Page 73 of The Beach Shack Artists 3
The table went completely still. Even Anna’s fork paused midway to her mouth.
“What? When?” Bea asked, her voice very small. “When do you go back?”
Stella’s cheeks flushed slightly. “In about three weeks. I’m supposed to fly back for Year 12. Mum’s already got me enrolled and everything.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Tyler felt like someone had punched him in the stomach, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. Of course, Stella was going back to Australia. That had always been the plan. She was here for the summer. A visit. Temporary.
So why did hearing her say it out loud feel like watching their whole summer experiment fall apart?
“You can’t,” Bea said, her voice rising with panic. “You can’t leave now.”
“Bea—” Anna started.
“No, seriously, you can’t!” Bea turned to Stella, her eyes wide with teenage desperation. “I just got a cousin! We were going to do senior year together! I had our whole schedule planned out!”
Stella blinked. “You did?”
“Of course I did! I’ve been thinking about showing you around school, introducing you to people...” Bea’s voice trailed off as reality hit. “But you’re leaving.”
Tyler found his voice, though it came out slightly rough. “I know we’re completely crazy,” he said, gesturing vaguely at the chaos of their dinner table, the takeout containers, Anna’s paint-stained fingers, Bea’s elaborate school planning system. “Living with us probably feels like being trapped in a reality show that never got cancelled.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Dad,” Stella said, but her eyes were soft.
“I’m not being dramatic. We turn every meal into a family crisis. Anna reorganizes furniture without warning. I take pictures of everything, including your breakfast. Bea plans your entire future without asking.” Tyler ran his hands through his hair. “You’ve probably been counting down the days.”
“Actually,” Stella said, picking at her pad thai, “I haven’t been counting anything. Which is weird for me, because I usually count everything.”
Anna leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I knew I was supposed to go back. It’s what Mum and I planned. But I wasn’t... I wasn’t looking forward to leaving.” She met Tyler’s eyes. “This is the longest I’ve ever been anywhere besides home. And it’s been...”
“Chaotic?” Anna suggested.
“Completely mental,” Stella agreed. “But good mental. Like, family mental instead of just... empty mental.”
Bea sat up straighter. “So stay.”
“It’s not that simple?—“
“Why not?” Bea pressed. “You could finish school here. We could take all the same classes. You could go to college here.”
“Bea, slow down,” Anna said gently. “This is huge. Stella would be changing her whole life plan.”
“But what if staying here IS her life plan?” Bea argued. “What if this is where she belongs?”
Tyler had a hard time getting the words out. “Do you? Feel like you belong here?”
Stella looked around the table—at Tyler’s worried face, at Bea’s obvious devastation, at Anna who was clearly trying to figure out how to support everyone at once. At the takeout containers and school forms and the general chaotic warmth of people who’d somehow become essential.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I do. Which is terrifying, by the way.”
“Why terrifying?” Tyler asked.
Stella’s smile was wry. “Because I’ve never belonged anywhere before. And also because you lot would probably implode without me.”
Anna laughed despite the tension. “That’s... probably accurate.”
“Definitely accurate,” Bea said. “Remember the health inspection? Stella basically saved the entire restaurant.”
