Stella frowned. “For what? You haven’t done anything.”
“When Rafe called off the wedding, you went inward. I knew you were devastated, but I wanted to help you heal and I thought not talking about it was the way to support you.” She wiped away a tear from Stella’s cheek. “I realize now that I shouldn’t have let you stuff all those feelings down. As your mother I should have forced you to scream and shout and cry out from the rooftops.”
“Mom, it’s all right. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’ve had your own health issues to deal with and you were just following my lead. I was so worried about everyone feeling sorry for me that I went inward. In my own way I was protecting myself.” Stella reached out and wrapped her arms around her mother. “Please don’t blame yourself for a single thing.”
“Just don’t bottle all of your feelings up on the inside this time. Let them out. Please, Stella. It’s okay to let it all out.” She reached out and began patting Stella on the back. “I’m asking you to do it now. Scream. Vent. Rage. Do anything. Just don’t bottle it up.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Why not, sweetheart?” Leslie asked, her beautiful face creased in concern.
Stella’s lips trembled. “Because if I do, I might just shatter into a million little pieces.” Before she knew it, Stella was sobbing, shoulders heaving. She tried her best to hold it in, but something inside of her broke. She missed Luke. She ached for him. Just to see him and talk to him, to be held in his arms and chuckle with laughter at his corny jokes. That was all gone now. She’d barely gotten a chance to love this man before the rug was pulled out from under her. No matter what had gone down between them, Stella knew that Luke was a man worth loving with all of her being. And she knew it was likely that she would continue to love him even if he could not return those feelings.
“Let it all out. I’m here, Stella. I’m not going anywhere.” Her mother pulled her into an embrace and Stella started wailing.
“Why did this happen to me again? I love Luke in ways that I never loved Rafe. Yet here I am again. Blindsided. Alone. Heartbroken. And still in love with this incredible man who doesn’t want me. And I’m angry that he doesn’t feel whole enough to go on this journey with me, because I was all in.”
“Of course you were, sweetheart,” her mother cooed as she rubbed her back. For the next fifteen minutes, Stella poured her heart out to her mother, who listened to every word like a trusted confidante.
Her mother swept her palm across Stella’s cheek, just like she used to when Stella had been a little kid with a skinned knee. “It sounds like Luke is processing some things related to the loss of his team members. That’s a big issue for you to grapple with, honey.”
“I know,” she answered. “But I’m in love with him. I would’ve stuck by him while he sorted things out.” Her mother gripped her hand in a gesture of support.
“Stella! Stella!” Tess’s voice rang out, filled with panic. Her little sister pushed past her gate and ran toward them, her face full of alarm and her pigtails askew. “I didn’t mean it, Stella. I’m sorry.”
“What didn’t you mean?” Stella looked around for Coco Chanel. “Tess! Where’s Coco Chanel?”
Tess’s face crumpled and she let out a wail. “Coco Chanel pulled really hard and ran away from me. I tried to catch her but she was too fast.”
Stella jumped up from her seat. “We need to find her. Which direction was she headed?”
Tess shifted from one foot to the other. “Umm I think she went left. No, right,” Tess corrected herself.
“You think?” Stella asked with a roar. Time was of the essence in trying to find her runaway poodle before any harm befell her.
“We need a search party!” Tess shouted with too much enthusiasm for someone who’d lost Stella’s most prized possession. Stella had to stop herself from raising her voice at Tess. It wasn’t her fault. Coco Chanel was a very strong-willed creature. Maybe she’d caught the scent of another dog and decided to hightail it after. Tears pooled in Stella’s eyes. Coco Chanel was so little. What if she wandered into the road?
“Stella, let’s mobilize,” her mother suggested. “I’ll call Lucy and Dante and your dad for starters. You head to the beach, and I’ll get in my car and ride around. Make sure you have your cell phone. Tess, you stay here in case Coco Chanel finds her way back home. And call anyone you can who can help us find her.”
“Okay. Sounds like a plan,” Stella said as she grabbed her cell phone and headed down the beach, calling out for Coco Chanel every few seconds. Stella let out a sob as she looked into the distance in the hopes of spotting her four-legged sweetie. Panic gripped her as tears slid down her cheeks. What would she do if she couldn’t find Coco Chanel?
What on earth had she done in this lifetime to deserve such an awful streak of bad luck?
***
Luke disconnected from his phone call with Cecily Evans, the head of the Maine Association for Search and Rescue. Despite the fact that he’d just endured one of the worst weeks of his life, he now had a reason to celebrate. He’d been hired as a member of the search and rescue team, with training starting next week. He couldn’t wait to tell Stella. Luke groaned. He couldn’t tell Stella. No doubt he was the last person she wanted to hear from.
Stella was the first person he thought of when he woke up in the morning and the last thought he had before he went to sleep. Her absence was weighing on his heart like an anchor. He was in love with her. Living without her didn’t make an ounce of sense. Nick was right. He’d made a mess of his relationship with Stella because he was afraid. Afraid to mess up. Afraid to love her. Afraid that he wasn’t meant for the long haul.
But he’d faced fear plenty of times as a SEAL. He’d never backed down once from a mission. And having Stella in his world felt imperative. Everything in his life was better with her in it. Luke needed to win her back. Maybe if he laid his heart on the line, she would forgive him. He racked his brain trying to come up with a plan. Roses and a card just wouldn’t cut it. He needed to bring his A game when he approached Stella.
A scratching sound emanated from the closed garage door. Luke ignored it until it continued, even growing louder. He took a step closer to the door. A critter was definitely in there. He looked around for something to arm himself with, settling on a mop from the pantry. He wrenched open the door with one hand and held the mop high in the other. He let out a cry of surprise as Coco Chanel came barreling out of the garage.
“How did you get in there?” he asked her. In return, Coco Chanel glared at him, as if blaming him for her predicament. He put the mop down and scooped the poodle up in his arms. Coco Chanel rewarded him by giving him a very sloppy kiss on the mouth.
There was only one reasonable explanation for how Coco Chanel had come to be in the garage. But for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why his nephew had stashed Stella’s dog there in the first place.
“Miles!” he called out. Within seconds, he heard his nephew galloping down the stairs. When Miles entered the kitchen, his entire face dropped when he saw Coco Chanel in Luke’s arms.
