this town.”
“I thought that was just because of Matty,” Jenny spoke up, from her spot curled on the couch. “But this guy doesn’t have any connection to him, right? He’s not a teacher, or a parent at the school…”
“That’s not the point.” Stella insisted. “I’m going to have to skulk around town now, avoiding him for the next hundred years. And we haven’t even had an awkward breakup!”
“Or any of the fun beforehand…” Jenny gave her a knowing look, but Stella didn’t want to think about that fun, or what it would be like having it with Aidan. She took another sip of wine, instead, and changed the subject.
“So, where’s the little angel?” she asked Lila and Griffin. Their baby girl, Pearl, was almost a year old, and more than a handful. “I can’t believe we haven’t heard a peep out of her.” She looked around the cozy cottage. “What did you do, soundproof the nursery?”
“Nope, but Griffin got her the cutest pair of noise-canceling headphones.” Lila grinned. “It gives us a couple of hours peace, at least.”
“And I’m going to make good use of it.” Griffin raised a beer with one hand, and a hoagie with the other.
They laughed. “I can’t believe it, seeing you in dad-mode,” Stella said, leaning back. She’d known Griffin for years, and although he loved getting his hands dirty with his landscaping business, it was still fun seeing him on diaper duty.
“Are you kidding? I’ve been in training for years with all my dad jokes,” Griffin quipped.
“Just wait until she’s a teenager,” Jenny warned, smiling. “Everything you do will be an embarrassment. Hannah rolls her eyes at me so often, I’m surprised they don’t fall out of her head.”
“Matty’s getting that way, too.” Stella agreed. “He used to hold my hand to cross the street, now he tells me to drop him off around the corner so nobody sees him with mom. Treasure these years,” she told them.
Lila grinned. “You mean, the sleepless nights and crying jags?”
“Good times.” Stella agreed with a wry laugh. She hadn’t known what she was getting herself into with motherhood, she’d still been a kid herself. But there was nothing like being responsible for a tiny, helpless bundle of smiles to make you grow up, and fast.
“Well, I better be getting back to my own pride and joy,” she said at last, getting to her feet. Mackenzie and Jenny followed suit, yawning.
“Remember when we could stay up past 9 p.m.?” Mac asked, teasing, as they said their goodbyes and stepped out into the balmy evening air.
“You mean, back when we were twenty?” Stella laughed. They were all longtime locals, aside from Lila, the Hollywood transplant, and had been good friends over the years. Eventually. “I can’t believe you hated me at first,” she said, smiling at the memory.
“Well, you did steal my parking spot at the diner,” Mac pointed out with a grin.
“I was pregnant!” Stella protested. “I’m pretty sure I just needed to pee.”
“Well, I didn’t know that.” Mac grinned. “I thought you were just another rich summer kid, slumming it on the off season.”
“It’s a good thing Matty was such a cute kid,” Stella cracked, only half kidding. “Otherwise it would have taken you all a lot longer to warm up to me.”
“Now look at us,” Jenny quipped, hugging her goodbye. “Practically toasty.”
Stella drove back, feeling a little better about her run-in with Aidan. Maybe her friends were right; maybe she was over-thinking it. After all, she should be relieved that dating was the last thing on his mind. If it had been the opposite, and he was eager to start something after that kiss?
Well, that would be a whole different kind of awkward. Her friends may not understand her rules about keeping romance out of town, but Stella had her reasons.
Sweetbriar Cove was a safe place for her, and she wanted it to stay that way.
It was why she’d had been drawn back there, after that pregnancy test had turned her world upside down. Things had gotten so ugly with her parents, Stella needed time to clear her head and figure things out – away from the shame and bitter recrimination at home. She didn’t even pause to think it through, just threw her bags in the back of the car one night and sneaked away before they even realized she was gone. She figured she could hide out at the beach house for a few days, but strolling into town that first morning, she’d looked