The sky was pitch black, the only light in the dark forest filtering down from the moon. The soft glow caught the twinkle of the snow and the ripple of the lake beyond the trees, a gentle breeze dancing across the water and through the trees. Somewhere outside the cabin, a wind chime tinkled. Inside, a melodic playlist provided the soundtrack to a tender evening.

A candle flickered in the middle of the table, fragrant wax pooling around the wick. The soothing scent of cinnamon and clove filled the room as Tala poured two glasses of wine, draining the bottle, and she bent in front of the microwave to top up her lipstick in the reflection.

Tonight was her third date with Raphael and this time, she was in charge.

Glancing down at herself, she wished she had packed at least one half-decent outfit but given her reason for the trip, the last thing she had expected was to find herself on a third date. Ordinarily, she would make an effort with a dress but the best she could offer was a pair of leggings that wrinkled around her ankles and a woolly jumper that made her look two sizes bigger than she was.

Not that Raphael cared.

When he came out of the bathroom, raking his hand through his hair, his face lit up when he saw her.

"Oh my God, you look so soft," he said with a sparkling grin.

Tala beamed right back, her confidence growing with each minute that they spent together. She cocked her hip, one hand on her waist and the empty wine bottle in the other, and she attempted to wink.

"Didn't we establish that last night?"

He laughed, pulling himself together to say, "That we did." He came to a stop a couple of metres from her and stretched his hands out to the sides. "How do I look?"

"Strangely adorable," Tala said, taking in the image before her. Raphael was wearing a virtually identical outfit, dressed in a pair of her leggings and another of her thick jumpers. He was taller than her but he wasn't much broader: the purple sweater fitted snugly. The leggings ... even more so.

"I feel it," he said, doing a spin on the kitchen tiles and almost falling over. "Why don't more guys wear leggings? They're so comfortable."

She briefly nodded downwards. "Maybe because they're borderline pornographic."

"Shit. Sorry." He tugged at the hem of the jumper, trying to cover himself a bit more decently, until Tala tapped him with the neck of the bottle.

"That's one of my favourites. Don't stretch it out," she said, and then she added, "And I wasn't complaining."

He shuffled closer, hardly making a sound with a pair of Tala's fluffy winter socks on his feet, and he leant forward to kiss her. His hair still smelled like her shampoo; his body smelled like her deodorant. He had wasted no time making himself at home and it gave her an odd sense of comfort: he could have made the situation awkward but it had been anything but. The thought made her smile as they kissed, and she felt him smile too.

"So soft," he said again, one hand running over the fabric of her jumper. The other rested at the small of her back, holding her close as his breath tickled her earlobe.

When he fell quiet, on the cusp of stepping away, she wrapped both arms around him and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Eyes closed, she lost herself in the simple pleasure of a hug. She had missed that more than she realised. Just a hug. Just someone's arms around her. A lump rose in her throat. She held on a little tighter. Raphael rubbed her back, his cheek pressed against the top of her head.

"Are you ok?" he murmured. His grip didn't loosen.

"Mmm," she hummed, eyes still shut.

It wasn't until several seconds later that she slowly let go and when she stepped away, Raphael greeted her with the kindest smile. He wasn't a stranger. There was nothing strange about him.

"I didn't realise how much I missed hugs," she said, letting her hands drop to her sides. "You're a really good hugger."

"Why thank you. My alter ego happens to be the snuggle monster."

A laugh burst out of Tala. She needed that laugh: it dislodged the emotion in her throat. "Why do I get the feeling you're not joking?"

"Because I'm not," he said. "It's a game March and I play. I'm the snuggle monster and I have to catch him." He chuckled. "He's pretty easy to catch."

Tala hadn't thought her heart could melt anymore but at that, it did. She felt like the candle, dripping into a puddle at his feet, and she leant against the counter to stop herself from crumbling.

"Speaking of March, what's the time?" Raphael asked. Tala stretched across the island for her phone and showed him the screen. Twenty past seven. "D'you mind if I ring him before he goes to bed?"

