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Nick went into the bedroom to change into his favorite Harvard T-shirt and sweats. He exhaled a deep breath, thankful to have survived this day mostly intact, even if his emotions were still all over the place. He was about to text Sam to ask when she might get home when she came into the bathroom, where he was leaning against their double sinks with his phone in hand. “There’s my gorgeous wife.”
She came to him and wrapped him up in her love, holding him just right and filling him with a powerful feeling of homecoming. There was nothing she could’ve done that would’ve meant more to him. When she finally pulled back some time later, she looked up at him, studying his face, probably looking for signs of despair. “How’re you doing?”
“Hanging in.”
“Christina did an amazing job with the briefing,” Sam said.
“Yes, she did.”
“Still, it’s not the easiest thing to have made public.”
“I tell myself it has nothing to do with me.”
“And yet…”
“Yeah.”
“I hate her for continuing to hurt you this way.”
“Don’t waste the energy. She’s not worth it.” He tipped her chin up and kissed her. “Let’s go find our Littles and have dinner with the kids.”
“Give me five minutes to get changed.”
“Take your time. I’ll run upstairs to get them.”
“Invite Celia to come for dinner.”
“Will do.” He kissed her again and left her to get changed while he went upstairs.
The door to Celia’s suite was open, and the sound of little voices made him smile as he approached. “Knock, knock.”
“Nick!” Alden ran for him, with Aubrey in hot pursuit.
Was there anything better than a greeting like that from his Littles? He lifted them both into his arms and kissed them until they were giggling madly. “Did you guys have a good day?”
“It was Michael’s birthday at school, so we had cupcakes,” Aubrey said.
“Yum. That sounds fun.”
“They were red!” Alden said.
“Even better.” Nick put them down. “Grab your stuff. It’s dinnertime.” To Celia, he said, “Sam and I would love for you to join us for dinner, if you’d like to.”
“That’d be fun. I’ll be down in a few.”
Their social secretary and close friend Shelby Faircloth Hill came into the room and received the same greeting from her son, Noah, as Nick had from the twins. He toddled on chubby legs to get to his mother.
Since Shelby was heavily pregnant with her second child, she bent to hug her son but didn’t lift him. “How’s my big boy?”
“Mama.”
“Are you guys free for dinner?” Nick asked.
“In fact, we are. Avery is out of town.”
Nick suspected Avery was in Ohio dealing with his mother, but he’d talked about her enough for one day. “Come down to eat with us.”
“Thanks. We’d love to, wouldn’t we, Noah?”
