“I know it’s not what you wanted, sweetheart, but it’s what makes sense right now with three little kids to drive around,” Blaine said as he showed Tiffany the ugly SUV he wanted to buy to “replace” her precious red Volkswagen Bug that had been squished by a tree during the hurricane. Oh, how she’d loved that car!
He was right, of course. They needed a bigger family vehicle, but not the one he was showing her. “I can’t with that. It’s ugly.”
“It’s functional and has an excellent safety rating, which is the most important thing.”
“Functional. Such a sexy word.”
“Since when are cars sexy?”
“My Bug was!”
“Can we agree that we can’t put five of us—including two car seats and a booster—in the Bug?”
“I suppose,” she said with a pout. She felt like a spoiled brat but couldn’t muster an ounce of enthusiasm for the vehicle he’d shown her.
“Reminder that we were going to need something bigger even if the Bug hadn’t gotten squished, so why can’t we put the insurance money for the Bug toward this one?”
“I don’t like it. What’re my options?”
He went to get his iPad and called up the dealer site where he’d found the first one and scrolled through the available choices. Black. Gray. Light gray. Silver. White. Boring.
“Anything?” he asked with the patience of a saint.
She shook her head. “Can we look somewhere else?”
“What is it that you’ve got in mind that’s not the size of the Bug?”
“Something fun and sexy and red.”
“Fun, sexy and red. Okay, got it. I’ll keep looking.”
“Sorry to be difficult.”
“It’s okay. I’m used to you by now.”
She sputtered with outrage that made him laugh.
He kissed her. “You’ve been trying me since the day we met and every day since. Why should today be any different?”
“Are you going to get sick of me someday?”
“God no, sweetheart. I’d be lost without you. And PS, you know you never need to worry about that with me.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I know.”
He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “Do you really? Do you know how hard it is for me to go to work every day when I’d much rather be here with you and our kids? Do you know how much I think about you when I’m not with you, how the scent of strawberries makes me hard, regardless of where I am, and how I’m so happy to have you driving me crazy every day of my life?”
She sniffed as tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Are you crying?”
“Postpartum hormones. Nothing to see here.”
“You know how I feel about girl tears.”
“I’m very sorry, but you have your own sweetness to blame.”
“I don’t want you to spend one second worrying that I might do to you what he did, because I could never, ever, ever live without you.”
