It was the soft repetitive feeling of fingers brushing through his hair that finally woke him. Nick let out a heavy sigh and snuggled deeper into his comfortable spot, not wanting to open his eyes to the sunlight he knew would be beyond his eyelids.

A soft giggle and the fingers moved to the short hair at the top of his neck, gently moving back and forth, “I know you’re not asleep,” Holly whispered.

“I am asleep,” he mumbled against her skin, his face pressed tightly against her breast.

“This reminds me of college,” she continued to speak and he could hear the smile in her voice as she reflected back.

They both lived in dorms during their college careers so regardless of whose room they’d end up in at the end of the night (though usually hers) they would cram into the single bed for everything; sleeping, talking, sex; anything they did together usually ended in that most uncomfortable yet strangely relaxing location.

Unconsciously they’d taken turns holding each other just depending on the mood. Sometimes when Nick needed to feel masculine he would take over the role of pillow, occasionally they couldn’t decide on who needed it more so as equals they’d spoon, but more often than not it was he that wanted to feel warm, and secure so he’d let her wrap her arms around him while he lay his head on her chest and neither ever slept better than in those moments.

“Except this room smells much better than mine did,” Nick replied, smiling with his eyes still closed trying to capture the last few moments of a near perfect sleep. He had slept better than he had in months, and one of the best things about the whole night was that it was dreamless. Alaina had stayed out of his head for a full night’s sleep, which was something he hadn’t been able to escape from recently.

Holly’s fingers moved from his hair, down his back and up his arm before repeating the same path watching him sigh with satisfaction while at the same time feeling the rest of his body awaken to the sensations, “Dirty socks smell better than your room did,” she teased watching as he finally opened his eyes and glared at her playfully before crawling up her body, his hands supporting his weight above her.

His erection pressed against her stomach as he leaned against her and instinctually he moved his hips, letting his body speak for him. He looked at her hair messily strewn about the pillow, no doubt knotted from the night before and smiled before leaning down to kiss her.

It was a hand he got instead of lips though and he backpedalled to eye her curiously.

“Morning breath,” she sheepishly replied and he nearly laughed.

“And?”

“You have it.”

“So do you.”

“I know.”

Nick laughed and shook his head, “You want me to go brush my teeth? I will. I’ll march right out into the hallway, maybe I’ll run into your sister you never know, and I’ll explain to her that I’m walking around naked in my house with a huge hard-on, the emphasis of course being on huge, because although she’s alright with the rest of my body fluids, dirty saliva is a huge turn-off for her little sister.”

Holly couldn’t hold back her giggles at the visual she got from that statement, her hands gripping his sides as she laughed, “As funny as that would be I wouldn’t want Gina getting jealous.”

“Jealous?” Nick smirked, “You make it seem as if I’m something worth fighting over.”

She suddenly turned serious, her brown eyes meeting his as she reached up to cup his cheeks in her hands, “You really are worth fighting over. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you to someone else.”

That was enough to hit close to home for Nick and despite her complaints of the status of his breath he crushed his lips against hers, feeling her respond immediately, morning breath forgotten. Her hands went to his hair while his went to her hips, lifting her slightly as he entered her.

Both gasped at the sensation but immediately fell into a rhythm, holding each other tightly. Only laboured breaths were exchanged between kisses before he, with his lips still against hers muttered words that meant more to him than they would to her, but spoke volumes about how things had turned for him in the last 24 hours.

“I’m yours.”

~*~

“Babe, can you grab me a plate?” Nick asked through the open kitchen window as he threw some burgers onto the grill. ‘Babe’ he mouthed, immediately feeling awkward for the pet name since it was something he and Holly had never done. He was nearly embarrassed to have said it more so because he knew it was something he’d picked up from Alaina.

A few seconds later Holly appeared in the doorway with a plate held tightly in her hands, “You can have this under one condition...”

“What’s that?”

“That you never, ever, call me that again,” she laughed and Nick was more than relieved to hear her joke about it.

“I swear I won’t, that was all kinds of weird,” he smiled, taking the plate out of her hands.

They both looked over at the sound of the back gate and Holly smiled, “Look who’s back!”

Gina waved to her sister, and scowled at her brother-in-law as she and her niece made their way into the backyard. It didn’t go unnoticed by Nick but he was soon distracted by a little bundle of playful attitude making her way towards him.

“Hello my Daddy,” Olivia jutted out a hip, her hand firmly planted on the other as she posed in front of her father. Her blonde hair was done up in a messy ponytail high atop her head, the yellow sundress she was wearing slightly stained with grass but as she looked at him through a pair of tiny sunglasses, her head was held high.

