They had been married for almost two months now and he found that it suited him the way it had never quite seemed tosuit his father. He enjoyed the way that Jay made every space feel warmer just by being in it, and it made him feel good to anticipate her needs and give her things she never even knew she wanted. Nobody had ever really dependedon him before or trusted him to satisfy their needs in a way that went beyond the financial.
Despite his natural inclination toward reticence, Jay’s inherent sweetness made it far too easy to confess things to her that he would never tell anyone else. His father had taught him that fear and compliance were all that he needed from a woman. But Jay’s love and acceptance of him, even after seeing him at his ugliest, made him feel more like himself and less like his father’s shadow. And he was so grateful for that, every day.
Because, despite what his father believed, love hadn’t made him soft. It had given him a reason to better himself, to be the person that she thought he could be.
Jay herself had become more like the girl he remembered and had fallen in love with that first day by the tree: the self-righteous Valkyrie who wasn’t afraid to take up space or chastise a small group of boys for doing wrong. At his company, she was a compassionate leader with a firm adherence to the rules, who could manage people as well as she could data.
And then at night, she would become his little bird, sitting on his lap in those prim little office clothes and calling him Daddy until he took her to bed and made her scream it.
While he waited for Jay to finish, he ordered a small coffee from the small kiosk they had in the front. “Do you want sugar?” she asked, and he glanced at his watch.
Two minutes to go. “Yeah, two pumps of caramel, please.”
He was the only one in line, so his drink came out quickly, and he sipped it as he headed down the path Jay had taken, only to find her struggling to carry a stack of at least fifteen books.
“Here.” Nicholas shifted his coffee to one hand. “Let me help.”
“No,” Jay said stoutly. “You said I had to carry them. I’m not going to be disqualified from your little game because I didn’t follow your rules.”
“It’s not a game,” he said. “It’s a gift. And if you would just let me—”
“Noooooo.” She dodged past him, moving faster than he would have believed possible. A book went flying from the top of her pile.
Nicholas bent to pick it up and glanced at the title before setting it back on the shelf.
Rules were rules.
He turned to see an older man staring at him. “Your girlfriend always make you clean up after her like that?”
“What?”
“Women these days are so entitled. The pretty ones are the worst.” He gave him a commiserating look. “Be careful. She’ll take you for everything you have—just like my ex.”
“She’s my wife,” Nicholas said coldly. “And it’s her birthday. So why don’t you fuck off?”
The man looked at him uneasily before shaking his head. “Whatever, asshole. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you end up in divorce court.”
Divorce court, Nicholas thought grimly.Yeah, right.
He found Jay by the register, studying a rack of bookmarks. There was one in front of her shaped like the backside of acat. She looked up as he approached, already smiling hesitantly, though the smile got bigger when she saw it was him. “There you are. I thought you got lost.”
“Why? You’re the one who ran off.” He held out his arms and Jay begrudgingly handed the stack over, apparently unwilling to be separated from her haul even for a second.
He watched the young cashier ring up the titles, studying the various covers without recognition. It seemed to be the same colorful medley of dragons, unicorns, and girls with swords that she’d idolized since she was young. The only one he knew was a hardbound classic edition ofJane Eyre, which made him smile, satisfied.
“Oh wow,” said Jay, when the cashier read out the total.
“It adds up,” the girl said, nodding sympathetically. “How will you be paying?”
“With this.” Nicholas slid his card across the counter, and leaned over to grab the bookmark that Jay had been admiring. “We’ll get this, too.”
“Nick, you don’t have to,” Jay protested. “It’s already so much.”
“I know I don’t have to.” Remembering that bitter old man in the aisles, a line formed between his eyebrows. “I want to.”
“Are you two married?”
“Yes,” Nicholas said. “Two months. But I’ve known her for eighteen years.”
