She sighed, remembering how she felt. “I was worried about freaking out the bride, who was already close to a panic attack. I didn’t want people mad at me so I tried to fix it myself by talking to the guy.”
“That’s reasonable.” He reached out to hold Valerie’s hand, and squeezed it gently. “You did it today, though,” he pointed out.
“I did.”
“How did it feel?”
“Good.” She reconsidered. “I mean stressful as hell, but yeah. I made the call.”
She lifted her free hand and he slapped it in a high five.
“You don’t mess with Ruth,” she said.
“Or you.” He lifted her hand and kissed the palm.
Valerie looked at him in surprise. He’d said it with such admiration that her breath caught. “Thanks.”
Still holding hands, they drove down the long straight road, back to the heart of Badgertonia.
Twenty-Four
It was after dinner when they arrived at the cottage, or as Valerie was calling it, the Badgerton Beach Retreat. How she came up with these terrible names was beyond Nico, particularly since the Badgertons’ cottage didn’t have a beach. The house was empty apart from Alice, who was in the Mariposa room watching the sun set over the lake and working on yet another washcloth. She held it up to Valerie proudly.
“It looks amazing,” said Valerie, as Nico checked around for Roger. “The edges are nice and even. Where is everyone?”
“Brayden is out. Fernie is on the patio doing some sort of exercise. She says it’s a modern rejuvenation practice and made a point of telling me it slows aging. Penny went over to the Jefferies’, and David and Jenn are in town for dinner.”
“Did Roger go too?” Nico asked.
“No, he said he needed alone time. There are leftovers in the fridge if you want them.”
They left her to her crochet. “At least we can put off talking to Penny about the call she made to my mom,” said Valerie.
Since Penny wasn’t a woman who enjoyed discussing her failures, Nico thought they wouldn’t have to talk about it at all. They went by the study to see if Roger had come back. He wasn’t there, and Nico caught sight of the calendar.
“I might know where he is.” He looked at Valerie, wondering if it was better to find Roger by himself.
“Alice said he wanted to be alone.”
Nico knew that was what Roger said, but had a feeling it might not be best for him. “I’ll go check in,” he said. “If he wants to be alone, I’ll leave.”
“You said ‘I’ and not ‘we.’ Is it private?” She looked away. “It’s cool if you don’t think he’ll want me there.”
That shamed him. He was being unnecessarily territorial, and if this summer cottage sojourn had shown him anything, it was that Valerie was always welcome with Roger. “He’d like to see you.”
Nico led them out of the house and past the patio tiers, where Fernie, dressed in a tight black outfit, was bobbing up and down while waving her arms. To the side was a winding path that sent up the thick smell of cedar when he stepped on it.
A small rustle came from the left. It was probably a chipmunk but he paused and angled his body to cover Valerie, just in case.
A white-tailed deer put a delicate hoof on the path, then halted, looking at them with its huge dark eyes. Instinctively, he checked Valerie’s reaction, wanting to confirm that they were both seeing this. To his surprise, she was looking at him with open-mouthed excitement instead of at the deer, as if the magic of the experience was that they were sharing it. She reached out to take his hand and in seconds the deer was gone, its comically adorable ears moving forward as it picked its way across the path, then melted into the trees.
Valerie wrapped her arms around him as if the only way she could get out her exhilaration was through a physical bond. “I’venever seen a deer that close and in the wild.” She clasped him tighter. “Thank you.”
He was astounded. He hadn’t made the deer appear. “For what?”
Valerie rose to kiss him on the cheek. “For being here with me. It’s not the same to see it alone.”
He never thought of experiences that way, and unbidden came the memory of the time Stefanie had called for him to “Come see, Nico, hurry.” He’d dropped his Lego and dashed to the window, where she’d pointed to the double rainbow arched across the sky. She’d wanted to share that with him.
