Sometimes Romance Looks Like Frozen Food

There are plenty of grand romantic gestures in fiction.

Nathan bringing Eleanor frozen meals after her husband's funeral isn't one of them.

And that's exactly why I love the scene.

Eleanor has already received flowers. Flowers are what people send when someone dies. They're thoughtful, traditional and entirely appropriate.

Nathan, being Nathan, approaches things a little differently.

He wonders what Eleanor might actually need.

So he looks it up.

And then he arrives with frozen food.

His explanation is wonderfully simple:

“I Googled it.”

It's a tiny moment in Cold As Silk, but it's one of those scenes that captures Nathan better than a long description of his personality ever could.

Nathan isn't trying to impress Eleanor. He isn't making a grand declaration, and he certainly isn't trying to rescue her.

He simply wants to help.

More importantly, he doesn't assume that he knows best. When he doesn't know what might be useful, he finds out.

That was important to me when I was writing Eleanor and Nathan's relationship.

After spending years with someone who controlled so much of her life, the last thing Eleanor needed was another man arriving with strong opinions about what was best for her.

Nathan gives her something very different.

Space when she wants it.

Company when she needs it.

Practical help when he can offer it.

And, occasionally, a freezer full of food because the internet told him that was more useful than flowers.

For me, those small moments are often far more romantic than the big ones.

Anyone can send flowers.

Nathan Googled it.