Couldn't Get Any Better

Happy Birthday, Carissa, enjoy! :)

There really is not much that I could complain about, not that I whine too much anyway. I have the perfect job, owning and managing my very own bookstore and I married the love of my life. We recently bought a beautiful home in an attractive part of my hometown. Things were beginning to feel like they were falling into place.

I adore my job, especially because my husband's causes to him to be constantly travelling, so it keeps me from missing him too much. We were afraid in the beginning, between our own goals and our life together, that there were going to be problems and constant fighting but we have been doing what we can to make everything work. Honestly, it still feels the way it did when we first met, I could not have asked for anything better than this.

Life has been good to us; as good as it can be so far, at least.

At this point I am more than overjoyed with the amount of progress that I have been granted through my job and with my marriage, I wouldn't change any of this for anything, but it still doesn't stop that feeling I get in my heart to know that one thing is missing for myself and Nick.

It had been a while since he were able to take time off and come home, he's missed birthdays, anniversaries and holidays but it never stopped either of us from staying committed to each other and our goals. Although Nick had called me last night, with the best news ever; he was granted the week off for vacation, the same week as our anniversary.

"So, are you excited?" my best friend, and co-owner to the store, Jamie, had asked me. She knocked me right out of my thought as she handed me a few antique books to put on a shelf. "Hey, when did he say he was coming home?"

I smiled; I am more than just excited, words cannot explain how ecstatic I feel on the inside. It has been months since I had last seen Nick, they had a show in town for a day or two and then he was gone. I took the two days off to spend the time with him; I even went to his shows those two evenings, things were like he had never even left in the first place.

After I had placed the few books away comfortably on the shelf, I turned to her. Her question had struck me. "You know, he never told me when he would be getting into town," he liked to be surprising, I should've known but I had so much on my mind, as of lately, that it didn't even occur to me that he never said when he would be home.

She checked the time on her watch. "Hey, you want to go grab some coffee and a small lunch, it's after three and I'm starved." We had been so caught up in talking, cleaning and rearranging the place that it didn't even occur to either of us how late in the day it had gotten.

I climbed down from the latter and grabbed my keys off of the counter; I could definitely go for a Starbucks latte right about now.

XxooxxooxX

Luckily for us, there's a Starbucks right in the square that our store is located in, a few buildings down. The sun was shining, it was the first bright and lovely day in almost a week, and so we decided to sit outside at one of the tables and chat for a little bit.

"I hope you at least do yourself a favor and take the week off," Jamie suggests, as she takes a sips of her caramel mocha latte. "You deserve it after all of the work you've been doing,"

I love my store but I also love my husband, and it's truly hard to choose between the two of them. "I don't know…" I mumbled, a week away from my job would kill me; I absolutely enjoy what I do.

"Oh c'mon!" she says with a chuckle. "Not everyone's husband is on the road like yours," she replies, picking up her latte again. She did make a good point, not everyone lives the way that we do. "And plus, when are you guys going to try again?"

I kind of looked at her dumbfounded that she would bring something like that up. Nick and I haven't been talking about that as of recently, considering it's quite impossible at the moment, as anyone can tell. "We really haven't said much about it, I guess we've just been busy," I hated making excuses, especially when the reason being is that we both weren't sure if we could handle it, all over again.

As we finished up our food, Jamie made another suggestion. "Hey, let's go window shopping, we haven't been doing anything but working," she brought up. "And there's still a half hour left on our break,"

I sighed, why not? It's not like we have much going on at the store anyway. We took our coffees, grabbed our bags and went for a stroll through the center of the square, to all of the local shops. We passed a cute kids clothing store called 'Five Little Monkeys', they had infants clothing hanging in the window and suddenly I felt a wave of sadness rush over me.

We had gotten pregnant sometime last year, Nick was completely overjoyed at the thought of being a father and taking the leave to be home and spend time with our newly formed family. Although, about five months in our joy was shattered, we don't know how and we don't know why but sometimes there is just no explanation.

It was right after I found out we were to have a little baby girl, I was over the top excited, I felt as if my life was finally the way we had dreamt it to be. Except, that all changed, when one night when Nick was home, I woke up with this excruciating pain. We were so afraid that I was going into labor that we rushed off to the nearest hospital.

I was five months pregnant, my baby didn't make it.

Nick went on leave when I had surgery to have the baby taken out and stayed with me through our recovery. If anything, the loss of our child brought us closer but since then we've been too afraid to try again. We left the nursery as is, with the neutral baby colors, of greens and yellows because neither of us had the heart to walk in there to put any of it away, we just closed the door and left it at that.

"Please don't look so sad," Jamie says, resting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "He's going to be home this week, it would be the perfect chance for you two to try again, your wedding anniversary is coming up, you know, we all know what goes on with special occasions like this," she hinted, as if to make me laugh, and she did succeed.

