Page 35 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

Desire. Pride. Want. Contentment. Happiness.

And I might not know much, but when you put those together that seems like feelings you’d have toward someone you’re in a relationship with.

And I don’t do those.

Especiallywith Simon Banks’s sister.

“I don’t think I could eat another bite,” Stella groans.

“You do know there’s ice cream, right?”

She pops her head up from the couch where she was laying, a hopefulness in her eyes. “Birthday cake?”

I’d never heard of that flavor until it was on the list Simon sent me. I’m now very glad he put it on there. “Along with vanilla, chocolate, and my personal favorite, cookies and cream.”

“Okay, maybe just a little bit. Since you went to the trouble of buying it.”

I crack a smile as Stella falls back onto the couch in the living room. I finish loading the dishwasher and scoop us each some ice cream, adding some toppings to both.

I mean, what’s ice cream without some syrup, whipped cream, and a cherry on top?

Boring. That’s what.

I take our two bowls over to the couch where Stella’s lying, scrolling through one of the streaming services on the television.

“One birthday cake sundae.”

She sits up on the couch, but doesn’t take the bowl from me right away. She’s staring at it like she’s unsure what to do next. I swear to fucking God if she says that her fucking ex didn’t let her eat ice cream, I’m going to drive to Nashville tonight for the sole purpose of killing him.

“Please tell me you also didn’t give up ice cream for that asshole?”

She shakes her head. “You made me a sundae.”

Her reaction is one of surprise. It’s throwing me. “Yeah? I hope that was okay.”

She nods, and I think I see a tear forming in her eye. “You put away dishesandmade me a sundae.”

Am I missing something here? “Well, you cooked. So that means I clean. And as for the sundaes, I was making myself one, and thought that your birthday cake needed some fixins. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“I know it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is.” She pauses for a second then turns her eyes from the ice cream to me. It breaks my heart when I see the sadness behind them. “We’re…friends. Are we friends? Acquaintances? Random people who keep running into each other?”

“Friends,” I quickly say. “We’re absolutely friends.”

I see the hint of a smile forming at the corner of her mouth.

“Okay, friends. Friends who have seen each other twice. In that time, you’ve done more for me than Duncan did for me in the entirety of our relationship.”

“Really?” Surely not. I mean, I know what she’s told me. And I’m remembering back to the one time I met him at Simon’s baby stag party. Duncan felt slimy. He was asking about strippers and details of other people’s sex lives. I didn’t like him then and I sure as shit don’t like him now.

“Really,” she says. “Maybe not at the beginning. You know, during the stage where everything is great and you want to be around each other all the time. The sunshine and rainbows stage.”

“Sure.” I don’t mean to have a sarcastic tone, but I hear it slip it out. If she notices, she doesn’t say anything.

“Duncan and I had that stage for about three months. Three blissful months of no fights, cuddling on the couch, and doingthe small things for each other. Surprise flowers. Lunches. Those kinds of things.”

Stella trails off for a second, but I don’t fill in the silence. Like I told her earlier, this is her show. I’m just along for the ride.

“That leaves roughly three years and nine months of slowly losing myself in our relationship. Gradually giving up some of the foods I liked. Making sure I always woke up in the morning before he did to wash my face and brush my teeth because of one comment he made about how I looked in the morning. This? What we did tonight? We used to do that. Cook dinner, have a drink, laugh about stories from our day. Clean up and curl on the couch together to watch television. By the end it was me being his cook and maid before he retreated to his booze room as soon as dinner was done.”

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