Page 120 of Hard to Get

I’m not giving up.

31

STELLA

The girls arrive with pizza and wine on Monday evening. My stomach is too unsettled to want food, but I have to admit it does smell good and they got my favourite: capicola, soppressata, and jalapeño. Spicy. Also my favourite pinot noir.

“You all rock,” I tell them. “Thank you for coming.”

“We got the bat signal,” Gracie says, getting plates from the cupboard, quite at home in my kitchen. “Are you okay?”

“I’m confused.”

“Okay. Well, That’s better than heartbroken.” Alexis pours wine into four glasses.

I don’t say anything because… maybe I am heartbroken? No. I’m obviously confused.

We sit around my table with our pizza and wine.

“Okay. Tell us everything,” Lauren says.

I inhale a breath and let it out. “Okay. Um. Where to start.”

I tell them about Jayden coming back to my place after the wedding and… okay, I skip over some details to get to where we were talking… “And he said he’s falling for me. And I kind of freaked out.”

They all gaze at me with wide eyes.

“This was a surprise to you?” Lauren asks.

I think about that. “No. Yes. I don’t know.”

They all side-eye me.

“Okay, I sort of thought he was catching feelings.” I pause. “Meanwhile, I’ve been trying not to fall for this man. Because I don’t want serious.”

They all nod and blink. Their identical reactions are creeping me out.

“So I tried to let him down easy⁠—”

They all make a low noise in their throats.

“What?”

“You dumped him?” Gracie says in a shocked tone.

Lauren and Alexis stare at me as if I just told them I murdered him.

“No! I told him that I like him, and I want to keep seeing him, but I’m not looking for anything serious.”

Gracie’s chin drops to her chest. “You said that after he told you he’s falling for you?”

“Yes.” I cover my face with both hands.

“Ouch,” Alexis says, wincing.

“That was bad, wasn’t it? I realized it after. I need to apologize to him.”

“So he took that well,” Lauren says.