Valentine's Fantasy: When Valentines Collide / To Love Again

“It is,” Edie went on. “You know, I was thinking—maybe we should go with Chanté and Matthew.”

“Why? There’s nothing wrong with our sex life.” Seth stepped back and folded his arms. “Is there?”

“No. No. Of course not.” She slyly opened his arms and eased back into his embrace. “But I thought it would be fun for us to try out new things. Plus, we’ll probably need to keep an eye out on Matthew and Chanté. We have to stop them from bolting when they discover they’ve been tricked.”

“What are we supposed to do—tackle them?”

“Love is a contact sport.” She laughed at her own joke.

Seth failed to see the humor.

“C’mon. We should really be there for them.”

Never being able to resist his wife’s pleading brown eyes, Seth gave in with a sigh. “All right. All right. I’ll clear my schedule.”

“Good. I already bought our tickets.”

“Of course you did.”

* * *

Matthew spent another day cruising on autopilot. He listened with great apathy to his guests’ problems, doled out his earnest opinions and advice, and then smiled and laughed with his staff once they wrapped taping.

In the coming week, the network would broadcast repeat programming while he attended his last conference with his wife. A part of him knew that he should at least give his producers a heads-up about the pending divorce, but the other part of him still hadn’t come to terms with it.

That was silly, considering their wild fights and inexcusable behavior. Deep down, he never thought she would go through with it. She was his yin to his yang. If she got crazy, he went crazy, too.

But leave?

“I should have followed Seth’s advice and just apologized,” he mumbled to the vanity mirror inside his dressing room.

“I’m sorry. Did you say something?” Cookie asked, handing him his coffee.

“No. No. I was just...talking to myself.” He smiled blandly and dropped his gaze to the steaming black liquid in his favorite Open Heart Forum coffee mug.

“Oh.” Cookie clasped her hands behind her back and thrust her surgically-enhanced bosom high into the air. “Well, is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No. I think that’s all. Thank you.” He sipped from his cup and prepared to dive back into his desolate thoughts.