“I’m so sorry.” Stella couldn’t imagine losing her parents so young. When her dad died, she was well into her forties, and the loss still made her feel like a helpless child. Her siblings thought she was cold because of the way she planned and prepared for the inevitable as he got sicker and sicker, but it was the only way Stella could get up every day. Being prepared and taking control was the only way she could get out of bed, take care of Jace, and get to work. It gave her the illusion she was in control of her father’s death, when in reality, she was losing it.
How would she have reacted if she’d been in her twenties? Her parents had helped out so much. Her dad had stepped in as a kind of surrogate father for Jace, roughhousing and wrestling with him even when his knees ached and it was hard for him to get up off the floor.
Stella didn’t need to run the scenario in her head to know she would have been lost without her parents. Yes, she’d stepped up to the challenge of being a single mother and had raised a great son, but she certainly didn’t do it alone.
“Richard and I met at the auto body shop not long after it happened. He and Georgia were in town visiting her family, and they hit a possum on the road, and he wanted to get the car looked at. Really, I think he wanted to get away from Georgia’s parents for a bit, but I didn’t mind. We hit it off right away. He was a good guy.”
Stella didn’t miss the use of the past tense, as though Richard was dead.
“Then, I met his family, and I mean, how can you not fall in love with that bunch? Drew bounced off the walls of any room he was in, bubbling with energy. Melanie was soft-spoken even as a kid, but she liked me. I never interrupted her while she was reading. And Tasha,” Sam laughed and shook his head. “Tasha has always been and will always be Tasha—passionate, opinionated, and determined.”
“And Georgia?” Stella asked, genuinely curious. Her motivation wasn’t jealousy like it might have been before. She really wanted to know.
“Georgia held them all together,” Sam said with a smile. “Richard wasn’t the most paternal person. He struggled to connect with the kids sometimes, but Georgia helped bridge the gap. She’d nudge him towards Drew when she knew he was struggling at school, and she’d recommend an old movie he could watch with Tasha. Richard and Melanie were alike enough that Georgia didn’t need to help him with her. They’d sit in silence together and everything would work itself out.” His brow furrowed. “At least, I thought it did.”
“He never talked to you about his problems?” Stella asked. Sam had already said once that he had no idea Richard planned to leave, but Stella couldn’t understand how the two men could be friends for so long without Sam having some idea Richard was unhappy.
“Never,” Sam said. “We talked about sports and cars, and whenever I mentioned the kids or Georgia, he’d say everything was fine. It seemed fine from the outside, so I never thought to question it. Then, he left Georgia and the kids.”
“And you,” Stella added gently, laying a hand on Sam’s elbow. “He is your friend, and he shouldn’t have left without saying goodbye.”
“Was my friend.” Sam let out a rough sigh. “I don’t even care that he left me. I care that he left those kids. I know they’re adults, but I know better than most that twenty-somethings still need their parents. I never said that to Richard outright, but he knew how I felt about my parents being gone. So, the fact that he’d willingly do that to his own kids? It’s unforgivable to me. He deserted them and left Georgia to handle it all on her own.”
“She isn’t handling it on her own, though.”
Sam turned to Stella, mouth turned down in a frown.
“You’re helping her,” she continued. “You’re helping all of them. I’ve only been here a few days, and it’s as clear as day that you love those kids, and they love you back.”
“I’m not their dad.” Sam lowered his head as he spoke, and Stella could see how much that fact weighed on him. He was not their dad. He wasn’t anyone’s dad. To Stella, that seemed like a great injustice because Sam would make an amazing father.
“No,” she said. “But I don’t think that matters. My son’s biological father wasn’t in the picture at all. He sent a few lousy birthday cards and called a couple times, but he didn’t do any actual fathering. But my dad stepped up to help. It didn’t matter than he was Grandpa; he was the male role model my son needed. He taught Jace how to treat other people and how to be kind. He taught him what a real man looks like—not someone who is physically strong or emotionally tough, but someone who is honest and tender, who cares for the people around him fiercely. Someone like you.”
Sam’s eyes crinkled with a self-conscious smile. “By that definition, you’re a real man too, Stella.”
She threw her head back and laughed long and loud.
“I’m no good with words. But I mean it. Kind of,” he said with a shrug. “You’re a good person. You’re honest and kind, and I’m sure all the people in your life are grateful to have you.”
“That list is pretty short, I’m afraid.” Stella spoke the words before she could really consider them, and they surprised even her. “I just mean, I don’t have many friends. My parents, Jace, a few people at work. I guess I was so busy taking care of my son that I forgot to have a life of my own. That’s pretty sad, isn’t it?”
“No.”