“Hello my princess,” he replied, “Don’t you look pretty.”

In a flash she had gone from confident to shy and she sheepishly grinned up at him, “Up, please?” she asked, holding out her arms and Nick shook his head.

“Sorry, Daddy’s making dinner. I don’t want you to get burned,” he explained while Holly asked her sister about what they’d spent the day doing.

“Oh we did all kinds of things,” Gina explained, “We went to the mall; we went to the park...”

“I saw Benji!” Olivia suddenly interrupted, pulling at the leg of Nick’s shorts excitedly.

Nick tried not to panic at the announcement, and fought to keep his cool despite the lump growing in his throat, “You saw Benji?” he laughed nervously. Alaina never went to the park on a Sunday, and if he had known he would have made sure Gina avoided it.

“Yeah, him and his auntie were there with me and my auntie,” Olivia explained, staring up at her father, “His mommy went away for the end of the week just like you did!”

“Isn’t that funny?” Nick laughed nervously. Quickly he shut the lid to the barbeque then reached down to lift Olivia up, hoping to distract her from revealing anything else she may have over heard at the park, “Those have to cook for a little while anyway.”

The little girl immediately snuggled in with a smile and Nick used rubbing her back as a diversion from anyone seeing that his hands were shaking slightly.

“What are we eating?” Olivia asked.

“Hamburgers,” he replied, watching Holly and Gina carefully out of the corner of his eye. Holly in particular was making him feel uneasy because she seemed to be staring at Olivia’s back fixedly.

“I want hot dogs,” the girl stated.

“We’re having hamburgers,” Nick replied and the fight was on. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Olivia to decide randomly that she hated a particular type of food. Nick wasn’t sure who she got her elitist attitude from but he’d always taken a very firm stance in not letting her get what she wanted. Unfortunately his firm stances were usually destroyed by a sad little face, or crying so he’d give in. It was Holly who usually stayed the course and wouldn’t give in to her whims.

They were bickering back and forth, Nick stooping more towards the four-year-old’s level of argument before Holly put an end to it “I’ll go get the hot dogs.”

“What?” Nick asked, genuinely surprised, “No. We’re having hamburgers.”

At this point Olivia was screaming, throwing herself against him dramatically as if eating a ground beef patty would be the very end of her life, “Can you please join me in the kitchen?” Holly asked, seemingly oblivious to their daughter’s hysterics.

Nick sighed, amazed at what hot dogs could do. He’d thought that a lot of things with Holly were fixed but now it seemed like he was about to get shit for whatever reason, “Alright,” he agreed then laid Olivia down on the grass, “Okay Olivia, we’re getting your hot dogs, you can stop,” he said and watched with amazement as she sniffled a few times, wiped at her cheeks then got back up as if nothing had occurred.

He followed Holly into the kitchen, shutting the screen door behind him as he watched her lean against the counter, “Whatever it is, I’m sorry. I just didn’t think it was right to give into her over something as stupid as a hot dog. We don’t even have hot dog buns!”

“Nick, stop,” Holly turned towards him and held up her hand to stop him, “I don’t care about the hot dogs.”

“Then why did you ask me to come in here?” he questioned.

Holly looked uneasy as she took the few steps towards him then grabbed his left hand, the same one that had been against Olivia’s back just moments ago, “Where is your ring?”

He’d thought he was in the clear when she hadn’t noticed yet, even through hours of lovemaking she never clued in to his bare finger, “Oh... um... I lost it.”

“You what?” Holly asked, her voice dark but surprised. By the complete shock on her face Nick knew that was not the answer she had expected.

“It’s getting loose,” he lied a little, “And when I was at the hotel I took it off to shower and I put it on the sink and forgot, I mean, I guess I forgot,” he lied a lot.

Holly was in shock, he could tell and in a flash her face turned to anger, “You LOST your wedding ring and didn’t tell me about it? Are you kidding me? There’s no way it was getting loose unless the damn thing got stretched out because you’ve gained at least 30 pounds since I put it on your finger.”

Nick gaped at her, “Hey, no need to get mean. I fucked up, I know. I should have told you. There’s nothing I can do about it now though. I’ll just have to get a new one.”

“So last night... this morning... that was all you feeling guilty?” she questioned and Nick immediately shook his head.

