“I don’t care. It’s just money.” He squeezes my hand. “I’m doing well, Red. You don’t have to work at all if you don’t want to.”
I wince, his words hurting for some reason. “I do. I want to work. I don’t need someone to take care of me, Nash. I can take care of myself. That’s not what this is about.”
“Well, I do need someone like that,” he says, gripping my fingers tight when I try to pull away. “I need you to take care of me, and you’re doing a damned fine job of it. I have never been this happy, Aria. I’m just trying to return the favor.”
My lips tremble and my throat goes tight. “Are you sure? You don’t feel like you’re stuck with me, or trapped or—”
“Baby, what’s wrong?” He reaches across the table, taking my face in his big hands with a tenderness that makes me want to cry even more. “Why are you stressing about this all of a sudden?”
I start to tell him the truth, but stop myself at the last moment.
Nash loves his mother. Most boys love their mothers, but Nash really loves Joy. She’s a hero to him, the way she carried their family through all those hard times, sometimes all on her own when his dad had to leave town for work. I don’t want to be the one to pull her off that pedestal.
And a tiny part of me is afraid that he might not believe me, that he’ll brush me off the way he did earlier tonight, refusing to see anything but the best in his mom. And I’m not sure I can handle that. Right now, it feels like Nash is completely on my side, and I don’t want to do anything to drive a wedge between us, so I lie.
“I heard some women talking at the wedding the other day,” I say. “One of their sons was marrying a single mom and they weren’t happy about it.”
“Well, I couldn’t be happier.” He presses a gentle kiss to my lips. “Come on, let’s get ready for bed. I’ll run you a bath and you can soak the sad out.”
“That sounds nice.” I force a smile, determined to put the miserable parts of the night behind me.
“And how about a back rub after?” he asks. “I’ve been wanting to show off my masseuse skills. I heard someone was on their feet all weekend cooking things containing sugar and could probably use a rub down.”
“Oh, I can always use a rub down,” I say, with a smile that isn’t the least bit forced. “Especially when you’re the one doing the rubbing.”
With a soft laugh, Nash takes my hand and leads me to our bedroom, and I promise myself that we’re done with this. I’m not going to let Joy negatively impact even one night of my marriage. I waited too long for a love like what Nash and I have to waste a single moment of it.
Happiness is too precious to waste, especially when I know all too well how quickly trouble can rear its ugly head.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nash
I’m up and out of the house for my Monday morning run by five fifteen, slipping silently out of bed without waking Aria and changing into my running clothes in the front bathroom.
Something about last night is still bugging me, and running is my best shot at sorting it out. I always do my best thinking about mile three.
Today, however, I plod through mile three and am well into mile four before the gears start to turn. And then my head insists on mulling over what’s on deck at work, skimming over the preliminary details of several cases I need to research before my ten o’clock staff meeting.
My brain has nothing to offer on the topic of my wife, or what happened to make her start doubting our relationship in such a serious way.
Her breakdown coincided with the visit to Mom and Dad’s, but, as far as I could tell, her first family dinner went off without a hitch. Raleigh and Mom avoided their usual clash of wills, and Nick and Dad didn’t start fighting about Nick’s state of only part-time employment—a small miracle considering Dad thinks anyone over the age of eighteen who isn’t working a full-time job is shirking their duty to society and probably a criminal of some sort.
Aria and my brothers and sisters got along great, and the nieces and nephews were sweet with Felicity, taking time out from their rough, big kid games to play ball with the baby.
I honestly can’t imagine what could have set Aria off.
Surely the fact that Mom is quiet around strangers wasn’t enough to sow seeds of doubt.
But Aria did make that rabies comment…
Maybe I just need to reassure her that Mom is always reserved with new people, and that it’s absolutely nothing personal.