And Nate and I did great banter.
I missed the banter.
Don’t get me wrong I loved our girls and I loved the four of us hanging out because we had great fun. I was probably being a spoiled child even thinking of complaining about what we had.
But this morning… well that was new and I didn’t like it. Nate didn’t wake me up with a kiss and a cuddle like he usually did. And there were no flowers and there were always flowers on Valentine’s Day. In fact he hadn’t even mentioned the day, even not to make a crack at it.
This morning he just rolled out of bed and hurried into the shower. He barely said two words to me as I walked into the bathroom as he was coming out. He just said something about needing to be fast because he had an early start and that he would make his own coffee.
The most he’d said to me was when he was yelling about that fisheye lens.
And then the peck on the lips.
The peck!
We did not peck.
Unsettled I shoved a book onto a shelf and lost myself in thought. Had we hit that point? That inevitable point in marriage? That inevitable point that I never actually believed was inevitable for us?
That point where we just… start taking one another for granted.
I blinked back the burn of tears at the thought, finding myself overwhelmingly upset by the idea.
After almost eight years of marriage and with no sign of falling into that trap I thought we were sure to escape it. Of course like all couples we’d reached a comfortable familiarity and sometimes we bickered, but we’d never lost that need for one another, emotionally or physically.
Oh God.
Was the peck the beginning of the end?
***
“So when did he start with the lip pecking?” Ellie asked as we shared a coffee over lunch at a café just around the corner from the university.
Ellie was a professor and tutor in the art history department and whenever we could we met up for lunch.
I frowned. “Just this morning. But he completely forgot Valentine’s Day.”
“I thought Nate believes Valentine’s Day is just one giant commercial puppet trick.”
Those were his exact words actually. “True, but—”
“Liv, it’s one day. You’re really getting this upset over one peck and one missed Valentine’s Day?”
I grimaced. “You’d be pissed if Adam forgot Valentine’s Day.”
“Of course I would. I’m a romantic. You are a semi-romantic. And Valentine’s Day has never been a big deal to you.”
“We’re just… we don’t get to hang out alone anymore and I understand that that is a part of being parents,” I sighed heavily. “I would probably be more okay with it if I knew he missed our alone time as much as I do.” I groaned. “I sound like an awful mother. I’m not. I love my kids and I don’t know what I’d do without the girls but Nate and I haven’t had a real conversation in—”
Ellie held her hand up cutting me off. “Liv, no one thinks you’re a bad mother okay. Calm down. It’s hard. We all know it is. You have to work at it. Make time. Why does the ball have to be in Nate’s court?”
I sat back and processed that. Ellie was right. As a modern woman it was kind of shocking of me to place all of the romantic responsibility on Nate. “You’re right. It’s unfair to put the expectation on him. Perhaps I can get Nathan and Sylvie to look after the girls next weekend.” They were Nate’s parents and they’d helped us out before in the past.
“Doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“Olivia?”
At the deep, somewhat familiar, male voice I looked up from my lunch to see a tall, good-looking guy standing over our table. I stared at him until his gorgeous light green eyes caused recognition to hit me.