Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
DREW
Clyde and his wagon are silhouetted by the moon. He holds the reins to his two palomino horses loosely in his hands.
Stella gasps. “A wagon ride?”
“Drew,” Clyde says in greeting. “I expect you at my place first thing on Monday.”
“I’ll be there, Clyde. This is my friend, Stella. Clyde has a farm not too far from here. He said he’d take us on a hay ride around the apple orchards.”
“Thank you, Clyde,” she tells him.
“Anything for Drew’s girlfriend.”
His words send a jolt through me, but Stella acts like she didn’t hear.
Blankets cover the loose hay, though after a day of taking people on rides, they’re a rumpled mess. I smooth them out before helping Stella into the wagon bed.
She sits with her legs pulled up to her chest and wraps her arms around her knees. “Hay is surprisingly comfortable.”
I sit beside her, stretch my legs out in front, and lean back on my elbows. I drop my hat next to me on the blanket.
Clyde gets his horses moving, and we rock back and forth with the movement. It’s not the smoothest ride, but it’s an experience. The road we turn on is dirt and runs next to the orchards.
“Does everyone in this town think we’re dating?” Stella asks.
So she noticed the looks and remarks all day, not just Clyde’s. “Probably.”
“But why?”
“We thrive on gossip here. All anyone has done for the past week is talk about the woman I had lunch with last Saturday.”
“But we didn’t have lunch together. You sat with me for ten minutes!”
“Close enough. Then a dozen people saw me walking you to your car that night.”
“How? It was eleven o’clock. No one was out on the road but us.”
“Go into any living room in this town, and you’ll see at least one chair facing the front window. It’s how we keep up with our neighbors.”
“That’s not true!” A second later, “Is it?”
I grin. “If I told every single person in this town that we aren’t dating, then they’d think we definitely are. If someone asks, I tell them no, but otherwise, it’s easier to just let them talk. They’ll figure out the truth eventually.”
“I may not have to deal with the gossip, but you do,” she says. “I had no idea that our spending time together would make things difficult for you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not a big deal. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a relationship, and it’s mostly excitement over me finding someone.”
For the first time since Quinn left me, I want that for myself.
“It’s ironic,” she says, “Gossip over me liking Caleb imploded my life, and now I’m in a similar situation. Except instead of this town hating me for it, they seem to like me. Everything about Blissful is so much better than Tucson.”
“I won’t disagree. But you don’t need to worry about the gossip on my behalf. I’ve had worse.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
When Quinn left me and sent a moving van to pick up her stuff, gossip ran rampant through town.
Everywhere I went, someone asked me for details.
I put them off for a while as I tried to convince Quinn against a divorce.
Eventually, I signed the papers and made sure everyone knew, so they’d stop asking me about her. It didn’t stop the gossip.
Compared to that, neighbors thinking Stella and I are dating is an afternoon walk down Second Street.
Stella lays down in the bed of the wagon, with one arm a pillow for her head. “You were right. There really are billions of stars. They go on forever. Did you know Stella means ‘star’ in Latin?”
“I didn’t.”
“Growing up my dad read me books about stars. The sky I saw never looked like the pictures in the books. I thought stars were going extinct like dinosaurs. Then when I was five he took me to Oracle State Park. It’s a designated dark sky area. No lights allowed. Have you been there before?”
“No.”
“You should go sometime. It’s amazing. It blew my little mind to see so much light in the dark sky. That’s why I like traveling so much. I think I know something, then I go somewhere and get a completely new perspective.”
“I’ve never thought about traveling like that before. I bet there’s a lot I don’t know.”
I don’t regret my decision to stay close to home, but I’m envious of all Stella has seen and experienced.
She turns her head to look at me. I look back at her.
“I want to ask you something, and I need your honest opinion,” she says. “Okay?”
“Sure.”
“I, um. Well … Wow, this is hard.” She covers her eyes with a hand for a minute before she finally says, “I have a friend.”
There’s something about the way she says this that makes me think there is no friend.
“Okay,” I say. “I’m listening.”
She looks back at the sky. I continue to look at her.
The moon is bright tonight and I have a close view of that swatch of skin just behind her ear.
I really need to stop thinking about kissing her.
It’s just not behind her ear I want to explore with my mouth, but those lips.
