“Track of time,” I corrected, shaking my head after I came up to her bed. “I know it’s the last week of school, but you can’t be late. So you have to go to sleep.”
“I know. Don’t get Stella in trouble. She thought I was asleep, but she went to bed early because she was sad.”
“Sad? Why?”
She shrugged under the sheet.
“We were watching homemade videos. The one when I was a cute baby at the beach and you married my mom. She laughed, but then she got quiet.”
Stella had been at our wedding with Gary. She’d seen me with Katie before. Why would watching it make her sad and quiet? I had no idea, but I needed to find out.
“Stella isn’t in trouble,” I said, kissing Bennie’s cheek and swiping the tablet out of her hand. “But you need to go to sleep, baby girl.”
“Okay,” she said, yawning into the pillow. “I love you, Daddy. I’ll work on making Stella happy when I wake up.”
I closed Bennie’s door and headed to my bedroom, a bad feeling settling into my gut when I opened the door and found an empty, still-made bed.
My chest tightened as I turned toward her old bedroom, the one she hadn’t slept in since we’d been officially together. I didn’t know what was going on, but panic raced through me at the unknown possibilities.
I opened the door slowly, flicking on the light as I gently pushed it shut. Stella was asleep under the sheets but restless as she tossed and turned.
“Hey,” I whispered, gently rocking her awake. “I think you have the wrong room,” I tried to joke as she blinked her eyes open. They were bloodshot and swollen, her cheeks red and raw, as if she’d cried herself to sleep.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Why were you crying?”
“I’m fine,” she said, swiping her cheek with the back of her hand. “I wasjust tired.”
“Bennie said you were sad and quiet after watching my wedding video. If you are, we need to talk?—”
“Lee, please,” she said, clenching her eyes shut. “I can’t right now.”
“All right,” I relented, even though this was anything but. This didn’t make sense. Stella had been the one person I’d been able to talk to about Katie. She was still the only one who knew how awful I’d felt about being mad at Katie and helped me talk about her to Bennie.
Why would watching my wedding spook her like this, if that’s what was bothering her?
“Can I lie with you if you’re upset? Please.”
She didn’t answer as she settled on her side, scooting back a couple of inches. I wasn’t sure if that meant yes or no, but I took off my shirt and pants and got in behind her anyway.
I kissed her shoulder and draped my arm around her waist. She didn’t lean into me like she usually did, but she didn’t pull away either.
“Good night, sweetheart,” I said, watching her until I drifted off, still clueless as to what to do and what had gone wrong since I’d left her this morning.
I wokeup to an empty bed. The clock on the nightstand read five thirty, a half hour before Stella usually woke up.
I stood from the bed, grabbing a T-shirt and shorts from my bedroom before I headed downstairs to figure out what the hell was going on.
Stella was at the dining room table, dressed and typing on her laptop. Her gaze flicked to mine, but she didn’t get up or kiss me good morning. We’d gotten so close, but I’dcome home to a ton of distance between us that I couldn’t understand or fix.
“Did I do something while I was at the game? Or in my sleep? Because, baby, I want to make it better, but I don’t remember it.”
She took a deep breath. Her face was still swollen, with puffy circles around her eyes.
“You didn’t do anything. I’m just wondering if this is going too fast.”
“Too fast? How is it going too fast?” Tension seized my shoulders while Stella’s focus stayed on her screen.
“It’s only been a couple of months,” she said, her voice weak and not sounding like my Stella at all. “Me living here could be complicating things.”