"Of course! Go ahead." She unlocked it with her thumbprint and handed it over. "The code's 071621, if you need it."

"Ooh. Fancy. Mine's only four numbers," he said with a laugh. "I'd be so easy to hack."

"Let me guess ... 2011?"

He spluttered. "Holy shit. You're good. How'd you guess?"

Tala laughed. "You told me March's birthday."

He gazed at her for a moment. "You remembered."

She tapped her temple. "Not so soft up here."

His smile gave her butterflies. "I'll be honest, I'll never remember your code. Numbers fall right out of my head."

Tala found a pen and in lieu of any paper lying around, she took Raphael's warm hand in hers and wrote the numbers on his palm. "07 because my oldest nephew, Logan, was born on the seventh of May. 16 because my niece, Rosa, was born on the sixteenth of April, and 21 because my youngest nephew, Floyd, was born on the twenty-first of September."

She had only changed it a few weeks ago. Before then, her code had been her anniversary.

Her phone had locked itself. Raphael unlocked it, reading the numbers off his hand, and he cupped Tala's cheek with a quick kiss.

"I'll be ... no more than fifteen," he said as he found his mother's number in the recent call log.

"I'll have supper on the table."

When Raphael returned after fourteen minutes, supper was waiting. Tala had had a trickier task on her hands now that they were running low on food: she'd had to split the final ready meal between two plates, with a side of toast and crisps and orange segments. There was still half a cheesecake left, waiting to be devoured for pudding.

"Ooh, looks like a feast," Raphael said, licking his lips. He took the glass of white that Tala had kept in the fridge, sipping the chilled wine before he kissed her and handed back her phone.

"Everything ok back home?"

He held up his hand, thumb and index finger touching. "Absolutely peachy," he said. "Mum was just putting March to bed. She's a bit stricter about bedtime than me." He sat when Tala pulled out a chair for him. "Thanks. I told March you'll be coming over, and I explained the situation to Mum."

She winced. "The truth? Or..."

"The edited truth," he said with a chuckle. "As far as she's aware, you're an old friend from Farnleigh who I bumped into in the pub and you're alone so you're spending Christmas with me."

Her wince turned into a smile. "Basically the truth, really."

He nodded and grinned. "White lies," he said, tapping his nose. "I do know you from Farnleigh, however briefly; I did bump into you in the pub, and you were alone. I didn't think it was necessary to tell her that we were about to have our third date, or that we kind of already had it last night."

She felt his socked toes against hers and their fingers brushed together when they both reached for the salt.

"And she's ok with that?" she asked. "She's ok with me? If we're dating, I don't want to piss off your mum two days in."

Laughing, Raphael shook his head. "She called me a good boy for helping out a friend in need," he said, "and she said she's sure you're lovely if you're my friend, so you've got the Davina Marino seal of approval." He stuck up both thumbs and dug into the measly portion of chicken stir fry. "Not that that matters. You've already got my approval. Then again, my mum and I are really close, so I'm not sure I could date someone she didn't like."

Tala's cheeks pinkened. "I guess I've got some parent impressing to do," she said quietly. She tried not to dwell on the slightest fear that came with meeting Raphael's son, and quite possibly his mother too. "Am I going to meet her?"

"Up to you, really," he said. "I don't want to put you on the spot. I really don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. I figured it'd made more sense if we get a taxi together tomorrow and you just ... stay. Unless you'd rather just get your car and then come back on Monday? Totally up to you."

"I'll come tomorrow," she said, tearing her toast into four pieces. She used one of the quarters to mop up the excess sauce. "If you're sure that's ok with you, and March."

"I'd love that. I do need to warn you, though, that we'll be going to church tomorrow evening. We always go on Christmas Eve. They do a really nice service. March loves the carols. I don't care if you're atheist or agnostic or Buddhist or whatever, but I don't want to spring that on you."

"That's really sweet," she said, pausing her food for a moment of appreciation. "I'm ... I'm not really sure what I am, to be honest. I went to church every Sunday until I was eighteen and I loved it. My parents are pretty devout Catholics but I ... I think I take it all with a pinch of salt."

