“How can I say no? I’m still waiting for you to tell me the secret ingredient,” Carolina said as she licked her lips and allowed herself to be led to the kitchen.
“Oooooh!” Carolina exclaimed as she laid eyes on the magnificent flowers. Shoot! Stella had forgotten all about them. Now Carolina would go on and on about Luke buying her flowers. “Luke has some serious good taste.” She raised an eyebrow at Stella. “These are from Luke aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are,” she admitted, her cheeks blushing. It was insane to feel bashful, but all of a sudden it felt as if she’d been on the receiving end of a romantic gesture. She knew full well and good it hadn’t been like that at all, but she couldn’t stop herself from feeling some kind of way about it. Especially with Carolina gaping at her as if she were Meghan Markle marrying Prince Harry.
“You are living the dream, girl.” Carolina began clapping. “Please, give me the dirt. I want to know everything. How did you snag Mistletoe’s finest so quickly?” Carolina sat down at the table while Stella took the mac ’n’ cheese out of the fridge and began heating it up in the microwave. She took her groceries from her shopping bag.
“Give me a second,” Stella said as she emptied the bag. What was she going to say? She didn’t feel good about lying to Carolina, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that her friend would spill the beans if she told her the truth. She wouldn’t do it on purpose, but Carolina had a history of blurting things out. In some ways she was the grown-up version of Tess. Stella had made a promise to Luke to keep their situation on the down low and she intended to honor her word.
“Okay, while you’re doing that, I have something to tell you about your ex,” Carolina said, dramatically stretching out the words. Stella turned around just in time to catch Carolina wrinkling her nose as if she’d smelled something bad.
She held up her hand. “Carolina. I thought we went over this. I don’t even want to hear his name being uttered.” Why did it feel as if her life would always be inextricably linked to her ex-fiancé?
“I know, but I went back and forth a million times about whether or not to tell you.” Carolina bit her lip. “Knowledge can be powerful yet annoying at the same time. Tell me to shut my pie hole and I’ll never speak of it again.”
“Spill it,” Stella demanded.
“Okay. I ran into he who shall not be named at the marina. He made a big point of seeking me out and he none too casually mentioned you.” She drew a deep breath. “He said you jumped out of a window rather than come face-to-face with him at Rosie’s salon. I can’t believe he’s such a big fat liar.” Carolina was looking at her with such sincerity shimmering in her eyes.Dang it.Why had Rafe even mentioned it?
“I didn’t exactly jump. It was more like a flop,” Stella admitted. “And it was on the ground floor so there was absolutely no danger involved.”
Carolina gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “It’s true?” she asked. “Oh, Stella. That is an act of pure desperation.”
Stella groaned. “I know it’s pathetic, but I just couldn’t face him, his wife, and their precious bundle of joy. Not at the bridal salon where I’d just attended Lucy’s wedding gown fitting. Not at the same salon where I handpicked my own dream wedding dress. It would have been too much, Carolina.”
Carolina made a fretful sound. “Oh, sweetie. I understand. It would have been incredibly awkward.”
“So what else did he say?” Stella asked. She had a feeling there was a little bit more to the story. With Rafe there always seemed to be more lurking under the surface. If only she’d known that when she first met him. She would have been spared a lot of heartache. A little voice urged her to let it go. There was absolutely nothing she could do to alter the past.
Carolina opened her mouth and then quickly closed it without saying a word. Stella knew her bestie was trying to decide whether or not to tell her the down and dirty truth. It was etched in the worry lines on her forehead. “Just tell me,” she said with a sigh. “I can take it.”
Carolina fidgeted with her fingers. “He said that he felt sorry for you because you were as single as a dollar bill. And he used that exact phrase.” Carolina winced.
Stella sucked in a shocked breath.Ouch.Stella knew Carolina hadn’t taken any pleasure in telling her, but it was important to Stella to know. As much as it hurt to hear, it only confirmed what Stella was beginning to suspect: Rafe wasn’t the type of man she wanted to walk through life with.
When would she stop feeling gut punched by her ex-fiancé? When would she hear something like this and simply laugh it off? When would it stop hurting? Stella didn’t understand Rafe at all. It almost seemed like he went out of his way to hurt and demean her. He’d been the one to call off their nuptials and marry someone else at breakneck speed. She had never done a single thing to cause him pain, yet he continued to dish it out to her like a regular meal. It wasn’t a coincidence that he’d made the nasty comment to Carolina. He knew they were close friends and that Carolina would tell her.
“He’s always such a class act,” she muttered. Anger pricked at her like a hot poker. It was a terrible feeling to allow someone the power to keep hurting you. More than anything, Stella wanted to get to a point in her journey where these emotions weren’t constantly being stirred up by memories or anything Rafe said or did.
“Rafe is a jerk. I hope you can see that you dodged a bullet with him.” Carolina rolled her eyes. “He likes to imagine you sitting around pining after him as if he’s the catch of the week. It feeds his ego.”
“Well, little does he know I’m taken,” Stella blurted out. “And Luke is all the man that I need. Nothing to feel sorry about there. Not in the slightest. Pass that along if you run into him again.” Maybe that would shut him up for good. Shouldn’t Rafe be so blissful with his own life and family that he wouldn’t have time to poke his nose in her business?
Carolina smirked. “Oh, I won’t have to say anything, Stella. I’m sure he’s heard the news firsthand by now. Everyone is talking about Stuke.”
“Stuke?” Stella asked, feeling confused. “You lost me.”
Her friend’s unbridled laughter filled the kitchen. “It’s your couple name. Not sure who came up with it, but it seems to have staying power. Everyone in town is using it.”
Stella had no idea how to respond to this development.Stuke?Her lips began twitching with mirth. It was so ridiculous it made her want to howl with laughter. She and Luke weren’t even a real couple, yet the folks in Mistletoe had bestowed a name on them. The microwave dinged, lending Stella an excuse to turn away from Carolina without bursting into laughter about the silly nickname. She wasn’t sure what Carolina would think about that. She was walking a little bit of a tightrope at the moment since she wasn’t really part of a couple. Like Rafe said…she was achingly single.
Stella took the mac ’n’ cheese from the microwave and placed two portions into bowls. She grabbed two slices of naan and put them on a larger plate. “Here you go. Nice and hot,” Stella said. “Let me grab two waters.” Once she was settled in her own chair across from Carolina, Stella tucked into her meal. Several times Carolina looked at her with questions looming in her eyes, but she left them unasked while they ate. Once she was finished, Stella began to talk.
“This…thing between Luke and me happened very suddenly,” Stella explained. Well, that part was definitely the truth, so she didn’t have to feel guilty about lying. For the rest, she was just twisting the truth a little bit. “I didn’t want to make too much of it. You know how this town thrives on gossip. After the Rafe fiasco I’m always going to be a little bit wary of going public with anyone.”
Carolina put her fork down and let out a sympathetic sound. “Oh, Stella. That makes perfect sense. I’m sorry if I sounded needy, but to be honest, I was a little hurt. I consider you one of my best friends and I hope you know that you can confide in me. I know you have Lucy, but you also have me.”
Hearing Carolina speak so poignantly about their friendship stirred up a host of emotions inside of Stella. Because of her tight relationship with Lucy, Stella hadn’t always had a group of close friends surrounding her. Carolina had turned out to be a true friend and ally. Guilt threatened to consume her. Maybe she needed to tell Carolina the truth about her fake relationship with Luke.
