Stella looked at the clock and winced. “And it’s almost five o’clock on a Thursday. Jim is on his way to bingo.”
The town’s locksmith, Jim Loch—Stella had been asking whether that was really Jim’s last name since she’d moved to Willow Beach, but no one seemed to know—was a devoted bingo player, and nothing could pull him away. He’d be busy for a few hours, at least.
“Which is why I’m seeking asylum here,” Sam said. “Can I use your shower?”
“Sure, but I don’t have any clothes that will fit you, and I doubt you’ll want to go to dinner wearing that.”
The collar of his blue button-down shirt was splattered with grease everywhere his coveralls hadn’t protected.
His face fell in obvious disappointment, and Stella hurried to make him feel better. “I can cook something. I have stuff for shrimp tacos, and I’m sure I have a bottle of wine around here somewhere. We’ll make a night of it. Don’t worry.”
It was clear Sam was still disappointed, though Stella couldn’t imagine why. He’d always been the more flexible out of the two of them, willing to change plans at the last minute or do something spontaneous. She wrote it off as the side effect of a bad day, however, and sent him off to shower.
By the time he got out, his dark hair wet and smelling like vanilla, she’d already pulled out the garlic cilantro lime slaw and was frying up the shrimp. Still, Sam’s brow was creased with disappointment.
“Do you not like shrimp tacos?” Stella asked. “I have chicken defrosted, too. I can make something else.”
“No, they sound great.” He walked up behind her and kissed her on the top of the head.
But when he sat down at her tiny kitchen island, he propped his head up on his fist, looking like a kid who woke up Christmas morning to find coal in his stocking.
After a few minutes of tense silence, Stella flicked off the stove burner and turned around, arms crossed. “What’s going on?”
Sam jolted, eyes wide. “What? Nothing.”
“You’re sulking, but I don’t know about what. Is it because you had a bad day?”
“It was actually a pretty good day,” he said thoughtfully. “I went to lunch with the Baldwin kids and stopped by the inn to have a long chat with Georgia. It was a great day, actually.”
Georgia was in a very happy relationship with her boyfriend, Joel, and Stella had long ago found out that Georgia and Sam had never been in a relationship. Still, Sam’s strange mood and the mention of Georgia sparked long-forgotten jealousy in Stella’s chest.
Was he not happy with her? Did spending time with Georgia remind him of that?
“I didn’t know you were going to do that,” Stella said casually. “If your day was so great, why are you so upset?”
Sam seemed to sense the thoughts Stella wouldn’t give voice to, and he walked around the island and pulled her in close, his hands gripping her waist. “I would have invited you, but it was kind of a secret.”
“A secret?” Stella pulled back to study his face. Was he breaking up with her? Was he cheating on her?
She knew she was being ridiculous, but Sam had never acted this way before. Ever since he confessed that he lied to her about the delays on fixing her car, their relationship had been one of complete and total honesty. They didn’t keep things from each other.
So, why was he keeping secrets now?
Sam sighed, his shoulders sagging. “I’m sure you of all people will appreciate that I had big plans for today…and they didn’t quite play out the way I thought they would.”
Stella crossed her arms to hide her nervousness. “What were these plans?”
“Well, I was going to go to lunch with the Baldwin kids. You know I think of them like my own, and they have all come to love you so much, so I thought it was important that they be part of today.”
“What is today?” Stella shook her head.
Sam continued as though she hadn’t spoken, his mouth turning up in a smile. “Then, after getting their blessing, I went and spoke with Georgia. She played a pivotal role in the two of us getting together, so I wanted her to be in on the secret, too.”
Stella’s nervousness shifted to something else. A heady kind of excitement that made her feel both nauseous and buoyant. Her heart was jackhammering away inside of her chest, but she ignored it, trying to keep her exterior composed and neutral.
“Then, I was supposed to finish up one more appointment at the shop, pick you up for dinner at Romano’s, and then order a very special plate of cannolis for dessert.” Sam smiled wistfully at the thought before shaking his head and laughing humorlessly. “But I was so distracted while under the car that I made a mess of myself, and then I was locked out of the house and dirty and…you know all of that. Things didn’t go to plan.”
Sam reached up and cupped Stella’s face in his palm, his thumb brushing over her cheekbone before he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small black box. “But if there’s anything we’ve learned throughout the course of our relationship, it’s that fate sometimes has other plans.”
Stella gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth to bite back a sob, and Sam dropped to one knee in the middle of her kitchen.
“I wanted to make this moment romantic and wonderful and unforgettable. I wanted to bribe you into it with cannolis and a crowd of onlookers,” Sam said, smiling when Stella let out a watery laugh. “But somehow, this seems better. I’d rather ask you to marry me and spend the rest of the night talking about our future than wait another twenty-four hours to
