Page 84 of Love Notes & Lifelines
“I am relaxed,” I say through clenched teeth. I drop my arms to my sides when I hear myself and shake the tension out of my hands. Even my arms ache from crossing them for so long with every muscle straining as though I’d lifted three hundred pounds.
“I see that,” she says. Her laugh gives me a flashback to our youth, before everything went to hell, and it messes with my head. Allowing the good memories makes it harder to hold on to the betrayal that sent me away in the first place.
“What’s he doing?” I give up pretending and allow the growl in my voice to take root.
She glances up and shrugs. “He’s helping her with yoga poses.”
Tabby dumps pickle juice into her bowl and I scrunch up my nose in disgust, but Daisie, the damn traitor, sidles up to Tabby, sniffing the floor for castaways.
“I thought you were making cupcakes?” I clip on Daisie’s leash then open the door before she can barrel through it on her baby giraffe legs.
“I am,” she says gleefully.
A smile slides from one ear to the next and another memory hits me in the chest. This one is of her, Cally, and Aunt Imogen in this very kitchen. They always allowed her to experiment, even though seventy percent of the results sent us running for the trash can.
I can’t handle the messy emotions she draws from me, so I stare back out the open door with Daisie yanking and pulling on the leash. It takes me longer than it should to see that Emmy’s waving. Happily, excitedly waving with her entire body.
Mine isn’t nearly as energetic, but my heart kicks in my chest. The damn crazy pediatrician was right—she needed to be home. Daisie yelps, so I pull her to me and release the leash, knowing she won’t venture too far from Stella and Emmy anyway.
“How did Cally choose the pediatrician in Raleigh?” The answer doesn’t matter, but it’s been bothering me. Nothing about that woman would have appealed to the Cally I knew.
“Oh,” Tabby singsongs as I take up residence at the kitchen island. “She didn’t. I did. She was too sick to travel when she started making arrangements.”
That makes a lot more sense, and it also dumps a new bucket into my well of regret. It’ll be overflowing soon.
“Didn’t you just love her?” Her smile reaches all the way to her eyes. Does this woman do anything that doesn’t radiate fucking rainbows?
I take it back. Tabby shits, breathes, and eats those rainbows.
“She was…something,” I finally tell her as Emmy barrels through the open door. The magnetic pull that is Stella Jane nearly knocks me off my feet, and only through sheer determination do I stay where I am and not at Stella’s side where I want to be—or out there publicly claiming her as mine.
“Oh, good,” Tabby says then bounces around the island and shoves me toward Stella. Then she’s dragging my arm to drape over Stella’s shoulder while Daisie stands between Stella’s open legs. She’s the most inconvenient dog on the planet. “Let’s get a couple of candid shots for the locals.”
Stella turns in my arm, straddling Daisie, and I almost laugh. An hour with Leo would confuse anyone, but add Tabby and Daisie into the mix and I feel bad about the deer-in-headlights expression she casts me now. She has no idea what’s happening outside of these walls, but I do. Sailport Bay is gearing up for one of their favorite events—wedding season, and wedding season is only made better when it’s one of their own taking their vows.
“I’m assuming Danica has told everyone about our engagement by now, so Tabby wants to share some photos to make it—” I almost saymake it realbut the words won’t come. That’s a conundrum to focus on later. I swallow and attempt a more reassuring thought. “She wants to share the photos because everyone will be excited. Weddings are a big deal around here.”
She lifts her hand to brush a stray hair behind her ear, and the ring I noticed her wearing earlier flashes in the light.
I clasp her hand in mine before I make the decision to do it. My thumb rubs mindlessly over the hideous thing and when I twist it a little more, it reveals a line of green tainting her perfect skin.
“What the fuck is this?”
I’m vaguely aware that Tabby is moving around us like our own personal paparazzi, and that Leo is handing Emmy a five-dollar bill, but my focus is solely on Stella. She swallows hard, as if it pains her, and blinks feverishly to gain control of the angry emotion attempting to break free. Her cheeks are a delicious shade of pink as she glares at me and I can hear her teeth grinding, but because it’s anger and not me making her flush, it threatens my ability to remain calm.
“Who gave this to you?” I ask, attempting to lighten my voice this time.
“It—it really doesn’t matter,” she whispers.
I was right. Some asshole gave her a cheap engagement ring. But the disaster of a ring isn’t what concerns me.
“Why do you carry it around with you?” Jealousy springs to life in vibrant colors. I’m not sure what I’ll do if she says she’s still in love with some faceless asshole. And there is no doubt that he’s an asshole.
He gave her sand when she deserves the pearl.
She shakes her head, and it takes her a minute to open her mouth. “I don’t.” Stella glances around the room when Ruby’s screech of delight fills the silence. Tabby and Leo must have taken the girls to the family room.
“Then why do you have it?” She scans my face, and I don’t know what she finds there, but her cheeks catch fire—the light pink deepening into a crimson glow. Fuck me. That’s more like it.
