“How much is it going to cost to fix your car?” Jace asked, offering her the perfect segue.
“Actually, I’m not sure. The mechanic has kind of become a friend, and I think he might give me a discount.”
“He’s become a friend? In three days?”
“Four days now,” she said.
“Still, that seems a little sudden.”
“Four days…and two dates.”
“Aha! You buried the lede, Mom. You went on a date?” He sounded genuinely excited for her, but Stella still approached the subject with caution. She’d always avoided the topic because she didn’t want to bring instability into Jace’s life, but they were beyond that point now. Plus, Stella could use all the advice she could get.
“I did, and it was really fun. He is a nice guy, but—”
“Uh-oh. What did he do?”
“He lied to me about my car being broken.”
“What?!” Jace shouted into the phone. “He scammed you? Where are you at? I’ll be there in a couple of hours. I’ll deal with it.”
“No, no. Not like that. My car was broken, and he fixed it Saturday morning. But he told me it would be a few days because he had to order parts. Just this morning, before I found out the truth, he told me it would be another day and asked me out on another date tonight.”
“Oh.”
“I just don’t understand why he would lie to me,” Stella said. “I’ve loved my time in Willow Beach. The people here are so nice, and I’m already more involved with the community here than I ever was at home, but now it feels like I was tricked into loving it. It feels like I was manipulated.”
“I mean, I know why he did it.”
“Why?”
“Mom, it’s obvious,” Jace said. “You have to know it’s because he likes you.”
“He lied to me about needing to order parts the very first night I was in town. Only thirty minutes after we met.”
Jace chuckled. “So, he also thinks you’re attractive. That’s how these things usually go.”
“Jace!”
He laughed again, harder this time. “I’m not a little kid, Mom. I know how these things work. This mechanic guy liked what he saw, and he told a little fib to make sure you’d be in town long enough to get to know you. Then, he realized he liked your personality, too, and he lied again. His tactics aren’t totally above reproach, but I have to commend him for his taste. He couldn’t have chosen a more awesome person to borderline kidnap.”
“Who was kidnapped?” A female voice on the other end of the line surprised Stella.
“My mom,” Jace answered, quickly relaying the most basic facts of the story.
“Who was that?” Stella lowered her voice, though she didn’t know entirely why.
Jace hesitated to answer, and Stella could practically see his shy smile through the phone. “Madison.”
“Hi, Ms. Pierce!” the girl, who was apparently Madison, said. “I’m sorry you were kidnapped.”
“She’s fine.” Jace sounded flirtatious. Confident. He sounded like a version of himself Stella had never heard before, and she realized all at once that while she hadn’t dated at all while Jace was growing up, neither had he.
Not once.
He’d never brought a girl home or had a girlfriend. He’d gone to a few dances with friends, but it was never serious.
Was this serious?
She forgot all about her own issues and wanted to ask him a hundred questions and get to the bottom of this. She wanted to know who he was with and what she was like and if she made him happy. Was she nice? Did she drink or smoke? Did he drink or smoke? Where was she from? If they got married, would he move even further away?
“Are you dating someone?” Stella asked, hoping her voice was quiet enough Madison couldn’t hear.
“Let’s focus on your love life,” Jace said. Stella could hear Madison giggle in the background. “It sounds like this guy likes you a lot, and while I think you can be a little upset with him for lying to you, I think you should still go on this date tonight. What say you, Madison?”
“Agreed,” she said, her voice a bit louder like she was leaning towards the phone. “Make him feel really guilty so he buys you something nice, but definitely still go. He is the one who needs to be punished, not you. So, why should you skip the date?”
Stella let out a long, low whistle. “Jace, you should be careful about making this one mad. She is a smart cookie.”
“You’re telling me.”
Stella heard the chair squeal again, and she could tell by the lowering of Jace’s voice that he was trying to find a bit of privacy, probably pacing across his small room. “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“You haven’t dated in a long time, and I know a lot of that is because of me.”
“No, no,” Stella rushed to say, trying to correct him. “It wasn’t about you. It was—”
“It was about me,” he said. “But that’s okay. You were a great mom, and I’m glad we had all of that time together just the two of us, but now it’s just you. I’ll visit on weekends and holidays and in the summers, but you like to take care of people. You like being needed. You also don’t like the unexpected.”
“You really do know me better than I know myself,” Stella said on a sigh.
“I’m very observant,” Jace said, sounding proud of himself before he grew somber again. “I’d hate for you to run away from something that could be great because you’re afraid of the unknown. From the little I know about the situation, it sounds like you like this town and this guy and the people you’ve met there. It’s the most excited I’ve heard you be in years. It might all fall apart tonight on a disastrous third date, but it also might be awesome. And if it is, I want you to promise me you’ll consider staying.”
Stella’s eyes bugged out of her head. “Staying?
