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“Our skills at performing arts, maybe. Certainly not your aim with a snowball.”
She was grateful for the humor. “There’s nothing wrong with my aim. I was being gentle with you. I didn’t want you to be soaking wet for the ride home.”
“I believe you. You don’t have a ruthless bone in your body. The woman in charge of the place told me you’re the first client who has ever asked if she is too heavy for the sled dogs.”
“It seemed like a perfectly reasonable question to me. Dogs aren’t that big. I worried about them, that’s all.” She fiddled with the stem of her glass. “I had a good time.”
“Me too. I am never going to forget your face when those dogs took off. They didn’t seem to have much trouble pul
ling you.” He was laughing and suddenly she was laughing, too.
“They didn’t take off. I was in control at all times.” She saw a woman sitting at the next table glance at them. “We’re being too loud.”
“I don’t care. It’s good to hear you laugh.” He paused. “We had fun this afternoon.”
“We did. It was relaxing. Being out in the forest, with nothing but the sound of the dogs and the cold air on your face—” and being with Nick. The man she’d once loved and still loved as much as ever. Despite the broken pieces, she still loved him.
The realization came as a shock.
His gaze held hers. “When did we stop having fun, Mags? When did we stop doing things together?”
Their appetizers arrived before she could answer, and she picked up her fork.
He leaned forward. “Let me ask a different question—why did we stop doing things together?”
“I don’t know. Life, I suppose. You were busy. Working. Traveling. I was focusing on the girls. It happens.”
“Fun should have happened, too. We should have made the time. Been creative. Let’s be honest, would we have thought to do any of these things if Catherine hadn’t arranged them for us?”
“No. Because these are couples activities, and we’re not a couple. We haven’t been for a while. We’re together because our daughter is getting married.”
“That’s my point—we wouldn’t have done them even when we were a couple.”
Maggie’s phone buzzed and she reached for her bag, grateful for the distraction. Did she really want to dissect the past? How was that going to help?
Nick sighed. “Do you have to check that? This is supposed to be a romantic dinner.”
“Fake romantic dinner. And Catherine isn’t likely to be watching over our shoulders, is she? One of the girls might need me.” She glanced at her phone.
“They’re adults, Mags. They can handle life for five minutes without your intervention. If it was an asthma attack they’d be calling you, not messaging.”
Maggie ignored him. Katie had sent her a photo of the two of them wearing their dresses, arms looped round each other, smiles on their faces. Her girls. “They had a dress fitting this afternoon.” While she’d been on a sled ride with Nick. She felt a pang, as if she’d lost something she’d never get back. “Catherine must have taken the photo. Look.” She turned her phone so that he could see the screen and he gave a brief smile.
“They look great. Happy.”
“Yes. And they’re going dancing tonight. That’s good. I’ve been worried about Katie. Something isn’t right.”
“She’s probably tired. Jet lag. And she does a tough job.”
“I know, but she’s been doing a tough job for a decade and—” She broke off, unable to explain a mother’s instinct. “I feel something is wrong.”
“You worry too much. It’s probably nothing.”
She hoped he was right and that nothing was bothering Katie.
Her mind shifted to her younger daughter. “I like Dan very much. He’s kind and attentive, he has a good sense of humor and he seems to know Rosie. But do you think it’s a mistake for them to get married so young?”
“I’ve been married once in my life and I made a mess of that, so I don’t think I’m qualified to answer.”
