lady of leisure. “I’ve been so worried! Where were you last night? Even your evil stepmother came by looking for you.”
“Why did you sleep with Sawyer?” Julia blurted out, right there in the foyer. She hadn’t meant to say it. She was as surprised as Stella looked.
“What?” Stella said.
“Sawyer said you slept together, three years ago. Do you love him?”
“Oh, that,” Stella said. “It was terrible. Not the sex … at least what I remember of it. But I was a mess. My divorce had just been finalized and all my money was gone. Sawyer came by that evening to give me a bottle of champagne to celebrate my freedom. I got drunk and I climbed all over him. I’m not proud of it. Believe me, I never wanted to be the woman men had sex with out of pity. It was just once, and I tried to avoid him after that, but he wouldn’t let me. Sawyer’s a good guy. A good friend. Why do you ask?” Stella clutched at her heart dramatically. “Oh my God! That’s where you were last night! You totally did it with Sawyer!”
Julia didn’t answer, but she must have given something away with her look.
Stella drew her into her arms for a tight hug. “I’m so happy. That man has always had a thing for you. I have no idea why he waited so long. I used to tease him that he was afraid of you.” She took Julia’s hand and led her to the living room, where she had been fortifying herself with a pitcher of Bloody Marys. “So, tell me everything! What happened? When? How many times?”
Julia shook her head as she sat down and accepted the drink Stella gave her. “Uh-uh. No way.”
“You have to tell me. You’re my best friend,” Stella said, which startled Julia. “It’s the code. I tell you everything that’s happening in my life.”
“You didn’t tell me about Sawyer,” she said, taking the celery stalk out of the drink and biting into it.
“Sawyer isn’t happening in my life. He already happened. A long time ago.”
Julia set the glass back on the tray. “Am I really your best friend?”
“Of course you are.”
“But you used to laugh at me in high school.”
Surprised, Stella sat down heavily on the chair opposite Julia. “High school was a long time ago. Are you saying you can’t be my best friend now because of what happened back then?”
“No,” Julia said, being honest with herself for the first time in a long time. Her friendships in Baltimore had never felt like this. Her friends there had accepted her for who they thought she was. Stella accepted her for who she really was. This place defined her. It always had. Stella knew that. “I think you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”
“That’s more like it,” Stella said. “Now, tell me everything.”
THE FIRST thing Sawyer said when Julia opened the door a few hours later was, “Let’s get this out of the way. There’s nothing going on between me and Holly.”
Julia leaned against the doorjamb. It was so nice to see him, but there was so much that needed to be said. “The two of you look good together. You match. Have you ever considered getting back together?”
“I don’t want to match. Holly is selling me her part of the house we own together here. She’s getting remarried in a couple of weeks. She’s pregnant. I completely forgot that she was coming to town this weekend.”
“That was my fault. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Do it again.” He tried to step into her apartment, but she froze, her hand on the doorknob. He stepped back. “You don’t want me to come in?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just … I’ve always treated this place as temporary. There’s not much to it.” After all this time, she couldn’t believe she was still embarrassed.
“I don’t care what your apartment looks like.”
“Automatic response. Sorry.” She opened the door wider.
He stepped inside with a deep breath and a satisfied smile. He put his hands on his hips and looked like he’d conquered the New World. “I’ve wanted up here ever since you’ve been back. And it’s not what you’re thinking. On Thursdays when I have pizza with Stella, that incredible smell from whatever you happen to be baking … it never fails to make me heady.”
“Could you see it?” Julia asked.
“I can always see it. It’s on you now, sparkling in your hair.” He pointed to her hand. “You have some in the