Authors: Jane Slate
“Hey baby it’s me. Listen, I really miss you...”
Stella interrupted him. Kade strained to hear what she was saying but it was useless.
“I know, I know. It’s just I really would love to see you and Beth,” Trig continued.
“No I ain’t drunk sweetie. I promise.”
Well...that was a lie.
Still, Kade couldn’t have been more grateful for what Trig was doing. He watched as he fell silent, waiting for Stella’s response. Finally, he sat up a little straighter and shot Kade a smile.
“Tonight is great. See you then baby.”
He hung up the phone then, stuffing it back in his pocket and pointing to Kade.
“You owe me one, kid.”
Kade smiled. He stood up, bending to pull Trig into a hug, but he remained stiff and relented, waving a hand to a game of chess on the coffee table in front of him.
“You know how to play?” he questioned, looking down at his watch.
“We got a couple hours to kill before they get here. A good game of chess always helps me sober up.”
Kade nodded and slid back down into his spot on the couch.
“Kind of. I mean...I know the basics anyway.”
Trig nodded.
“Well, it’s pretty easy. It’s just about strategy. Every action has an affect...”
He looked up at Kade.
“Kind of like with life if you want to get symbolic.”
Kade chuckled and cracked his fingers. For a bitter old drunk...Trig sure did have a lot of wisdom.
S
tella arrived at her father’s house at 5 P.M. on the dot with a pep in her step and her daughter wrapped around her back. She was finally going to do it. She was going to tell the man who had given her so much turmoil growing up that she didn’t want anything to do with him.
Better late than never.
“Honey, that’s too tight for mommy,” Stella said, reaching up to loosen her daughters grip on her neck.
Piggyback rides were Beth’s favorite thing, but for a five year old, she was pretty heavy. Not to mention strong.
Stella climbed Trig’s creaking front steps and entered his house without knocking. She was taken aback immediately by Kade’s presence.
Figured.
How had she missed his bike outside?
“Grandpa!” Beth squealed, running into her father’s arms.
Trig flashed both girls a smile and welcome his granddaughters bouncing body onto his. She pounced onto him, pressing sweet kisses against his flesh. Then, she pulled away and scrunched her nose, poking him in the chest.
“Ew grandpa! You stink!”
Stella sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. Trig chuckled and stood up, pulling his daughter into a reluctant hug.
“Trig,” she said evenly, avoiding formalities and stepping away from him.
She nodded at Kade, whose eyes were glued to his daughter. She was every bit as breathtaking as he had imagined.
“Want to tell me what this is about?”
Beth examined Kade, sinking into her grandfathers overstuffed armchair.
“Who is that grandpa?” she questioned, pointing at Kade.
Stella and Kade exchanged an unsure glance. Kade started to speak but Trig was quick to interrupt.
“Honey,” he said, bending down so that he was eye level with his granddaughter.
“How about you and I go feed the birds outside while your momma and...”
Trig paused. Kade fidgeted. Stella sucked in a deep breath.
“Her friend talk for a few minutes,” Trig finished.
Beth stood up happily. Trig offered his back to her and she climbed on. Moments later, the front door slammed shut, leaving Kade and Stella alone in each other’s presence for the second time since she had returned to Falls Creek.
Stella shifted on her feet.
“What are you doing here?”
Her tone was dry and void of any emotion but there was a flash of something in her expression. Something Kade couldn’t quite put his finger on.
“I wanted to see her.”
Kade nodded in Stella’s direction. Motherhood befitted her in a beautiful way.
“I wanted to see you.”
Stella was quiet.
Kade studied her as memories of their brief time together came flooding back to him all at once. The scent of her favorite perfume. The way she rung her hair dry after a shower and only ever styled it when it was wet. The gentle touch of her hands. All of it came back with an intensity Kade wasn’t prepared for. He felt his eyes sting and told himself to man up. Tears weren’t what she needed.
“She’s really beautiful,” Kade spoke up, nodding at the window.
Stella followed his gaze. Trig and Beth were in a patch of matted grass throwing pieces of stale bread at a few lone birds. It was only March. Winter had barely come to a close. But Stella appreciated her father’s efforts to distract Beth, even if this situation was one he had a hand in causing.
“I told you I didn’t want you coming around,” Stella said evenly, changing the subject.
“What was so hard to understand about that Kade?”
Kade stood up and took a step forward. Stella started to back away from him but he reached for and lightly grabbed her arm, pulling her back.
“Mel and I are over,” he whispered.
“We were just lonely. We latched onto each other but it wasn’t love. I just...I was trying to forget you. I thought marrying Mel would help me do that...”
Kade swallowed down a lump in his throat.
What he didn’t say was that he could
never
forget her. Even if he had made the jump and married Mel, there would always be a part of him that would have wondered what could have come with Stella. And he couldn’t do that to Mel. She deserved a husband that loved her. Not one that had settled for her.
“She’s my kid,” Kade continued, nodding out the window at Beth.
“I’m sorry but you can’t make me stay away Stella. Not this time. I want to be a part of her life.”
Kade swallowed hard.
“A part of
your
life.”
Stella met eyes with Kade. She tried to find the right words to describe what she was feeling but she came up empty handed. He always did have a way of making her feel miniscule in his presence. But that didn’t change the fact that they weren’t meant for each other.