She has no idea how tantalizing she is when she smiles at me.
Outwardly, I can pretend I feel nothing for her but friendship, but inside my head, I know it’s a lie.
I like Stella. She’s kind. Strong. Resilient.
Brave. Absolutely gorgeous. I love spending time with her and hearing her thoughts.
It’s disappointing that she’s going back home tonight.
I have no idea when I’ll get a chance to see her again.
Stella sighs and says, “This friend has always lived in the city.”
Her words bring me back to reality. For my own sanity, I look out at the orchard.
“It’s where all of her family lives and she loves being close to her family. It’s also where she works, and she’s supposed to love her job. It’s what she spent most of her life working toward. But she craves a change.”
As she talks, I can’t help but look back at her. She’s staring at the stars, but her brow is low and her lips flat as she thinks.
“I’m sorry your friend feels this way,” I say. “I wish I could help.”
“You’ve done more than you know.”
She reaches out and squeezes my knee. It shoots a shiver of desire through me. For a second, my choices narrow to two: lean down and kiss her breathless, or jump out of the wagon bed and run away. I gain control of my impulse and stay still, barely breathing.
“And you need my opinion on something?” I ask, trying to focus on what she’s saying and not her specifically. “For your friend?”
“Yes. So, her life is in the city, but there’s this small town she’s fallen in love with. When she’s there, she’s content.”
I blurt out exactly what I think. “My opinion is that she should move to this small town and live contentedly. Easy.”
My biggest concern with asking Stella on a date is that she lives in Tucson. I can’t date a city girl again. But if she moved here, she would be a country girl.
As she laughs, she rolls to her side and looks at me. “It’s a bit more complicated. There’s a man that lives in this town. They’re friends, but everyone believes they’re dating. What if this guy thinks she’s trying to trap him into a relationship by moving there?”
I give a short laugh. “I can say with complete conviction, he would be flattered if she was.”
She chuckles. “You don’t know my friend or this guy.”
“Right, I forgot. That would be my response if I were in that situation, which I’m not.”
“You really don’t think he would mind?”
“I think he’d like it if this friend moved to town. He might feel a bit stuck himself. When his friend visits he remembers what it’s like to be happy.”
Stella closes her eyes. “This girl has a ridiculous dream of buying Blissful Books and doing a complete overhaul of the space and collection. She wants to do free story times for the kids in town. Start a book club. Hold book themed parties. Do you think it’s possible the people here would accept her?
Would they buy her books? Or is she foolish for wanting to leave her really good life in the city for possible failure? ”
Until now, I wasn’t sure Stella was serious. But this last part feels serious. My heart thumps painfully in my chest.
“If I knew this friend of yours, I would tell her that Leon Long stays up late reading every night and would answer a phone call. I have his number and know the code to the bookstore’s back door and security.
We could go over right now and look around.
Because there is a certain country boy who thinks that her dreams aren’t foolish, and he would love to see her make them come true. ”
Clyde drops us off where he picked us up. I have no doubt he heard every word, so before climbing out the back of the wagon bed, I step up to the bench.
“Don’t tell anyone?” I say.
“Sure, sure. You know me. I’m not one of those busy bodies.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t forget. Monday morning.”
“I won’t.” If I did, he’d be bringing it up every week for the rest of my life.
I jump down, help Stella to the ground, and gather our things. Clyde rides away.
“So,” I say to Stella in the starlight. “Do we call?”
She gives one slow nod. “It’s best if I find out if it’s even a possibility before I spend any more time thinking about it.”
Leon answers in two rings. “Is something wrong with the store?”
I turn on the speaker so Stella can hear too. “No, the store is fine. I’m here with my friend Stella. She has a question for you.”
Just then, a notification flashes at the top of my phone screen. Another message from Quinn. She’s messaging me every few days now, but I still don’t read them. I swipe the notification away. I feel Stella’s eyes on me, but I keep my focus on my phone.
“Hi Mr. Long,” she says. “I came into your store last week and bought The Count of Monte Cristo. Do you remember me?”
“You’re hard to forget when you’re the only thing everyone’s been talking about this week.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks are probably pink though I can’t see them clearly in the dark. “Well, um, I think I want to, um, well, maybe buy your bookstore.”