Page 49 of Stella's Christmas Rescue
I sip my coffee and watch her plod toward me. Before she answers, I pass her a mug of her own. Stella looks into it, then looks up at me. “You’re a god.”
I laugh, “Wow, not the first words I expected out of you today.”
She drinks her coffee way too fast, so I pour her another. She dresses it herself this time. “I didn’t sleep at all last night.”
“After your athletic performance, I would have thought you’d sleep like the dead.”
“Did you?”
I nod. “Haven’t slept like that in ages.”
“Good,” she says before she smiles. Then the smile falls. “I’m sorry for the Hannigans, Jordan. I don’t think I said that last night.”
“I understand the sentiment, and I didn’t think you were being rude or anything. It’s not easy to know what to say at times like these. Especially with today being Christmas Eve Day.”
“Oh, hell. That means it’s grocery day and Alex day. I forgot all about that.” She pours a third cup, then tries to gather her hair into some sort of order. It doesn’t work at all.
I’m curious. “Why is today grocery day?”
“Mr. Bailey is closing up from Christmas through New Year’s Day. Didn’t you see the flyers?”
I shake my head. “The red things they were passing out?”
She nods.
“I just thought that was about him being closed on Christmas, and I had already assumed they would be, so I threw the flyers out. Guess I should read those things, huh?”
She laughs, then shrugs. “It does help to read the things people hand to you when you want to know what’s happening, but I’m one of those weirdos who likes knowing what’s happening around me.”
Can’t think of a better segue than that. “You sure you like to know what’s happening around you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Seems to me, you’d rather pretend you’re asleep.”
She freezes up. “Uh, what are you?—"
I shake my head. Then, I step forward, hook my hand around the back of her neck, and kiss her. “This is the strangest situation I have ever found myself in, Stella. It’s nothing like what Iexpected by coming to Floyd. And yet, here I am. With you. And whatever you want to call our arrangement, dating, hooking up, whatever it is, I don’t care. I am in love with you.”
Her lips part, and there’s panic in those big blue eyes. “Jordan, um, I’m not in a position to be…with anyone like that. I wouldn’t even know how to begin to be. It’s not that I don’t?—"
“Breathe,” I touch her cheek and she leans into it. I can tell she’s not afraid of what I said, but she’s still panicking about it. Her eyes are like saucers. Those eyes of hers always give her away. “You don’t need to say it back. You don’t need to say anything at all. That’s not why I’m telling you. I’m telling you, because I can’tnotsay it anymore.”
“But I don’t…My whole world is insane, Jordan, and even if it wasn’t, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve felt this close to someone before. Not ever. And I would be crushed if something happened to you. But sayingthatword…I’ve never said that word, and if I say it?—"
I nod. “Your life is chaos, complete and utter chaos. I know. So, is it so bad that someone in the world loves you?”
Her lips curl upward into a crooked smile, and my heart leaps. She confesses, “I guess not.”
“Good.” I give her a peck, then pour myself the last cup. “So, a trip to Bailey’s today?”
“You don’t have to go to work?”
“Michael texted and said to take off through the 26th, with the understanding that I’m on call.”
“That was generous. Why is he so nice to you?”
I smile, but the sadness seeps in. “When I first came to Floyd, Michael was freshly divorced and needed a friend. We didn’t hit it off at first, he’s a good deal younger than me. But when his dad died, I took over at the firehouse so he could take time off. He came back, and I handled everything back over to him. I told him I was here to help, not to take over. Apparently, he thought I wasafter his job, and that’s why he didn’t like me at first. After that, he’s been great.”
