Colin watched Ardy eat, trying not to be too obvious about it. It was good to see that there was more to her than just the hard-bitten cynical front. As he saw her enjoying her food he could see that there was a spark to her. She was still a girl, and Colin imagined he could see a little of what Beth liked about her. She was spontaneous in a way that his dear fiancee was not, open where she was closed, and, truth be told, crude where Beth was genteel. Colin frowned a bit, realizing that drawing comparisons between the two probably wasn't fair to either of them, and a bit worried that Beth seemed to be getting the short end of the stick in his quick appraisal.<br/><br/>He loved her utterly, of course. He just wished she weren't so, well, nervous all of the time. She didn't hide it as well as she thought, at least from him. Was she ever really happy, save for those times when she seemed to lose herself completely with him for a time? It was a question he'd asked himself many times over the course of their relationship. He knew she was working on it, she had a therapist, and God knew she had enough reasons to be this way. It would just take time.<br/><br/>"Hmm, what?" She'd asked him something, interrupting his thoughts. "Right, a little over a year and a half. I guess eight months sounds right. Silly that we still have boxes to unpack, but life gets busy." He could tell from her face that she was getting more nervous, edging toward the reason they'd invited Ardy over. He smiled at her and nodded slightly in encouragement.<em>It's okay, honey. We're all friends here, right?</em>When that didn't seem sufficient he reached under the table and gave her leg a squeeze.<br/>