However, what surprised me the most about therapy was how exhausted yet energized I felt afterward—it was like I spent the last hour working out, but also getting a massage. When I described it to Darcy after the first appointment, she’d said it was because I was emotionally exhausted from carrying the weight of my trauma alone all these years, but I didn’t feel emotionally depleted. In fact, I felt the opposite.
I woke up every morning with a smile on my face because, most mornings, she was there in bed next to me. The mornings she wasn’t were because I was at work, but I knew I’d see her on her lunch break, or on her way home. On my days off, if she wasn’t at the gym with clients, we’d go on double dates with Harrison and Sophie, or grab mocktails with Shayna who, as I was finding out, was an absolute wild card. One day, she’d be down to grab a lowkey bite to eat, and the next she’d be rapping shockingly intelligible lyrics into a half-drunk bottle of Jack. I could see why she and Darcy were friends. Other days, Darcy and I would stay in at one of our places, curl up on the couch, and alternate who got to pick the movie we watched, and we talked. We talked more in the last two weeks than I’d probably talked in my whole life.
The latest hot topic of ours? Baby’s fruit or vegetable size. Nothing about the size comparisons made any damn sense. Last week, the app Darcy had said the baby was the size of aspaghetti squash, but this week it was a head of cauliflower. Never in my life had I seen cauliflower bigger than a spaghetti squash. It didn’t get any better if she switched categories either—they were all equally confusing. So while she checked the baby’s comparison to a random fruit or vegetable, I focused on the estimated numerical measurements.
I extended the trip home from therapy with a quick pitstop. The grocery store was a madhouse with everyone getting out of work, but I needed one more thing for the surprise I had waiting back at my house for Darcy. Now that we’d decided we were doing the whole relationship thing for real, it felt like I should maybe have something for her for Valentine’s Day, which was a holiday I had zero practice in participating in. Flowers and chocolates were an immediate no. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind flowers, and I knew she loved chocolate, but I wasn’t going to give her the generic holiday experience. Plus, we hadn’t actually discussed her feelings on the holiday, and if it turned out she hated it, I wanted to be able to spin the surprise off as completely unrelated.
When I got home, I started on dinner, firing the grill up and getting a pan going with the bacon. Linnea had been insistent when I reached out to her for advice that bacon was a crucial element. After that, I started on dessert. There wasn’t much time before Darcy would get here, which had me rushing around to get everything done and in place.
By the time I heard Darcy’s car pull into my driveway, I was just pulling the burgers off the grill.
“Archer?” she called, presumably from the doorway, not having entered the kitchen yet. I smiled, grabbed the plates, and let myself in through the sliding glass doors of the back deck.
“Hi. How was your day?” I asked, dropping the plates on the table before wrapping her in a hug where she stood frozen in the doorway.
“I’m good. Archer, what is all of this?” she asked, peeking over my shoulder. I released her, watching as she took in the scene before her. Had I gone overboard? Was it too much? Not enough?
Candles were scattered strategically across the floors of the dining room and living room, a fact that had me more than a little on edge, but I had to admit it was enchanting. I did, however, know exactly how many there were, and had all thirty-two sitting in small trays of water. Just in case. Soft music played through the speaker I’d set up in the living room, not that it was Darcy’s taste, but even the instrumental versions of Eminem songs were still a little too upbeat for what I was going for.
Darcy’s eyes landed on the burgers I’d brought in, then moved to the plate of cheese-smothered fries topped with jalapenos, bacon, and green onion. Her mouth dropped as it all clicked together in her head.
“Is this . . .”
“The bacon cheeseburgers and loaded fries from The Crooked Quill?’ I supplied, pressing my lips together. “Yes.”
“How did you do this?” Her bag slipped off her shoulder absentmindedly, the fries like a homing beacon, luring her toward them. Popping one in her mouth, she let out a moan that bordered on indecent before reaching for another.
“The owner claimed he owed me a favor after putting out a small kitchen fire while Harrison and I were drinking there a while back.” I shrugged, grabbing her a wine glass of seltzer water with lime, and pulling out her chair. “I was never planning on cashing it in, but I know how much you like their food, so I told him if he could tell me how he makes it all we’d be even. He gave me the seasoning he uses on the burgers and the homemade aioli and everything.”
Walking around the table, I sat down in time to see Darcy’s eyes widen. “Shut up, he did not.”
I chuckled. “He did. Take a bite, and let me know what you think.”
She didn’t hesitate. The burger appeared massive in her hands, but she took a bite, her expression unreadable as she chewed.
“Well?” I prompted once I saw her swallow.
“Yeah, you’re not allowed to watch me eat this,” she said in a serious tone.
I huffed out a nervous laugh. “What? Why not?”
“Because I am about to devour this burger in the grossest, most unladylike way possible, and I’d like you to still be attracted to me after this,” she deadpanned.
“I think I’m attracted to you most when you’re unladylike. Eat the burger.” I nodded at her. She shrugged and then did exactly as she promised, finishing the entire thing before I’d made it halfway through mine. And like I’d promised, I was even more attracted to her.
When we were finished, she leaned back in her chair, hands resting gently on her stomach. “That was incredible. Thank you.”
I cleared the plates, then returned to the table, and held my hand out for her to take. She let me pull her wordlessly up the stairs, though I could see the questions she had swirling around in those hazel eyes, as I led her towards my bathroom.
There was a much more reasonable amount of candles lining the rim of the large, two-person soaker tub, and I carefully avoided knocking them over as I started the water. Bubbles instantly started foaming from the soap I’d added earlier, and I turned to see Darcy watching me warmly.
She took a couple steps closer. “Okay, for real, what’s going on?”
Reaching out, I grabbed the hem of her shirt in my hands, raising an eyebrow by way of asking if it was okay. She nodded,and I pulled it up over her head, letting it fall to the floor before starting on her leggings. “What? We can’t have a nice night in?”
She narrowed her eyes on me. “Archer. There are a bajillion and one lit candles in the house right now, and you left dirty dishes in your sink.”
I laughed until it died in my throat once she was fully naked before me. “Fine. I wanted to do something for you for Valentine’s Day.”
