Yep, that about summed it up.
“Hey, babe, I’m home,” Travis called.
“Shiiiiiiit.”
“Where are you?”
“Out here,” she called back miserably.
He entered the kitchen smiling and carrying a ginormous box of chocolates. The smile faltered on seeing the look on her face.
Then he took in the mess sitting on the stove. “Uh-oh.”
“It was supposed to be beef Wellington,” she said miserably, and twin tears slid down her cheeks.
Travis set down the chocolates and hugged her. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s the thought that counts.”
“I have champagne and cheesecake,” she began.
“What more do we need?” he said.
“Meat!”
“We don’t need no stinkin’ meat,” he said. “We got each other.”
“Oh, you’re full of it,” she said irritably, refusing to be comforted.
“No, I’m not. I mean it.”
“I wanted this to be special.”
“It is. We’re together,” he said, and kissed her.
It was a light kiss...at first. But then it got more intense, like milk chocolate shifting to dark. Oooh, she loved dark chocolate.
“You know what men really want for Valentine’s Day, right?” he murmured, kissing her neck.
“Chocolate?” she joked. His lips were moving farther down her neck and his hands, which had started out at her waist, were moving upward.
“Chocolate-covered wife,” he said, and she snickered.
And here she’d thought her big Valentine’s Day celebration was going to be a failure. Silly her. Travis was happy. She was happy. And since the kids were both with their mother, there was no resentful stepdaughter around to witness the kitchen fail. Yep, happy V-Day.
Arianna came home to the aroma of chicken casserole left warming in the oven for her. Her mother and daughter were cozy in the living room, Mia working on her blanket and Sophie camped in front of the coffee table, sorting through the valentine cards she’d gotten from her classmates.
“Mommy!” she cried happily, and jumped up to race to Arianna.
Ah, yes, Valentine’s Day was more than romance. It was about love. Hugging her daughter and seeing her mother’s welcoming smile, she was reminded that she wasn’t love-starved. Sex-starved, but not love-starved.
“Did you have a great day?” Arianna asked her daughter.
Sophie nodded eagerly and towed Arianna over to the coffee table. “We cut out hearts and wrote nice things on them. Mrs. Johnson is going to take them to her grandma’s nursing home to give out. And we all got valentine bubbles. And I got lots of valentines at our party.”
“I can see that.” Arianna shrugged off her coat, hugged her mom and sat down on the floor next to her daughter.
“This one’s from Carlos,” Sophie said, holding up a colorful card with a cartoon dog on it that told her she was pawsome. “He wants to marry me but I told him I have to stay with you and Grammy so I can’t.”
Mia chuckled. “Once she’s sixteen, we’ll barely be able to get her to spend an evening with us.”
