A little more eager now, she tasted a spoonful. “Did you add sugar to this?”
“And cinnamon. I thought it would be better, if it was sweeter.”
“I am not going to stand here and listen to my perfectly fine soup get slandered by a sugar fiend who eats marshmallow fluff out of the jar.”
Nicholas flicked her nose. “But it’s good, isn’t it? Youlikeit.”
“I do like it. And I love you,” she said impulsively, looking up at him.
His mouth curled into a smile and he reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I love you, too, blue jay.”
Epilogue
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Apart from the usual slew of expensive presents and performative celebrations, birthdays hadn’t carried much significance in the Beaucroft household. There were no favorite meals or homemade cakes, at least none that Nicholas could remember. He had written lists of the things he wanted and his father made the housekeeper buy them for him.
Nicholas wanted to do something special for his wife’s thirty-second. It felt like an important way of delineating their new life from the old, creating a new tradition and clearing away the strangling vines of the past.
Putting the completed forms for the scholarship he’d created in both their names beside the plate of vegan omelet he’d laboriously crafted out of chickpea flour and nutritional yeast (after ruining a pan) had been a good start. She had looked at the table and cried before kissing him, running her hands over his face with that tenderness he craved.
But that wasn’t enough.
“Why do I need this blindfold?” Jay asked, from the passenger seat. She was wearing a Kelly green dress and her hair was tied off with that little avocado ribbon. He’d watched her put it up with the satisfaction of knowing that he would be the one to take it down later.
“So you don’t spoil the surprise.”
He stopped the car. Jay was frowning when he opened her door. He helped her out, liking the way she gripped his arm for support. “I feel ridiculous,” she grumbled, tilting her head like she was braced for laughter she couldn’t hear. “This had better be worth it.”
“Oh, I think you’re going to find it very satisfying.”
She bit her lip. “Are we in a public place?”
“Yes.” He didn’t bother to keep the amusement out of his voice. “Very public.”
Smiling wider at the uneasy expression on her face, he led his pretty victim up to the door of her surprise destination, ignoring the stares and the whispers. “That’s so weird,” she said suspiciously. “I know this smell. Nicholas, where did you take me?”
“Guess.”
“Niiiiick,” she whined. “You’re making me nervous. It’s not somewhereweird, is it?”
Feeling like he’d tortured her enough, Nicholas tugged off her blindfold, making a note to ask her what sorts ofweirdpublic places she thought he might take her later. “Surprise.”
Her eyes widened. “You brought me to a bookstore.”
“I knew you’d love it. Happy birthday, you little nerd.”
Jay slapped at his arm, though she looked delighted.
Then wary.
Then suspicious.
“You didn’t buy the store, did you?”
“No. Having one business is enough. You’re going to have to work for it this time, though. I’m only giving you three minutes to buy as many books as you can carry.” He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and hit a timer. “Starting now.”
“What?” she squawked. But she was already pivoting, causing the green hem of her dress to flare out appealingly as she sprinted off for the fantasy aisle, disappearing behind a shelf.
