Page 43 of Searching for Sunshine

I blush and finally decide to say screw it.

“Fine, we might have a moment or two, but we agreed it’s just for fun. Friendly, casual, meaningless, sex.”

“Pshh, yeah, I’m sure that’s gonna go super well, Stels,” Avery says sarcastically. “The two of you are married and he’sgetting his brother to track down his supplier to buy you those damn drinks. And you’re still gonna be living together for the next eleven months? Sounds totally casual and meaningless to me.”

“Hey, y’all,” Chloe calls, coming up behind us and dropping her small beach bag in the sand. “Sorry, I’m late. One of my lifeguards was twenty minutes late for his shift, so I had to wait until he got there. But anyway, what’d I miss?”

“We were just talking about Stels having hot sex with her fake husband. She thinks it doesn’t mean anything, but we both know that man is obsessed with her,” Avery interjects before I can say anything and I shoot her a look of frustration.

“Damn, Aves, we want Chloe to be our friend, not run her off the first time she hangs out with us,” I say, rubbing my face with my hand.

Avery shrugs. “Sorry, I figured it’d be best to just throw her straight in. We both know there’s no point in pretending I have a filter.”

Chloe looks between us for a moment, and I’m afraid she’s going to leave as quickly as she came, but instead, she bursts into laughter.

“Oh my god, this is exactly what I’ve been missing. I’m so damn glad you two moved here. But wait, I need us to back up. What do you mean fake husband? I thought y’all got married?” she asks, and I sigh.

“It’s kind of a long story. Wyatt and I weren’t in the mood to give the whole run down to the town, so I’ll totally tell you, but can you promise to keep it between us?”

“Of course. I’ll be honest, outside of the teenagers who lifeguard for me, I don’t have much social interaction. Whatever you say is totally safe with me,” she promises.

I give her a quick rundown of the last month, and she looks at me with wide eyes as I talk about the hotel and the fake wedding, and all the way up to the events at the bar last night.

“Oh my god. This is wild! Nothing like this ever happens in Crestbrook!” Chloe says, and I laugh.

“Yeah, it’s definitely all a little out of the ordinary. But last night we agreed to meaningless sex for the rest of the time while we’re married,” I admit, and Chloe laughs.

“Oh yeah, sorry Stella, but you two are totally fucked. I know you’ve been gone a while, but over the last few years, Wyatt’s become totally withdrawn from everything in town, and just kinda a grump. I know he puts all of this pressure on himself to take care of his brothers. And I’ll be honest, you saw how much everyone in this town has been struggling to make ends meet recently. But everyone in this town has noticed how different he is around you.”

“See, I told you, Stels,” Avery says matter-of-factly.

“I think you’re both overreacting. Sure, we’ve always gotten along, but I don’t think he feels that way about me,” I insist.

Avery and Chloe look at each other before Avery rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s all it is. But even if that’s true, you still haven’t told us how you feel about him.”

I hesitate, knowing if I admit the truth to Avery, she’ll never let it go. “Yeah, I guess I like him a little.”

“Stella Elizabeth Hale Robinson,” Avery yells and I laugh at her use of my full name with the addition of Wyatt’s last name.

“Uh, Aves, you know I didn’t actually change my name, right?” I ask, and she shrugs.

“Yeah, whatever. Enough of that. Come on and be honest. You know we don’t keep secrets in this friendship.”

Sighing, I decide to give in. “Fine, there are definitely some feelings there, but I’m not ready to dissect them yet. I’m still getting adjusted to living in Crestbrook Cove and we’re about tobe so busy with the hotel that I just want to enjoy how things are for a while before I put any more pressure on everything,” I admit, and Chloe nods encouragingly.

“I think that’s a good point, Stella. You and Avery have both been through a lot of changes over the last month, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not wanting to rush anything,” she says, and I smile at her in gratitude.

“Fine, I’ll allow it,” Avery says, obviously content with the information she was able to get out of me already. “So, now that that’s taken care of, we need to talk about the Hideaway for a minute.”

“Wait, is something wrong?” Chloe asks, looking between us in concern.

“Actually, for once, I don’t think so,” I say with a laugh. “We just hosted our first bachelorette trip and apparently one of the girls is some major influencer, and she made a post about the Hideaway. Well, it went viral and now we need to figure out how we’re going to staff all the bookings we got from it.”

“Wait, so you actually need a full staff? How many reservations are we talking?” Chloe asks.

Avery pulls out her phone. “I actually haven’t let myself check any of the numbers because I wanted to be with Stels when I did. But last night before I went to bed, there were over seventy-five reservations made yesterday.”

Chloe’s mouth drops open in surprise. “Are you serious? This hotel hasn’t had more than ten rooms booked out at a time since I was in high school.”

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