I watched him set the table with plates, napkins, and flatware before retrieving a chilled bottle of white wine from the fridge and pouring two glasses.
“Sit down, babe. I’ll plate the food.”
He lectured me about overdoing it all the time, claiming I should spend more time with my foot elevated, but I went crazy if I sat on my butt too long.
“Thanks,” I said, knowing there was no point arguing with him. Joel was a master at getting his own way.
I waited until he’d served us both, and was sitting across from me before I raised my glass in a toast, “To the love of my life, for being one piece of my crazy puzzle that actually fits.”
He half-laughed as he touched his glass to mine. “Okay, what does that mean?”
I shook my head. “Nothing, I’m sorry.” I dug into my salad, trying to push away the melancholy thoughts that had been chasing me all day.
“G, talk to me. I know something’s bothering you.”
I closed my eyes when I felt the hot sting of tears threaten to fall. “It’s nothing, I’m just being silly.”
“Don’t tell me it’s nothing.” There was a hard edge to his voice when he said, “You know what it does to me, seeing you upset like this, and not knowing what the hell to do to fix it?”
I forced a smile as I covered his hand with mine. “Hon, you can’t fix everything. Some things I have to work through by myself.”
Duke padded into the room. He’d been snoozing in his oversized dog bed in the living room.
“Hey boy,” I said, sniffling as I reached out to stroke his soft fur and nuzzle his nose. He was a big baby, spoiled by both of us, and he divided his affection and attention between us equally most days. Unless Joel was grilling steak or chicken on the patio. Then he stuck to Joel like glue, whether I was around or not.
“Gia.” Joel’s tone was sharp, drawing my attention back to him. “If this is about our marriage—”
“It’s not. You’re perfect. I love you.”
“But?” When I didn’t say anything, he sank back in his chair, staring at me. “It’s not enough, is it?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. I can feel it.”
I never wanted to make him feel as though he wasn’t enough for me. He was my everything.
I carefully navigated the few steps between us and lowered myself into his lap, curling my arms around his neck. “Please don’t ever doubt us. You have no reason to.”
“Promise?”
For someone so strong, successful and confident in all areas of his life, I thought it was kind of endearing… and sad, that my handsome husband still didn’t feel secure in our relationship.
“What do I have to do to convince you?” I asked, caressing his lips with mine.
“You could agree to be my business partner?”
“What are you talking about?” My heart started battering my chest as my mind filtered through all the possibilities.
“Can you snag my iPad?” he asked, gesturing to the leather sleeve sitting on the table.
I reached out, handing it to him, as Duke sank down on the floor at our feet with a heavy sigh, obviously making peace with the fact he wasn’t getting table scraps any time soon.
He held it out in front of him, curling his arms around me as he turned it on, and opened a folder, bringing up a .pdf file. “Here, swipe through this. Tell me what you think.”
I was stunned. It was a business plan. A twenty-page document outlining… my dream. An event centre with plans for a full kitchen, catering, custom décor inventory, flowers, in-house entertainment, even an outdoor gazebo with a place for wedding ceremonies and engagement photos.
“You can’t be serious,” I whispered, awe-inspired by the amount of work he’d put into this. He could have been reading my mind when he created this plan. I wouldn’t have changed a single thing. “But we talked about this before we got married and you always shot the idea down. This isn’t what you wanted, and you can’t do this just for me. It’s not fair—”