"That's the only way I can justify it," he said. The candle's warm flame was reflected in his eyes. "My dad's uber Catholic and my mum's agnostic, verging on atheist. I think I'm somewhere in the middle. And my sister's the anti-Christ," he added with a laugh.

Tala's smile grew. He was the same. The more they shared their lives, the more of their lives that she realised they shared.

"You haven't mentioned your dad much," she said. "Are you guys close?"

He lifted a shoulder. "We're fine, I guess, as far as father-son relationships go. He and my mum got divorced when I was fifteen and he was furious when I told him that Leela was pregnant. I think he was still feeling pretty guilty about the divorce – his side of the family kind of ostracised him for that – and he wanted me to be a better man," he said, putting air quotes around the words.

"That's really rough."

"Yeah. It was, actually. That was a difficult couple of years. He flip-flopped a lot. First he wanted me to marry Leela, then he would be slagging her off, which only made me madder, so we fell out a lot."

Tala grimaced. She couldn't imagine having that kind of relationship with her parents, and she thanked her lucky stars that hers had always supported her. "Are you guys alright now?"

He nodded and swallowed his mouthful, his hand covering his mouth. "Yeah, yeah. He came around eventually. He softened a bit when March was born and he realised he'd be a grandad for the rest of his life," he said with a proud smile. "He's never said it outright, but I think I earnt his respect by proving I can do this. The whole dad thing. And he really loves my son."

A certain L word fluttered in Tala's chest, her heart throbbing harder. She pushed it away with a swallow and let the butterflies blossom into a smile. "You're an amazing dad," she said. "As far as I can tell, anyway. You seem like the most incredible dad. March is one lucky little boy."

It was his turn to wear pink cheeks. "I think I'm the lucky one," he said. "March has made me who I am now, anyway. I'd be a very different person if I wasn't a dad. Probably a lot more selfish. A lot more immature."

She felt star-struck, as though she was in the presence of an idol and her words had dried up on her tongue. This was a new feeling, the overwhelming crush of adoration in her chest. She had never felt that for a man before: love had never rendered her speechless before.

"Are you alright?" Raphael asked, tilting his head.

Her cheeks burned and she nodded. "Yes, yeah, sorry. I'm just basking in admiration," she said, and an embarrassed laugh followed. "Sorry, that was cheesy. Can I take that back?"

"No can do. I already took the compliment." He mimed catching her words and he placed his fist over his heart.

Tala swooned harder.

"I don't think I've heard much about your family, either," he said. "You told me about your brother – what about your parents?"

That was good: a direct question to distract her from her feelings. She sat straighter and brushed off her fluster, cooling her heart with a deep breath. "They're still married, have been for thirty-six years, and they live a few miles from me," she said, punctuating herself with a sip of wine.

"Are you guys close?" Raphael asked, pre-empting her next words.

"Mmm. I'm actually pretty close to my dad. My brother says I'm a daddy's girl, but he's a total mummy's boy. My dad's the comforter, whereas my mum's more pragmatic." She wound noodles around her fork and pierced a measly chunk of chicken. "When I told them about the break-up, my dad was right there with a hug and a shoulder to cry on, and Mum came over with a list of people I should talk to. Just, you know, because I'd moved in with him and we were engaged."

"Sounds like you've got the perfect balance," he said.

"I like to think so. Mum's a lawyer: she's really good at advice, even if it means she sometimes slips into treating me like a client, and Dad's ... well, he was a stay at home dad when I was younger and for the past fifteen years or so, he's worked part-time at a bookshop. Just for something to do, really." She laced her hands together. "They're kind of yin and yang."

"And you're the best of both worlds."

Her cheeks blushed a deeper shade of pink but she forced herself not to counter him. She had spent too much of her life putting herself down, rebuking compliments or making jokes at her own expense, and in that moment, she realised she was tired of it. "Thank you, Raph," she said instead, and a new bud of confidence unfurled itself.