Not by a long shot.
Stella snatched her arm from Kade’s grasp and stumbled slightly.
“She’s not
your
kid,” she whispered hotly.
“She’s mine.”
Kade tensed his jaw and looked away.
“Last I checked, I gave birth to her. I breast-fed her. I changed her shitty diapers. I stayed up with her all night when she had the flu. I put ointment on her chicken pox’s. I wrapped her presents from Santa Clause and hid her Easter baskets. I did it all.”
The next words that left her mouth were cruel but there was no stopping them.
“You’re just the sperm donor.”
Before Kade could speak the front door opened and Beth ran inside with Trig in tow.
“Beth! Come back here baby! Your momma is busy right now!”
But it was too late. Beth rushed into the living room breathless and frantic and tugged on Stella’s dress.
“Mommy! We saw a groundhog!”
Stella looked away from Kade and turned her attention over to her daughter, bending down so that she was eye level with her.
Beth had been unofficially diagnosed as a high functioning child but she wasn’t on the Autism spectrum, which Stella had worried about for a long time. Attention Deficit Disorder seemed like the more likely culprit, but the Child Behaviorist Stella had taken Beth to in New York had said that it would be a few more years before an official diagnosis could be made.
Until then, all Stella could do was diffuse Beth’s high-anxiety moments as best as possible before they turned into full-blown tantrums.
Stella tucked a strand of Beth’s hair behind her ear and smiled at her.
“That’s great sweetie. But grandpa is right. Mommy is having an adult conversation. Go be a good girl and play. We’ll get some pizza on the way home. My treat.”
Pizza.
It was one of the only things that ever seemed to work when it came to bribing Beth into obedience. She relented and followed Trig back outside, but not before turning around to look at Kade.
“Look,” Stella spoke up when Beth was out of earshot, getting right to the point.
“I’ll think about letting you see her every now and then.”
“But you and I are over, Kade. Why don’t you just respect that?”
With that, she turned on her heels and walked outside.
T
he next day, after dropping Beth off at daycare bright and early, Stella arrived to work with a few minutes to spare before her shift started. Anna was waiting for her at her station. When she saw Stella approach she jumped to life.
“Stella!” she breathed.
Excitement was etched across her face.
“Someone left these for you.”
Stella frowned, not immediately registering what she was talking about. Then she noticed the bouquet of white roses perched on her desk.
They were beautiful...
“Here!” Anna said, handing Stella a card.
“Open it!”
Stella plucked the card from her hands but hesitated before opening it.
She had a pretty good idea as to who her secret admirer was but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to take the leap and find out.
“Go on!” Anna urged.
Stella sucked in a sharp breath and unfolded the piece of cardboard, flushing as she read the message inside.
Stella, I would love to get to know you. Maybe you can join me for dinner tonight? No pressure. – xo Patrick
“So?” Anna questioned, leaning forward.
“Who is it from?”
Stella glanced up at her and shoved the note into her jacket pocket with a shrug.
“Uh, no one.”
She didn’t want to hurt Anna by revealing the truth of her secret admirer’s identity.
“Just this guy I met at a bar a couple nights ago.”
Anna bought it and walked off to assist a patient at the beckoning of her supervisor. Stella waved goodbye to her and lifted the flowers from her desk, giving them a sniff. She wasn’t sure if she would accept Patrick’s offer, but the gesture was sweet nonetheless.
Stella rubbed her temples.
After returning to Falls Creek, some small part of her had always imagined that she would end up right where she had been when she first left—back in Kade’s grasp. But he was getting married now, to Mel nonetheless, and those days had long since passed.
Stella sighed and felt around in her pocket for Patrick’s note, giving it another read. Beneath his message he had scrawled his cell phone number and the address of a restaurant.
Maybe this was the change she needed.
With a newfound pep in her step at the prospect of courting a wealthy doctor, someone different than Kade Colton in just about every way, Stella made her way toward a set of elevators at the end of the hall and pressed the button for one, stepping inside when the doors slid open and a few medical assistants scurried out.
Next stop: the Cancer Ward.
The elevator dinged and Stella stepped out in search of Patrick. She had seen his car parked in the staff ramp and knew that he was working today. She made her way down a winding haul, towards a set of doors that swung open into the ward.
“Stella!”
Stella jumped at the familiar voice calling her name and turned around on her heels. Patrick stood a few feet behind her. He waved goodbye to the patient he was talking to and made his way over to her, pausing with his hands on his hips and a cocky grin on his face.
“So you got my flowers,” he said, nodding at the note in Stella’s hands.
Stella blushed and stuffed it back into her jacket pocket.
“I did. They were very beautiful, thank you.”
Patrick shifted on his feet.
“So...dinner?”
Stella hesitated.
On the one hand, the entire reason she had made the journey up into the Cancer ward was to accept Patrick’s offer. But on the other...
“I don’t know...” Stella began.
She cocked her head and smiled at Patrick sideways. There was a flirtatious glimmer in her eyes.
“What’s in it for me?”
Patrick chuckled and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. When Stella had formally met him the day prior, he hadn’t been wearing them, but they only made him all the more handsome.
Stella swallowed hard.
“Well,” Patrick offered.
“How about this? It’ll be all expenses paid. My treat. And I won’t expect anything from you in return.”