Neruda & Coffee Stains

Emma and Jake's story began in a small independent bookshop in Portland on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. She was curled up in the poetry section, reading Pablo Neruda, when he walked in looking for a gift for his mother.

“I saw her laughing at something in a book, and I remember thinking — I want to know what's that funny.”

He pretended to be browsing the same shelf. She caught him reading a book upside down. That was the first time she laughed at him — but definitely not the last. They got coffee at the shop next door, and three hours later, they were still talking.

Ten years, two apartments, one rescued dog named Hemingway, and countless dog-eared books later, Jake wanted to tell Emma something he'd been trying to say since that rainy afternoon: that she was his favorite story.

“She still reads Neruda before bed. I still pretend to understand it. Some things never change.”

Their song opens with a gentle fingerpicked guitar — like the sound of rain on a bookshop window — and builds into a warm, full chorus that captures the feeling of finding your person in the most unexpected aisle.