe sat on the deck, her leg in a fresh, lighter cast. She held two mugs of coffee. One black, one with an obscene amount of cream and sugar.

Liam walked out. He moved stiffly, his ribs taped and his arm in a sling. The bruises on his face were fading to a sickly yellow.

He sat down beside her. She handed him the black coffee.

"Thanks," he said. He looked nervous. He kept glancing at his boots. "So. The police said you’re free to go. My sister is coming to drive you back to the city whenever you’re ready."

Chloe took a sip of her sweet coffee. "I know."

"I really am sorry," Liam said again. "For the gaslighting. For the fake memories. It was... unethical."

"It was survival," Chloe corrected. She set her mug down. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

She opened the *Spark* app. She navigated to the message thread from that rainy night.

**Chloe:** Hey. Sorry I'm late. Traffic was murder.

She hit send.

Liam’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He frowned, pulling it out. He stared at the screen, then looked up at her, confusion warring with hope in his sea-green eyes.

"I believe," Chloe said, a genuine smile touching her lips for the first time in months, "that we were supposed to have a first date. I'm told you make a killer brisket."

Liam laughed. It was a rusty, beautiful sound. "I do. But I'm currently one-armed."

"That's okay," Chloe said, reaching out to take his hand—a gesture that finally, truly, felt right. "I'm not going anywhere. We have plenty of time."

Liam squeezed her hand. "Hi, Chloe. I'm Liam. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Hi, Liam," she whispered. "It's nice to meet you too."