Shattered

Chapter 37

"Jess, have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Glancing to the side, I drew my eyes away from the bright blue sky, looking to Chandler. He watched me attentively, a full smile gracing his lips. He appeared so happy, so carefree.

"You tell me at least once a day," I answered, smiling in return, reaching my hand towards his. He grabbed onto me, quickly pulling me into his chest and toying with the silver ring on my finger. I laughed, wrapping my free arm around his neck to bring him towards me for a quick kiss.

"Well, I'm telling you again." Chandler pushed some of my hair behind my ear, tracing along my jawline. "You're beautiful," he said, adoration dancing through his eyes.

I kissed him once more before untangling myself from his arms, relishing in the warmth of the Spring sun. The wind rushed by, swaying my hair away from my face and pushing my light blue sundress against my knees, bringing the scent of blooming flowers with it. The lush grass tickled my feet as my sandals pressed into the rich soil.

Not only was Chandler happy, but so was I.

"Chandler, what's your favorite season?" I asked while shutting my eyes and turning my head towards the sun. The weather was surreal today.

"I like winter," he answered. I hummed in contemplation, keeping my eyes shut. "Why? It gets so painfully cold sometimes."

"It's dark and gray, everything is dead, there's a valid reason to stay inside, and we met in Winter, what's not to like?" I scoffed in amusement, looking to him with a sarcastic glare.

"So morbid," I mumbled. "Except meeting me, I'm the greatest thing that ever happened to you."

"And I'll always remind you that you're also the most important person to me." Chandler reached down and plucked a small white flower from the dirt, slowly pulling its petals away from the stem.

"Hey, don't kill the poor little flower." I frowned, watching the broken petals drift back to the grass. "Why not, it's just a flower?"

"And flowers are living things, you just pulled it right from its happy home in the ground and killed it, but then you proceeded to hurt it some more after it was dead. That's not nice." Crossing my arms, I gave him a hard look of disappointment.

Chandler raised his eyebrows, mockingly tossing the bare stem to the side. Tauntingly, he crouched down, reaching for another flower. I called out his name in warning, but he only smiled, wrapping his hand around it.

"You're being mean, I'm going inside." With a huff, I turned around before he could kill this second flower, stomping my way back to the door. "Jess, I'm only joking," I heard Chandler say with a laugh behind me. Leaving my sandals by the door, I continued walking into the house, ignoring Chandler, who I knew was approaching.

A pair of hands came around my waist after I managed a few steps through the living room. "It was just one flower, Jess," he defended, holding me tight against him. "Almost two," I countered. "The flower is fine, I won't kill any more, just for you."

When I stayed silent, Chandler rested his chin on the top of my head, sighing. "How about we make cookies?" The corner of my mouth subtly twitched up. Of course he'd bring cookies into this. "They can be chocolate chip, I know you've been craving them," he said in a singsong voice, his hands at my waist drifting down to my stomach.

"Fine," I exasperated, walking away and into the kitchen. "This is not for your sake Chandler, if the baby wants chocolate, I must comply." I threw an accusing finger at him, feigning a frown.

Soon enough, we were mixing ingredients together, leaving the scent of vanilla in the air. In the corner, music played from Chandler's phone, an upbeat indie song. I hummed along to the tune while shaping the cookies, leaving Chandler to knead through the other batch of dough.