As I head for the park with my basket in hand, I can't help but feel excited. How many times have I made a trek to this very spot? But this time, it's different because I've made enough food and drink for two. I told myself this morning when I made it that there was the possibility that Jake may not show. He appeared interested enough in me yesterday but that could easily change. I walk down to the pond and go to my usual area. There have been many times that I've come here and there has been snow on the ground but not today. Any evidence of the snow from a few days ago has melted away. The sun is shining brightly and the birds are singing as I take a blanket and spread it on the ground. Of course, on days when there is snow on the ground I just sit on the bench but today is different. I set my basket on the blanket and begin to remove its contents. I keep wondering to myself if Jake will find this silly. After all, how many females have picnics down by a pond in winter? It's true that normally the winters aren't very harsh here but still. I take out a bottled water and open it before taking a sip. I then set it down on the blanket and pull out a paperback and start to read.

Yeah sure, the romance story I read is the same old, same old. A handsome man seduces an innocent girl. They sleep together and then she isn't sure about what she's done. She ends up leaving to sort out her feelings and eventually comes to find out she loves him resulting in her coming back. They end up getting married and blah blah. So, why am I reading this particular story? Well, actually it's one of those romance stories that take place in another time period. I always imagine myself as the heroine dressed in her big dress and her hair done up in ringlets. And here comes the handsome, dark-haired man dressed in a Victorian men's suit and wearing a long, black coat. He kisses my hand and looks deep into my eyes and tells me that I am the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. He puts his hands around my waist and pulls me toward him. I can see the fire in his eyes as he consumes me with his stare but I'm not afraid. He is setting my very soul on fire and sending shivers down my spine. He pulls me closer to him until our lips are only inches apart. I can feel his hot breath on my neck as my heart beats faster. And then he takes my lips in a fiery kiss. He begins to explore my mouth with his tongue while his hands wander down my arms. He lifts my dress and his hand starts to caress my…

"Good book?"

The voice completely startles me causing me to drop my book. I look up at the source of the voice and find myself face to face with Jake. I can see he's wearing a long, black trench coat almost like the man in the novel I was just reading. I lower my sunglasses. "As a matter of fact it is."

"Must be seeing how you were so absorbed in it." Jake answers with a smile.

"Hello, Jake." I reply as I return his smile.

Jake looks at my basket and items on the blanket. "Expecting someone?"

"Maybe." I pause. "Although I think there might be enough here if you would like some too?"

"Sure your other person won't mind?"

I tilt my head slightly. "No, I don't think so. Something tells me they may not show up anyway. The last thing I would hate to have to do is waste all this food." I motion to the spot next to me. "Please."

Jake slowly takes a seat next to me. "Well, this is certainly a first for me."

"What's that?"

"Well, having a picnic in the winter."

"You can have a picnic anytime of the year, Jake. It doesn't have to be sweltering outside."

"Yeah but wouldn't want to get frostbite either." Jake looks down at the ground. "Well, at least you don't have to worry about ants or insects." He looks around. "Kids running, seagulls swooping down, ducks, swans.."

"Ok, ok I get the point." I answer giving him a look. "There's a lot that can be learned from being this close to nature you know." I hold out a thermos. "Tea?"

"Thanks." Jake takes a plastic cup from the basket. He watches as the liquid is poured into the cup. Lifting the cup to his lips, he takes a sip. "Mmmmm…very good." He stretches out his legs slightly. "So tell me, Lady Dana just how can I learn something from being next to a pond in the winter cold?"

I hand him a sandwich. "I told you not to call me Lady Dana. It's just plain, Dana. And as for learning something well….sitting in front of a pond instead of inside some kind of stuffy café full of cigarette smoke and loud voices? You tell me the difference. I would rather personally listen to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees then some woman complaining about how her husband is having an affair or something. I would rather be surrounded by positive energies all around me than negative. I come down here, Jake in order to escape the depressing realities of life if only for a brief moment. But I guess it's not something you can understand."

Jake takes a bite of his egg salad sandwich. "Uh, actually I can."

I take a sip of my tea and look back at him. "Re..really?"

He motions to the sandwich. "This is good by the way. And yes I can." He takes another bite. "My life hasn't exactly been the best. There are times I wake up in the morning and wish I hadn't."

I look at him with concerned eyes. "Jake, what could have happened in your life to make you feel that way? I mean…I've had some terrible things happen in my past but I've never wished that."

Jake lets out a sigh. "Dana, I really don't want to burden you with my problems."

I unconsciously reach my hand forward and take his. "Please, Jake. I'm always interested to know why people do what they do. And…someone wishing they were dead there must be a reason."

He glances down at our hands. "And to think that I couldn't even get you to go on a date with me yesterday."

I follow his eyes and then see what he is speaking of. I blush slightly and pull my hand away. "I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was doing that."

"It's ok, I don't mind." He takes my hand gently. "It's a long way from hitting me in the head."

I let out a laugh and shake my head. "Oh god, I can't believe that happened that night. I assure you I'm usually never that clumsy." I find myself gazing into his eyes. They look even better than that first night I saw him. Wait, what am I doing? I clear my throat. "So, why do you have these thoughts, Jake? Maybe…maybe I can help you? I've been told by others that I seem to have the ability to understand others and assist them."

Jake takes a breath. "I had…someone very close to me commit suicide."

"Oh, Jake." It's true I've had to deal with people who had lost loved ones. But never something quite like this. "I'm so sorry."

Jake shrugs his shoulders. "It happened a little over a year ago. People tell me that I need to move on but…"

"They aren't you, Jake." I reply as I finish his sentence.

He gives me a strange look. "That's right. You know you're the first person to tell me that." He tilts his head at me. "What is it about you, Dana?"