“No! It had nothing to do with that! That was exactly how it seemed; I meant everything I said, I wasn’t even thinking about the ring. Regardless of whether I have a ring on my finger I’m still married to you. On paper, in here,” he pointed to his chest, “I’m still married to you. It’s just a symbol.”

“How can you say it’s just a symbol? Just because we’re married on paper... having that ring doesn’t just remind me that we’re married, I know we’re married. That ring let’s everyone else know it too.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” he sighed, “That other people won’t know I’m married?”

“Not other people,” she clarified, “Other women.”

“Other women don’t need to know whether I’m married because I’m not interested in them,” he told her. A strange feeling washed over him as he realized it was the second time Holly had alluded to being nervous about competition from other women since that morning, “If it would make you feel better you can sew a big red ‘M’ into all of my shirts so they’ll know I’m spoken for.”

Holly rolled her eyes, “Why do you always turn everything into a big joke?”

Nick sighed and grabbed her hands, holding them tightly, “I don’t think it’s a big joke, I’m sorry. I’ll get a new one.”

She pulled her hands free of his with a heavy sigh. With two quick wipes to her eyes that reminded him very much of the little girl outside, she went to the fridge to grab a package of hot dogs that had been intended for later in the week, “You don’t get it,” she said while handing them to him, “I don’t want a new one... I want the old one back.”

Nick had a feeling she was talking about a lot more than just a piece of gold.

~*~

Nick pulled a bottle of beer from the fridge, twisting off the top before taking a long swallow. It was a hot, humid night and he held the bottle to his sweaty forehead as he walked towards the patio door.

The sun had just started to make its way down in the distance and he could see Olivia in the yard cleaning up her toys as he took a step out onto the deck.

Immediately the hushed chatter from the patio table ended and he looked towards Holly and Gina, catching them looking at him.

“So Gina, sorry I didn’t get to see you much while you were here. Next time I guess right? When do you leave tomorrow?” he asked, taking another long drink from the bottle.

Gina laughed and shook her head at him, “I’m not leaving tomorrow.”

Nick’s smug smile suddenly dropped, “What? Are you going to visit friends in the city or something?”

“Nope,” now it was Gina’s turn to wear the smile, “I’m staying right here, with you guys, for at least a week or two.”

This was not good news to Nick. That meant that he would have to share his days with Gina, his chores, and everything else including trips to the store, and to the park. If he ran into Alaina at all with Gina he could be in a tough spot. Gina was a professor with an Ivy league university, and normally spent the summer teaching graduate classes but she was taking the summer off, and unlucky for him, had decided to spend some of it with her sister. In the back of Nick’s mind he felt like Gina was there to spy on him during the day, but there was no reason in his opinion for Holly to need that. Maybe, he thought, she just felt that if Gina was there to help out he’d have more time to write.

“I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun,” Nick said with a fake smile, looking down into the yard at Olivia who had just finished piling her toys into a deck box and was making her way up the stairs, “Ready for your bath?” he asked as she walked over and wrapped herself around his leg.

“No Daddy,” she whined, rubbing her sleepy eyes with one hand while her cheek rubbed against the leg of his shorts.

Nick smiled and polished off the last of his beer, setting the bottle on the railing before scooping Olivia into his arms, “Sorry, there’s no option here. Dirty girls need to have baths or they don’t get to go to the park tomorrow.”

Olivia’s face contorted with concern, “But I want to go to the park and play with Benji!”

“Then you need to have a bath...” Nick began but was interrupted when Holly suddenly spoke.

“You know, I keep hearing about this Benji boy,” she observed, brushing her hair behind her ears, “Hell even Gina has met him...”

“He was a cute kid,” the other woman commented.

“So?” Nick wondered where she was going with this train of thought, “You’re not really at the park much during the week and we’re normally away on the weekends.”

“Well that’s my point; we should make time so I can meet him, a playdate or something?” Holly suggested, looking up at her husband despite the fact that she was still incredibly angry with him.

“You should have his parents over for dinner, and then you can meet him and his parents,” Gina piped up and Nick’s arms suddenly weakened, nearly dropping Olivia.

“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea,” Nick spoke quickly, “His parents are really busy.”

“Well we can ask, the worst they can say is no,” Holly shrugged, “I’d really like to meet the boy that my daughter plays with every day Nick, is that so much to ask?”

With a heavy sigh Nick shook his head, not wanting to upset her any more than he already had that day, “No, you’re right.”

“Great!” Holly grinned, “We’ll invite Benji and his parents over for dinner next week!”

As Nick carried Olivia into the house for her bath he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of disaster was going to come of that dinner party.