Page 37 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

“Undecided.”

She sits up a little straighter and slaps her hands to her lap. “Well then let me decide for you. You’re staying. And we’re going to a smash room. Along with the beach and to dinner. Oh! I bet they have mini golf here. Duncan would never mini golf with me because he said it was for kids but Ilovemini golf. He was just pissed I always beat him.”

“Stella…” My voice trails, because I hate to be the one to take the excitement away. As I try to figure out how to tell her gently, and only lying slightly, of why I need to go back to Nashville earlier than expected, she reads my face and fills in the blanks for me.

“Oh.” I feel the proverbial knife go through my heart as I watch her shoulders slump. “I understand. You have work to do. This wasn’t a vacation for you. It was stupid of me to ask you to stay and do all that stuff with me. Forget I brought it up.”

I reach over for her hand, needing her to believe what I’m about to say. “Hey. Don’t talk about my friend that way. I don’t think she’s stupid at all.”

The shy smile she gives me when my words register makes my chest swell in a way it never has.

And make me say the words I didn’t intend to.

“I can stay.”

She raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“I’ll stay,” I say with a sigh. “I was only going back because I’m, what my sister calls, ‘not fun.’ I’m not much of a beach guy. Or a vacation guy. So I was going to head back early. But I don’t have to.”

Was that a lie? Partially. My sister does call me a stick-in-the-mud. “Plus, Simon told me to stay and take some vacation time. The fucker owes me after taking the world’s longest paternity leave. So let’s go smash some shit and let me beat you at mini golf. I’ll even sit on the beach with you, but I won’t be happy about it.”

Her smile lights up the room. “Really?”

“Really.” I give her hand a squeeze before I release it. “And I’m being serious. I’m not letting you win. I play for keeps.”

“Noted,” she says. “And thank you. Truly. Though, I was ready to play the single-girl-alone-after-I-just-ran-out-of-my-wedding card.”

“Really, Tiger? Sweet and innocent? Woe is me? That was your ace in the hole?”

She faux-innocently shrugs. “Would it have worked?”

Of course it would’ve. Because I’m quickly learning that when it comes to Stella Banks, I can’t say no.

And that’s a very, very, big problem.

guide to love rule #55

Drinks with umbrellas are a key part

of curing heartbreaks.

A hot man in swim trunks also helps.

11

stella

I knowI wasn’t sold on coming to Destin when it was my honeymoon.

But being here for my non honeymoon? Well, this isn’t too shabby.

I have the hot sun on me and a frozen drink with an umbrella in my hand as the salt water hits my legs. Every time the tide hits me, it washes away another piece of anger that has been building inside me all day.

At least I hope it is.

Because I’m mad. So damn mad. And I don’t know why today it’s all bubbling to the surface, but it is. As I lay here and try to bask in the sun, all I can think about is everything I want to be mad about.

I’m mad that I wasted time and money on a day only I cared about.

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