Page 27 of Our Little Moments

He smiles. “I know you did.”

About ten minutes after Adrian leaves, his sisters arrive behind my door. I hear them before I even open the door.

“Hey, Stella! Get your ass out of there, we’re waiting for you!” Isabella says teasingly, her voice echoing in the hallway.

“Don’t mind her!” Layla calls over her. “Isa’s just mad because she’s not used to having to wait after other people! Same girl who sneak-read chapters of my book draft when I left my laptop open.”

“Hey! I wasn’t impatient! You—”

I open the door and step out, putting a stop to their bickering.

“Hi, Stella,” Hazel welcomes me shyly.

“Hi,” I reply, my voice calmer than I feel.

“We were thinking of having a simple dinner, just the four of us. You okay with that?” Isabella asks me.

“Sure.” It sounds great. Easy, calm and quiet.

I can handle this.

…

We’re all lying on Isabella’s couch, in our pajamas and buried underneath several blankets. The dinner went by flawlessly. It was a calm, warm, and enjoyable night.

But all of us got tired quickly and decided to stay the night at Isa’s place.

Yes, I get to use her nickname now.

The air is calm, but I can feel the curiosity they’ve been holding back all night. I know what’s coming—it’s the moment I was nervous about.

“So, Stella,” Layla starts, clearly wanting to make me feel included. My palms get sweaty. “What did you do back in the city?”

Oh, crap. What should I say?

My feet start tapping, and I start blinking way too much. I look around, trying to read their faces and determine how they’d react. Would they want to help like Adrian? Or would they be disappointed? Maybe even repulsed? Would they still like me if they knew I came here out of weakness? That I don’t have it all figured out?

Who am I kidding, of course they’ll judge me.

These three women have extremely successful jobs and are clearly passionate about them.

And I’m losing everything I’ve been building all my life. I wouldn’t be their friend; I’d be a freaking pity case.

Hazel’s hand lands on my knee, stopping its nervous bouncing. “You can tell us, Stella. If you’re struggling with something, you can talk to us. You wouldn’t be the only one.”

Before I can even react, Isabella adds, “Yeah. All of us have our struggles. If it makes it easier, I’ll go first. Right now, I’m really struggling with handling my coffee shop’s success. There are going to be a lot of clients coming next Monday and I’m not ready—neither is the shop. I still have way too much to do and way too little time to do it.” She laughs in embarrassment. “I’m a nervous wreck right now.”

My hands stop fidgeting. I’m not the only one whose life is messier than it should be, and it comforts me more than I want to admit.

“You know you can ask us for help, right, Isa? We’ll help out anytime you need us to,” Hazel tells her.

“Of course, I know that. But I’m the older sister . . .” Isa sighs, muttering, “And if I’m feeling this pressure, I can’t imagine how Adrian is feeling.”

“Just because you’re our older sister doesn’t mean you have to be perfect all of the time,” Layla reassures her.

“What’s wrong with Adrian? He doesn’t seem anxious,” I say. He’s clearly struggling, but I don’t think his sisters know everything Adrian told me, and I don’t want to betray him. And I’m interested in his sisters’ perspectives . . .

Isabella looks at me, quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t seem anxious either, do I? Some people just hide it better. Our parents . . .” She gulps. “They passed when we were young. Adrian and I are used to hiding those things, since we took care of the girls when we were just teenagers. We didn’t want them to see how much we were struggling, for them to have to lose the piece of their childhood that we lost, so we got really good at hiding how we feel. And, now, Adrian doesn’t have a job or a career. He helps out everyone around town, but he has nothing for just him. I have the coffee shop, Layla has her writing, and Hazel has her flower shop, but he has nothing. I can’t imagine how he feels. I know he pretends to be okay with it when he isn’t really. He always wanted to be a source of safety for us, of stability. But right now, he’s the only one of us that doesn’t have it.”

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