Sophie felt Jake get in beside her, surrounding her, his warmth beckoning her back from that dark place deep inside herself, that familiar gray desert where nothing mattered.

Jake had always been intrusive. He was so irritating that way, big and loud and pushy. He would not leave her alone. He was trying to break into the protected fortress of her heart. He was dangerous.

But he was so warm. One of his big hands stroked her head. “Your hair feels so soft. Better than petting the dogs,” he whispered in her ear. Such a way with words. Sophie would have smiled if she could have come back enough to do that.

Jake settled her closer, shifting her into his chest, her head pillowed on one of his biceps. He gave a deep sigh as if giving up all his tension. She felt him relax, the thick hard muscles that created so much heat around her going soft and vulnerable. A few moments later, she felt his slow, even breathing as he slept, the metronome of his heart beating against her back. And soon she slept too.

Sophie was overheated, and there was a weighted blanket holding her down. She struggled to lift it, and woke suddenly.

The hot weighted blanket was Jake. His arm was draped over her, so heavy that it smothered. She could feel him behind her and around her. Deep rumbling snores lifted the hairs beside her ear, making her smile.

He had vanquished the darkness.

Yes, she could still feel the depression around her, flapping its ugly wings, trying to drag her back down—but the sickness was pushed back, manageable. She could breathe, she could move, she could think.

A change in Jake’s breathing signaled he was awake too. One arm was underneath her so her head was resting on it, and the other, draped over her waist. His hand began to move, sliding lightly up and down her side.

Sophie shut her eyes and let herself enjoy the tingling sensation, the awakening of her nerves. After being in her robot body, it felt like circulation returning to a limb that had fallen asleep. His hand slid from her waist to her hip, down her leg, back up again to her shoulder, cupping the round of her deltoid. Nothing inappropriate, unless breaking into her room and climbing in bed with her naked and him fully dressed, holding her and taking a nap with her was inappropriate. And somehow, he’d pulled her back into her body by doing so.

First aid by hugging. That’s what he’d done.

She wanted to feel alive, healthy, cherished; and Jake made her feel all those things.

Sophie turned in his arms and breathed in the lemony fresh scent at the apex of his collarbones. She kissed the smooth, tender spot under his freshly shaved chin, the granite knob of his jawbone. She reached up with a hand and tilted his face down so that their mouths could meet.

They spoke, for a long slow time, without words, though getting his clothing off was a bit of a bother.

Afterward, Sophie waited for Jake to make a joke. To tease her, even to nag her to get out of bed, take a shower, eat something—after all, it must be at least ten a.m. on a workday. But he said nothing, just lying beside her, stroking whatever skin he could reach, which was most of it.

His silver-blue eyes in the dim light were the exact color of the mourning doves that were so common in Hawaii. She couldn’t look at them for long, and finally got up to shower. Jake went to his room to do the same.

She dressed and opened the curtains. Both dogs were on the other side of the connecting door, scratching to join her, and Jake opened the door. Ginger launched herself onto the bed and licked Sophie’s face. “Bad dog! Get down!” Sophie scolded. Ginger hopped down and began wrestling with Tank. The two crashed into the TV stand, making the appliance rock perilously.

“You’d think they hadn’t been out, but I’ve taken them for a run already,” Jake said. “I have a new lead for us to follow up on today. I wonder if you’re up for a drive. This contact is somewhere in Hilo, a witness that emailed the parents that she saw Julie after she disappeared from Volcanoes Park.”

Sophie needed to get to the secure online police station internet to use DAVID to search for her mother and information about the secret Yām Khûmkạn organization; but it would be a good idea to get out and shake off the cobwebs of her depressive episode before she went back into that triggering swamp.

“I need some food first.” Sophie’s stomach growled loudly.

Jake smiled. “I tried to get you to eat pizza yesterday but you wouldn’t answer the door. The dogs got the rest of it when I was out of the room. I’ll take you to breakfast.”