Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,63

was so overprotective about introducing them that Matty never even knew they existed. And even though Stella still felt a clench of insecurity – wondering if this was a bad idea, or if they were moving too fast, too soon – she couldn’t deny that watching him and Aidan examine the boat plans together made something glow, deep in her chest.

Something that felt an awful lot like hope.

“What’s for dinner?” Matty asked, clambering down from the boat.

“I don’t know,” she said, pushing her emotions aside with a bright smile. “I was going to run to the store—”

“We could order in?” Matty looked hopeful. “Pizza night. Aidan could come,” he added. “As long as he doesn’t like anchovies.”

Stella looked to Aidan. “Anchovies are a deal breaker in our house,” she explained, wondering if the invitation was OK. “But, Aidan might have plans of his own…”

“No plans.” Aidan said, with an easy smile. “Pizza night sounds like fun.”

Stella smiled, that glow burning brighter. He offered to pick up the order from town, so they said their goodbyes and headed home; Matty even helped to clean up in preparation for their guest. “Why can’t you keep the kitchen this tidy for me?” she teased.

He rolled his eyes. “Because you don’t have standards,” he said, and she laughed, tossing a dishcloth in his direction.

“If you care so much about Aidan’s standards, you better take care of the drying!”

By the time the doorbell rang an hour later, the place was spotless. “We should have company over more often,” Stella said, going to answer the door. Aidan was outside, with a stack of pizza boxes, and a couple of takeout bags to boot.

“Did you invite half the town?” she asked, as he followed her inside. “You brought way too much food!”

“Want to bet?” Aidan asked, stepping into the kitchen. “Besides, the second best thing about pizza night is leftovers for breakfast the next morning.”

“Yeah!” Matty joined them enthusiastically, diving into the nearest box.

“Woah, pause. Manners.” Stella reminded him. “Around here, we try to eat like civilized adults, and not wild animals.”

Matty paused, a slice already halfway to his mouth, and when Stella turned, she saw Aidan frozen, about to take a bite, too.

She smiled. “Napkins, at the very least?”

“Yes ma’am.” Aidan passed Matty a plate, “I stopped by the diner, too, for a couple of slices of pie.”

“And by a couple, you mean an entire apple-cranberry,” she said, peeking into the box. “This thing is huge!”

“Like I said,” Aidan grinned. “Leftovers.”

Stella wasn’t about to argue with pie for breakfast, so she loaded up her own plate with pizza, and followed them to the living room, where she found herself already outvoted on their choice of movie.

“Aidan likes the Lord of the Rings movies, too.” Matty announced happily.

Stella groaned. “No…. You’re ruining my deciding vote,” she said, sitting next to Aidan.

“Not sorry,” he smiled back. “Middle Earth is great.”

“The first dozen times, maybe,” Stella pretended to grumble, but she couldn’t find anything to complain about as the movie started, and they all settled in to watch. The fire was blazing in the hearth, Matty sprawled on the floor, eating pizza, and slowly, Stella relaxed enough to swing her feet up and rest them in Aidan’s lap.

It was wonderfully, unexpectedly, gloriously normal.

She sat there, basking in the warmth from the fire, and the simple pleasure of having Aidan here with them like this. She couldn’t stop herself picturing a hundred nights like this to come: chatting around the dinner table, or stopping by a festival in town.

Together.

She felt an unexpected lump in her throat. She hadn’t let herself imagine a future like this: with somebody beside her. She’d spent so long doing everything alone, it seemed like she would never have a partner by her side. Somebody to rub her feet on a cold November evening; to chat with Matty about the visual effect wizardry on-screen, or casually go put on a pot of coffee, and bring in dessert for them all, like it was nothing at all.

Like he belonged.

“Do you like it?” Aidan asked, nodding to the pie.

Stella swallowed back her emotions, and managed a smile. “I love it,” she said softly, as the final credits began rolling on-screen.

“We could watch the next one,” Matty suggested, and Stella laughed.

“I think that’s enough elves and hobbits for one night. Another time,” she said.

Matty got up, and began clearing their plates to the kitchen.

Stella blinked in disbelief. “You should come over more often,” she said to Aidan, “He’s on