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Stella slowly looked over at me, eyes narrowed. “So not only do I need to be taken care of, but if it weren’t for you two, I’d have been spending the last few days in silence?”
“Well maybe?—”
“How about we stay glad that everyone is okay?” I asked. “It’s all fine.”
Stella’s glare told me everything wasnotfine.
“Look at you communicating. I’m glad I called you and that she was receptive to it. I know how stubborn both of you are.”
Stella’s lips pressed together, and now she looked one second away from killingbothof us.
“Yeah.”
“And no . . . other issues?”
Issues.I knew what he was referring to, but it was easier to pretend he was talking about us fighting.
“No.”
“Cool, cool. Let me know if anything goes down. AndStella, it’s melting out here, so I’ll get your stuff from Reed’s soon.”
“Thank you,” she said, but her voice was still colder than the ice outside.
“I need to get going. The office made us all work from home, so I’m technically supposed to be in a meeting. But I’msoglad you’re safe.”
He hung up and Stella wasted no time whirling on me.
“What thefuck?”
“That sounded worse than it is.”
“Yeah, it does. How about we skip the guessing and you explain it to me, then?”
“I would have taken care of you either way.”
“Are you sure? Because you certainly had no problem staying away before both he and Winnie called you. The timing is suspicious.”
“The timing means nothing.”
“Then explain yourself. You can’t just ignore me for seven years and then expect me to accept this new side of you out of nowhere.”
“I can’t . . . Let’s not?—”
“No, we need to talk about this, especially if we’re in a relationship.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t ...” I paused. The words couldn’t come out. Not even thinking of the words Nick said to me could make me say that we shouldn’t be together.
“Are you about to tell me we can’t be together?” Shecrossed her arms over her chest. “Because this time, I’ll need a good fucking reason for that.”
The right answer was to say yes. I could make up some stupid excuse and walk away. We could never mention this again, and Nick would remain my friend.
But I fucking couldn’t.
I should have never been with her again because the idea of leaving hurt more now than it ever did all that time ago.
I slumped forward, my hand meeting my forehead. I didn’t know what to say or what was right. For years, I got by with thinking I was keeping my friendship.
But now I didn’t know if it was worth it.