“I don’t know. Moving or doing a long-distance thing for a while. Just something. Promise me you’ll consider something instead of just writing it off and walking away. Okay?”
The Willow Beach Inn appeared high on the hill as Stella climbed the gravel road. It was closer to a mansion than a house, but Stella had come to think of it as home in a way. She knew Georgia would be inside prepping breakfast for the next day or curled up with a book somewhere, eager to talk to her about all of the latest Sam developments. Stella knew she had a friend inside, and that was more than she could say about her actual home.
Without really realizing it, she’d fallen in love with Willow Beach. It could be an infatuation, she was willing to admit, but in that moment, staring at the inn while the breeze carried the smell of the sea with it, Stella felt perfectly at home.
“Okay, I promise,” she said. “I’ll consider…something…whatever that means.”
“Good.” She could hear the smile in Jace’s voice.
“Now, get off the phone with your mom and pay attention to your girlfriend.” She hesitated, waiting for him to confirm or deny. “She is your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
Jace didn’t answer, but she could hear Madison yell in the background. “Yes, I am!”
Stella had just climbed the last step onto the porch when the door opened, and Georgia came out, eyes pinched in worry. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. Why?”
“Sam has called here four times looking for you. He asked for your cell-phone number, but that goes against our confidentiality policies. He understood, but he wasn’t happy about it.”
“Thanks for that.”
“For not giving Sam your number? Oh, darling, did he mess up that badly?”
“No. Well, yes, but that’s not why I don’t want him to have my number,” Stella said. “I just needed time to think things through, so I’m glad he didn’t call me.”
Georgia grabbed Stella’s hand and peered into her eyes with intensity. “You’ve had time to think about it now, though, I hope?”
Surprisingly, yes. Stella didn’t really think the twenty-minute walk from the theater to the inn would resolve anything, but it had. Talking with Jace had made Stella realize that the way she felt about Sam and Willow Beach and everyone was special. It wasn’t something that should be thrown away on a whim. Maybe if she were to sit down and crunch the numbers, she’d realize Sam didn’t deserve a second chance. But Stella deserved one. She deserved happiness, and she wouldn’t let anyone snatch it away from her without a fight.
“Yeah, I think so.”
Georgia let out a dramatic sigh. “Oh good. Because I’m afraid you’re all out of time.”
Before Stella could ask what she meant, Georgia pointed over her head. Stella turned and saw Sam’s truck coming up the long drive, dust rising behind him.
When she turned back, Georgia gave her a small smile and patted her hand. “Be kind to him. He’s new to all of this.”
“So am I.” Stella laughed. In more ways than one, she felt like a teenager after experiencing her first big fight.
Georgia stepped inside the door and stopped just before pulling it closed behind her. “Then be kind to yourself too, dear.”
The advice was still ringing in Stella’s ears as she turned and faced Sam, who had climbed out of his truck and was walking straight toward her.
17
“I’m the world’s dumbest man.”
Before Stella could greet him or be angry or say anything at all, Sam began to talk. And talk. And talk.
“It was a split-second decision. The moment you snapped back at me when I made the comment about having to hitch up your car in the dark, I knew I needed to take you out. It’s just that I don’t do this often. Ever, really. I’ve told you about my dating life, and it’s sparse. I didn’t know how to ask someone I’d just met out on a date, so I held your car hostage. Then, I called Georgia and told her to show her new guest a good time since you seemed like you’d had a long night.”
Sam must have noticed Stella’s show of surprise because he ran a hand down his face and groaned.
“I know. I meddled in everything. I knew Georgia would take you to the Duke Saloon since she is such good friends with Alma, so I went there for dinner. The dancing was all Georgia’s idea, but she has known me long enough that she could probably tell I liked you. Or, maybe it was just good luck. Either way, we danced, and then I was certain. I tried to ask you out, but you didn’t seem interested.”
Stella remembered turning him down. Sort of. Sam hadn’t asked her out specifically, but she’d guessed his intentions. At the time, she didn’t want to get involved with him at all since she knew she’d be leaving soon. It was how Stella knew if Sam hadn’t kept her car hostage, as he’d put it, that she would have gone on to Boston and written Willow Beach off as nothing more than an accidental stop. She certainly wouldn’t be standing on the steps of the Willow Beach Inn, watching her very handsome mechanic confess his feelings for her.
“Then, we had the picnic. Spending more time with you was as nice as I thought it would be, but the guilt of lying to you about your car was eating me up inside. You were telling me what a nice guy you thought I was, and I’d lied to you and manipulated you.” Sam actually pulled at his hair, tugging on the dark brown strands so they stuck out on either side of his head.
“That’s why you got so weird. I thought maybe I’d come on too strong,” Stella said, glad to finally have that mystery solved.
Sam’s eyes bugged out, and he laughed sarcastically. “Too strong? You could have leaned over and kissed me right there in the grass,
