Page 50 of Falling Again
“I do love you, Anthony. I know I haven’t been—” but her words faltered when Anthony swiped away a crumb from her lips.
“Not now; we have plenty of time for that conversation. And before you get too active up there,” he said, gesturing at her head. “I have dropped the ball a lot.” He blinked, taking a moment to sip from his coffee. “Now let’s get home and out of these wet suits.”
Natalie nodded. It was both comforting and terrifying that they were going to talk things through. Back when they first met, she and Anthony talked about everything all the time. From mundane things like the weather and their favorite pizza toppings, to plans for their future, no topic was off limits. Natalie hoped that this trip would be the beginning of them finding each other again. Because sitting next to Anthony with the wind whipping through her hair and a belly full of sugar, Natalie couldn’t think of a better way to live her life.
*
When Anthony pulledthe golf cart back into the lake house driveway, his stomach tightened with anticipation. He had not been this turned on in months, so much so that he’d considered making love to Natalie in public. For once he wasn’t overthinking things and was down to his bare instinct. It was invigorating and terrifying in equal measure.
Shaking himself back to the moment, he nearly missed Natalie asking, “Should we call and check on the kids before we head inside?”
Anthony nodded and reached out for the bag and cups. Natalie’s cup was empty, proving she was still a caffeine hound. God, he loved her. Simple things like her downing a cup of coffee made his heart tighten in his chest. He had been so lost without her. “Stay put. I’ll grab my phone.”
Coming back outside with his phone and a blanket, he wrapped it around Natalie’s shoulders before handing her the phone. Natalie dialed Alice’s number before Anthony thought better of it.
“Please tell me you’re calling to say you finally boned Natalie,” Alice answered the phone with her own unique greeting.
Natalie choked as Anthony groaned. “Speaker phone, Alice. I’m here with Nat.”
In traditional Alice fashion, she was unapologetic. “Hey Nat. So did you?”
Natalie looked at Anthony with a quizzical expression. He knew he’d have to explain that line of questioning later. And later could wait. “How are our children?” he asked instead.
“Alive and well. I even did bath time with minimal damage to your home.” Alice laughed at her own joke, but Anthony secretly worried about the state of their bathroom. Visions of exploding pipes and wet towels everywhere nearly drove him crazy.
“Can we talk to them?” Natalie asked, clearly more focused on the children than the potential of warped dry wall and baseboards.Smart woman, Anthony mused.
Over the line they heard scurrying feet and Madeline laughing at something. “Here are the little hellions now,” Alice promised.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Madeline shouted into the phone. “Are you having fun? Did you buy me anything? Did you go swimming?”
Natalie’s whole body relaxed at the sound of their children, and Anthony couldn’t blame her. He missed them both more than he realized. Madeline droned on about her new princess toy that Alice bought her, and Otis kept yelling “Cookie!” throughout the call. For a toddler, Anthony thought those were impressive phone skills. Otis would be delivering speeches at town hall before he knew it.
“We didn’t get you anything yet, Maddie. What would you like us to find?”
There was silence on the end of the line while Madeline thought about it. “A seashell or a boat.”
Anthony rolled his eyes at his daughter’s audacity. She truly needed to learn more about money management in kindergarten. “We’ll see what we can do, Maddie,” Anthony laughed. “Are you being a good helper for Aunt Alice?”
“Yes. I ate all my dinner last night, and this morning I ate an egg.”
Their little girl was famous for her egg hatred, so Anthony was impressed. “That’s amazing,” he said as Natalie nodded beside them. They both had mornings where they had literal egg on their face when Madeline was in a mood. Maybe he owed Alice an apology after all.
When they wrapped up their call, Alice came back on the line. “You better go continue the fun. These two are fine, and I promise not to burn your house down.”
“Thanks for that,” Anthony said, rolling his eyes for Natalie’s benefit. He hung up before Alice could say anything else, but he didn’t miss the way Natalie was studying him.
“Boning your wife, huh?” There was humor in the question, but Anthony knew he needed to explain.
“Apparently my sister is more aware of her surroundings than I thought. Before we left she asked if we were okay, since I was ogling you like a horny teenager.”
Natalie’s eyebrows shot up. “You were?”
Dammit. Anthony needed to work on making Natalie feel as beautiful as he saw her. “Yes, Nat. In your navy dress. I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”
A watery smile crossed Natalie’s face, but she averted her gaze. “I didn’t know.”
“No. You didn’t. That’s my fault.” Anthony wanted to have this conversation inside, away from potential prying eyes, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Leaning closer, he draped the blanket over his legs and nestled next to his wife. “Nat, I haven’t been a very good husband lately. I’m sorry about that. I’ve been stressed a lot with work, and I’ve been neglecting you. Frankly, I’ve been neglecting the kids too. I hate it, but there’s no point pretending.”