"What…what do you mean?"

"I mean…what is it about you that makes me feel like I can tell you anything? You just…make me feel so comfortable when I'm around you. You make me forget any pain that I am feeling. I've never met anyone quite like you before."

Can he really be saying this to me? Is what Jenn told me a few days ago true? She told me that he had some baggage and she was right about that. Is she also right about how I am secretly attracted to Jake? "I wouldn't just share my picnic with any man, you know."

"No? Well, I wouldn't sit here in the winter and freezing cold with just any woman either."

"Cold? I didn't notice. Must be my warm, Celtic blood."

"Is it that warm, Celtic blood that allowed you to perform in that cute little outfit last night?" He asks before taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Well, I normally don't dress like that." I answer before taking a bite of my own sandwich.

"Can I ask why?" Jake asks as he takes another sip of his tea.

"Why? Well, because I don't think there's really anything to see. And…I want a man to like me for myself and not because of my body." I answer lowering my head.

Jake nods. "I can understand you wanting someone to like you for yourself."

"You..you do?"

"Yes, I do." He lifts my chin gently with his hand. "But to not want to dress that way because there was nothing to see? Well that is something I have to disagree with."

Oh my god! His touch on my skin feels so wonderful! How could this man possibly be single? And his eyes are so intoxicating! "Jake, you don't know what you're saying."

"Oh, I think I do." He takes his hand and places it on the side of my face. "What makes me so drawn to you, Dana? Even after the way you told me to stay away, I couldn't. I heard your voice that night and it captured me and then I saw you and…"

Oh god is this really happening to me? My heart is beating so hard I think it's going to come out of my chest! I am slowly losing myself in his eyes. "Jake…"

He starts to caress my cheek with his thumb. "And I couldn't stop thinking about you last night." He slowly leans toward me. "Even when I was with Allison a few nights ago I imagined she was you."

My mood is immediately shattered by his last sentence. It's just like if someone were playing a slow song on a record player and pulled the needle across and off it. I pull back from him. "You were with another woman and you imagined she was me?"

Jake sighs. "Dana, that didn't come out the right way."

"And just what is the right way, Jake?"

"I meant that when I was making love with…" He flinches as he realizes that is NOT what he meant to say.

I totally move away from him. "You were making love with someone and you imagined it was ME!"

"Dana…"

It's at this point that I stand up. "Jake, that is the most humiliating thing I have EVER been told!"

"Humiliating?" Jake asks still sitting on the blanket. "I would have thought you would be flattered!"

"Flattered? Flattered that you were having sex with another woman but pretending she was me? We don't even know each other! And how would you feel if you were making love with someone and the other person imagined they were with someone else? Did you call out my name too?"

Jake eases himself from the blanket and stands in front of me. "Give me a little credit, will you?"

"Well, I just figured since you imagined I was her that you would have called out my name in your ecstasy!"

"You're being ridiculous about this!"

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are! If I had told any other woman that I had imagined I was with them in that situation they would have been flattered! It doesn't mean that I think of you in that way. It means that you're on my mind. And as for what it's like to make love with you? Well, I guess that's just something I will have to wonder on."

I put my hands on my hips. "Oh you can wonder all right because it is NEVER going to happen! And if that is the real reason that you came here, well you can just forget it! I should have known you were like all men!"

"What?"

"The only thing you're interested in for a relationship is to get me in bed!"

"I never said that!"

"You don't have to, Jake! I can see it all over your face!" I turn away from him. "You don't know me, Jake. You don't know anything about my life. I'm a witch."

"Do you really think I care about that?"

I turn back around to him. "You should because it's WHO I am. I have been ridiculed because of my religious beliefs. I've lost friends because of it. I had a guy who took me to his church and put me in front of his congregation because he wanted to save my soul! I've been told I'm evil and will burn in hell, Jake! I even had a guy who agreed to be with me because he thought it was cool to be with a witch."

"You really think that's the reason I want to be with you? How can you even compare me to some of those people? I wanted to go out with you because I thought you were different. I heard the whispers from people at the club about you and your sisters."

"You see? You ARE like them!"

"Dammit, that's not what I mean!" Jake answers as he grabs me by my shoulders tightly.

"Let go of me." I reply almost growling at him.

"You really infuriate me, you know that!"

"Yeah, well the feeling is mutual!" I scream back.

"Sometimes I just want to…"

"You want to do WHAT?" I ask getting in his face.

He pauses a few minutes before pulling me to him and kissing my lips.

The feeling of his lips on mine is indescribable. I've never shared a kiss like this with anyone before. The power of his kiss is causing me to go weak in the knees and is literally taking my breath away. I wrap my arms around his neck and find myself returning his kiss. Not even Jeremy could kiss like this! He then pulls away and leaves me catching my breath.

But he appears to be panting too. "Does that answer your question?"

"Uh..uh-huh." I whisper back.

"So will you go with me on a date, Lady Dana?"

"Uh-huh." I answer tilting my head at him with a smile.

"Tomorrow night at 7 o'clock at Camille's?"

"Uh-huh."

"Great. I'll pick you up at Practical Magick." He gives me another kiss on the lips. "Thanks for the great picnic." He then turns and walks back up the path.

As I watch Jake walk off I find myself slowly sinking to my knees. Once I reach the ground, I stretch myself out and sigh as I bring my hands behind my head. I have a date! I have a date with the most handsome man I've ever seen! I then pause in my thought as realization hits me. "Oh my god! I have a date with Jake!" I turn and quickly pack up my picnic and head back to Practical Magick as fast as I can. I can't wait to share this news with my sisters. That Lady Dana has a date with her secret admirer.