By now, Christina’s used to waking up alone. She used to hate it, but she has always understood. She married young (eighteen, and sometimes she still wonders how she knew then, but never does she doubt it) and she knew what to expect then. She knew not to expect him to come home every night, even when he was in town. That changed after Andrew was born, of course, but she is still completely comfortable with waking up and rolling over onto the cold side of the bed.

She wonders where he is today. He said something over the dinner table about working a shift somewhere, but she has long since lost track of Ryan’s constant attempts to get everyone’s attentions. It’s adorable, but she doesn’t need to cater to it anymore. It doesn’t matter how many people he attracts because she attracted him and there is nothing better she could possibly ask for in the world.

It’s a quiet day, mostly. She gets a few texts from friends about seeing Ryan at a Save On, and she rolls her eyes. She tries not to let herself feel affected by these things anymore because they are just so Ryan. She knows that by now, and yet when she checks twitter and hears about Ryan paying for an elderly lady’s groceries, she has to shove her laptop away from herself. It’s all she can do to remind herself that she already knows all this about him. It doesn’t make it any less beautiful, however. She thinks it might make it better in a way. She knows him better than anyone in the world and he is absolutely no different from how he acts. Sure, he’s arrogant and a bit of a jerk sometimes, but it is never more than a joke. He does things like this because he has fun doing it. He likes wearing stupid ref outfits and shoving Kevin around and he likes making people smile by giving away tickets and jerseys.

She checks on Andrew. His dad thought it would be a good idea to keep him up late hyped up on sugar, much to her disapproval, so she wouldn’t be surprised if he slept all day. She leans down to kiss his forehead before backing out of the room.

She doesn’t have work, not today, so Christina picks a book to reread. She gets halfway through The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy before she hears the garage door open. She leaps up, but forces herself to sit back down. They aren’t newlyweds. It’s been three years and she doesn’t need to fall for him all over again every time he walks into the house.

And yet, she cannot focus on the page. She’s reading the words but absolutely none of it is being processed. All she can think about is that Ryan is probably taking his shoes off right now and ruining the laces because he always tugs them too hard. He’s such an idiot. It makes Christina smile just thinking about it.

She refuses to look up, even when she hears him shuffle down the hallway, even when he leans against the door. She wants to seem like she doesn’t care that he was smiling at kids and making people happy today because all it does is make her fall more in love, and she doesn’t think that’s possible.

“Christina,” he says quietly, a smile almost audible in his voice.

When she looks up, he’s smiling like a complete idiot and holding a bouquet of flowers, some roses, some carnations, and even a few orchids. He smiles wider when her eyes catch on it, and he strides across the room to press the bouquet into her hands. The book falls from the bed the second she reaches for them, burying her nose deep into the flowers because she doesn’t know what else to say.

“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” she says quietly, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispers back. He swipes a bit of pollen off her upper lip before kissing any other feeling away.

Christina doesn’t get the flowers in water right away and the orchids wilt a little, but it doesn’t matter. Some things are worth the time apart, the mistakes, the silliness. Ryan is worth it.