They laughed.
They’d been doing a lot of that these past few weeks, laughing together. They were taking things slow between them, but it had been really good. Tyler had helped her out a lot with this instillation, and working at his side had felt amazing.
It had also made the new and improved version of the gallery possible. Without Tyler, she never would have been able to get all the new interior design workandall the artwork re-hung post-plumbing disaster, certainly not in time for the date she had, ahem,ambitiouslyplanned.
When they weren’t working together, they were often texting back and forth or talking on the phone late into the night. They hadn’t yet told Izzy that they were on their way to reconnecting, since they’d both agreed that they needed to have a greater sense of where things were headed between them and when before they looped in their little girl. She’d already been through so much with their separation that they wanted to ensure that the transition to their reunion was as smooth as possible for her… and for both of them, as well.
But Cadence was nothing but optimistic. She couldn’t resist indulging in daydreams about what it would be like when Tyler moved back home, when they all lived like a family again.
She could hardly wait.
With gentle fingers, Tyler tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear.
“Are yousureyou don’t want to try the smoochin’?”
She shoved him away playfully. “Stop saying ‘smoochin’!’” she commanded. She darted out of his grasp, laughing as she evaded his efforts to wrap his arms around her again.
“I’ll stop it as soon as you start smoochin’ me,” he teased back.
She slipped around the desk and into her office. She closed the door between them firmly, then gave him a glare through the pane glass.
He held up his hands in surrender and went back out to the main gallery floor. She finished touching up her appearance, fussing a little more than she needed to in order to put her best foot forward for the big event. When she went back out to the main gallery, she caught Tyler looking at a piece of art they’d hung a few days prior. He moved forward, adjusted it a minuscule amount to the left, then backed up and assessed it again. He did this for a few moments, then approached again and adjusted it… this time back to the place where it had been. When he raised his hand to push it left once more, she called out.
“It’s fine,” she told him. “It’s perfect.”
He startled a little and turned to face her. In the few minutes that she’d been primping, he’d managed to get fully into his suit. He looked so handsome that it made her stomach clench.
“Wow,” she said. “It’s totally unfair how little time it takes you to look that good, but… wow.”
He grinned. “Careful there, Cadence. Show me too much appreciation and I’m going to start dressing like this every day. It’ll make being an electrician really hard.”
“And your dry cleaning bills will be huge,” she teased.
“It’s the price I’m willing to pay,” he said, hanging his head.
She wrapped her arms around him… but gently, because she didn’t want to mess up that crisp suit.
“It means so much to me that you’ve taken so much ownership over getting this up and running,” she said. “I love feeling like we’re a team again.”
“I might have helped,” he countered, “but you’re the mastermind behind it all, Cadence. You have no idea how excited I am for you, honey. Tonight is going to be incredible, because everything you did here is incredible. I’m just the muscle.”
“No, you’re so much more than that. You bolstered me when I was feeling down. You encouraged me. You made me feel like I could do this.”
“Youdiddo this,” he insisted.
“No.” She shook her head, smiling. “We did it together. And that’s what makes it so perfect.”
“I love doing things together with you,” he said sweetly.
She summoned her courage, but found that it wasn’t very hard.
“I love doing things together with you too,” she said. “And so, if you’re okay with it… I’d really like to give our marriage another real try. Not just dating or hanging out, like we’ve been doing. Although, I have been loving it,” she added hastily. “I just… I want to talk about you coming home. About us really being husband and wife again. If that… sounds good to you?”
Her confidence faltered as she kept speaking, and he kept looking at her, astonished, but face otherwise unreadable.
He blinked and the grin spread across his whole face.
“Sorry, I just…” He cleared his throat. “There is nothing,nothingI’ve wanted to hear more these past few months. Yes, Cadence, yes. I want that. I want it very much. And I know that we have to talk about it more and figure out the best way to tell Izzy, but yes, yes, yes.”