"Any time, Tala."

Night fell hard. By ten o'clock, Tala was deliciously full after topping up her disappointing supper with cheesecake and hours of easy conversation had somehow whiled away the minutes until she struggled to keep her eyes open. Bed was calling her.

"I'm absolutely shattered," she said with a yawn. "I'm gonna head to bed. Feel free to stay up, though. Once I'm out, I'll be out like a light."

"I'll join you." He stood, setting down the book he had found in the cabin – not one of Tala's. He hadn't dared to ask if he could borrow one, and she wasn't sure she would have been able to say yes to someone who openly admitted to reading in the bath. That kind of disrespect wasn't something she could allow near her beloved novels.

This night was nothing like the last night they had spent together.

There was no frantic undressing or feverish touch, no desperate kisses or animalistic groans. Instead, there was comfortable togetherness. There was a feeling of tranquillity in the dark room, a sense of peace when Tala pressed her lips to Raphael's and held her hand over his warm, bare chest.

"I usually sleep naked," he murmured when they pulled apart.

"Me too."

"I can keep the leggings on, if you'd pre-"

"Whatever you want, Raph," she said. "I don't mind."

She unhooked her bra, now only wearing her underwear, but she didn't feel exposed as she sat on the edge of the bed. When Raphael peeled off the leggings, the moonlight floating through the window to highlight his lithe body, her senses jumped to high alert. Suddenly she wasn't so tired anymore.

"Hey," she said, so quietly her voice was almost a whisper.

"Hey." The light caught the curve of his smile.

That smile. She had fallen for it. She had fallen hard.

She stood, and she crossed the room to join him in a couple of steps. Throwing her arms around his neck, she pulled him down to meet her lips with a renewed hunger, and she weakened when she felt him against her. His hand was in her hair, the other warm on her back, his nose pressing against her cheek. Her body ached for him more and more. Supper hadn't filled her after all.

A sliver of the moon's weakening light snuck across Raphael's heaving chest and Tala's hand over his heart, her head on his shoulder and her knee pulled over his thighs. Breathless, she lay silently as her lungs found their rhythm again and allowed her to inhale his scent.

He turned his head so his lips found her forehead in the dark and he shifted to tuck his arm around her, holding her close. His hand was a comfort on her arm, his fingers tracing figures over her skin; when she kissed his shoulder, she tasted salt on her lips. Tipping her head back, she couldn't resist him when she saw that he was smiling down at her, even when she hadn't been looking up at him.

The words swirling around her head were the words she couldn't say. It was laughably soon to let them slip. That would only set her up for heartbreak, and that wasn't something she could ever face again. To tell him how she felt would be to throw away the best thing to happen to her in a long time.

Tala knew that the next person she said those words to would be the person she spent the rest of her life with. No part of her was interested in the cat and mouse of dating, exploring the minefield of shattered relationships and bad decisions. That realisation struck her like a bolt of lightning, as though her future had been illuminated in a flash and for that second, she had seen the future.

Now it was dark again, but she knew where she was heading. She just didn't want to make the first move. That first step was the scariest. The rest would follow with ease, once she was sure enough of her footing to take that risk. Her brother's words echoed in her mind. Maddie's too. When you know, you know.

"Tala?" Raphael murmured.

Her heart skipped a beat. In that split second, her mind was made up. Screw convention; screw everything she had ever thought. Screw the steps and the timings and the unspoken feelings; screw the excuses and explanations. Now or never.

"I'm falling in love with you."

Her voice was steady; her tone was sure. There was no excuse for her feeling, no apology for the sudden sentiment. It was out, and she wasn't going to take it back. It was true, after all. It didn't matter that she hardly knew him. She just knew.

When he said nothing, she met his gaze. He was still smiling. Broader now. A brighter sparkle in his eyes.

"I'm falling in love with you too."

+ - + - +

i don't normally get emotional over my own characters but i felt very in touch with tala this chapter, and i absolutely loved writing this! i hope you enjoy this one!