“Happy tears,” she assured him. She had a tendency to get overly emotional about things, and more than once, she had scared Nick with her tears, making him think something was wrong. “Let’s start trying.”
She could feel her husband go completely still. Nick had lost a lot of people in his life, and Aggie knew that the idea of having a child, knowing he could lose it must be a terrifying one. As much as she wanted to start a family with the man she loved, if Nick wasn’t ready then she would wait until he was. “Nick, if you’re not …”
“I am,” he cut her off. “A baby with you, nothing would make me happier.”
“Really?” She tilted her face up to see him better.
“Really.” He smiled down at her.
Aggie feathered a trail of kisses up Nick’s neck, along his jaw, and stopped just millimeters from his mouth. “I love you so much.”
Nick turned his head, and his mouth took hers so sweetly that Aggie felt fresh tears fill her eyes. How was it possible to love one person so much?
As one of her tears rolled down her cheek and splashed on to Nick, he broke the kiss and rolled his eyes at her, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Really, more tears?”
“I can’t help it.” She smiled at him through watery eyes. Every time she looked at her husband it was like he got more attractive.
Nick opened his mouth to say something but didn’t when the sound of the doorbell interrupted him. “Ignore it,” he said instead, taking the rest of the steps two at a time.
But Aggie couldn’t ignore it. What if it was one of her sisters? Her family had been through a very rough couple of years, and it had brought them all closer. If Clara or Naomi needed her then she would be there. She pushed gently at Nick’s chest until he set her on her feet.
“Aggie,” he groaned.
She couldn’t help but giggle at the look on his face. “We can pick up where we left off later. You may as well go finish dinner. I’ll see who’s at the door.”
With Nick grumbling behind her, she headed back downstairs and threw open the front door. She was surprised and yet not surprised to see her best friend Summer standing there. She had invited Summer to come for dinner because she’d thought Nick had to work and she knew that her friend hated Valentine’s Day. She didn’t know why, but she and Summer had been friends for almost nine years now, and every Valentine’s Day, Summer withdrew further inside herself.
“Oh, I … Nick’s … I thought … I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have come.” Summer spun on her heel and hurried back down the drive.
“Summer, wait.”
Her friend froze but didn’t turn around.
“It’s fine, Nick and I were just going to have dinner, you can join us.” This was her chance to get to the bottom of whatever was at the root of Summer’s hatred of Valentine’s Day. Aggie suspected that the answer to that was also the answer to why her friend kept her past under lock and key. In the nine years they’d known each other, she had never once heard Summer talk about anything from her life before.
“I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not,” she assured her friend. “Come inside.”
Summer didn’t move.
“You must have come for a reason.” Her friend had been there for her more times than she could count, she wanted to return the favor, but Summer never gave her the opportunity.
“It wasn't important.”
“Whatever it is, itisimportant becauseyou'reimportant.”
In slow motion, Summer turned around. Uncertainty brimmed in her large brown eyes. It looked like she had been crying earlier, but she was here, and that had to be a good thing. For the first time, Summer was reaching out for help.
“Come inside, please.” Aggie tried not to move, she didn’t want to spook Summer, and right now it looked like it wouldn’t take much to make her friend flee.
“I can come back tomorrow.”
“Or you could just come in now. Have some dinner. Talk.”
Summer was wavering, her resolve weakening.
“Nick made homemade raspberry and caramel ice cream for dessert.”