XxooxxooxX

Later that evening, as I pulled up to our home, something caught my attention. The dining room light was on low and the front door was unlocked when I approached it. Immediately, I put my guard up and I walked quietly into my house. It was then that the smell of chicken marsala caught up with me, and there standing in my dining room was my husband, putting the finishing touches on a set table for two by lighting two candles.

"Nick?" I was baffled by the sight of him. He looked up from the table; a smile graced his tan face and his blue eyes gleaming. He wasted no time, nor did he say a word. Instead, he walked right up to me, engulfed me into his arms, and kissed me so passionately it took my breath away.

After pulling away from me, still not a word said, he motioned me over to the table, and like a gentleman pulled out my chair. "Nick, you must've been at this for hours," I commented. The table was set so beautifully, the lights low, the candles lit, and he was dressed so formal as well. Still he said nothing, but from the expression on his face I could tell he was thinking otherwise.

We sat and ate, and conversed for what felt like forever, he even took out the most expensive bottle of wine we own, which was only used on special occasions. I was completely taken aback by all of the work he had put into this evening, after all of the travelling on a regular basis, he still put forth the effort to make this so wonderful.

As we finished the food and moved the dishes over to the sink, I was ready to conquer that and not have to a leave a mess but he pulled me away from it. "I've really missed you," he said lowly, our bodies pressed so closely together. "I have a lot to make up for, but the good thing is that we have an entire week ahead of us," he smirks as if he has a devious plan rolled up his sleeve.

I couldn't help but smile in return; there were no words to explain just how wonderful this man truly was. Even before I could gather the words to even say a simple thank you, he caught me off guard once more. "There's one more thing I want to show you,"

He led me up the stairs to our bedroom, and from there to the master bathroom, there were bubbles and rose petals in and surrounding the Jacuzzi style tub and unlit candles too. "I think I owe this to you, for all the days I haven't been home,"

I felt like crying, not that sobby, sad kind but the extremely surprised 'Oh my God; type. Nick definitely hit over the top with this. In the entirety of the situation, I would have never thought he'd go the extra mile on this one but he's just the type to be so full of surprises.

Moments later we were comfortably snug, against one another, covered by the bubbles and petals. It was peaceful, literally more than I had expected but still, I rested my head against his wet chest and found myself so relaxed for once. "This is just so wonderful," I happily sighed. "Thank you."

"There's no reason to thank me," Nick replied, his left arm tossed over my shoulders. "You work harder than anyone I know, you deserve this."

I sometimes second guess that statement, but I'll take it for tonight; I've felt like I have been waiting for this forever. It was well worth the months that lingered, but even so, I wanted to ask him that one question. I wanted to approach the subject, but I just couldn't get it out of me. We continued to talk, joke around and laugh at the memories that were brought up and the work days we had, things were finally feeling whole again.

After our bath, I dressed in my robe and took a moment to allow Nick get settled into something comfortable for the evening. I wasn't sure if making love was our list of things to do this evening but I just wanted at least a moment to gather my thoughts. I slipped away to the nursery for the first time since we decided to just let things be. I opened the light and gazed around the light yellow and green walls.

Everything sat exactly where it had before, a little dusted, none the less, but still where it had been when we closed the door ten months ago. I walked over to the light oak crib and picked up one of the dolls that were placed in. It was a teddy bear that belong to Nick in his childhood; I thought it would great for our daughter to have something that would remind her of her daddy while he was away. I felt my eyes cloud up again, it hurt so much to think of her.

I wish I could see who she would have been today.

"Babe," I hear Nick say from the hallway, he peeked into the doorway and then comes to my side at the crib, his tan arms cradling my waist gently. "Are you alright?" he whispered, his eyes focused on the old bear.

"I want to try again…" I mumbled lowly. "I think it's finally okay that we try again," I replied. I turned my head toward him, his lips curved to a smile as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

"You know, I was thinking the same exact thing," he confessed. "I was in here earlier when you were at work; I think it's about time we make this house a home." My face completely lit up as I put the bear down and turned to face him. "So what do you say, Mrs. Nemeth?" The smile on my face grew bigger and before I knew it, he had me over his shoulder.

XxooxxooxX

I think that entire week was filled with nothing else than making love and drinking a hell of a lot of wine. And when he left, we waited patiently to see what would become of it. Although, as the months went by the only thing I could remember about it was the relaxation and the chills that Nick had sent all throughout my body, timing just felt so right for us.

Jamie made sure to send Nick pictures of our brand new, handsome little man, wrapped tightly in a hospital blanket, looking as tan as his daddy with those matching baby blues.

Nick was able to make it the next day to the hospital, a chair propped next to my hospital bed as he held our son within his arms for the first time. A smile graces my tired features at the sight of my two boys.

At last, I felt that my life could not be any better than this.

Again, happy birthday, Carissa, I really hope you loved it!
XOXOXOX