Page 27

“This island is beautiful. I wish we could stay longer and explore,” Stella commented as she looked up at one of the old buildings. It was beautiful here. That was why we ported here for a vast majority of the chartered clients.

“Are you headed back to California immediately?” I asked, thinking of getting away from the boat for a night and staying in a hotel with her. Someplace where we could truly be alone.

“Unfortunately. If I would have known the beauty here,” she peeked up at me with a smile, letting me know she didn’t only mean the island with its architecture and water. “I would have booked a hotel for an extra day or two, but…” She shrugged and looked down at the sidewalk we were traveling on.

“It was kind of last-minute,” Pen added. “Zelda didn’t give us much time to prepare. Otherwise, one of us would have looked up where we were going and probably wanted to live here.”

“Maybe I’ll move here instead of LA,” Stella laughed when Pen stopped in her tracks and began to stare her down.

“Don’t even joke about it. I’d never see you then. We’re finally free to see each other as much as we want, and you want to move halfway across the world. I don’t think so. We’ll find you a beach house not far from me, and you’ll be perfectly content.”

Penelope started walking as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Don’t you just love how bossy she is? I guess I won’t be moving here.” She winked.

“Why couldn’t you see each other before?” I asked, unable to push down my curiosity to know more about Stella, even knowing she was leaving in a matter of days.

“Because of her asshole ex-husband. He said I was a bad influence on her when in reality, it was because I saw through his shit excuses and tried to wake her up to the man she was married to. In the end, it didn’t matter, he got caught with his pants down, and now Stella can finally live her life.”

With them talking, we arrived at the café quickly, and luckily for us, they weren’t too busy. I spotted a table outside that was tucked away so we’d be safe from the wind and would be perfect for us to sit and afford them the luxury of seeing the water and the city.

“Let’s sit here, ladies.” I guided them over to the table.

Only a few seconds later, a busy worker dropped off waters and menus for us to peruse. Since I’d been here before, it didn’t take me long to decide on what I wanted to eat. It gave me plenty of time to digest what I’d heard on our walk here.

I wasn’t sure how Stella couldn’t have a life while she was married and was afraid to ask. I was merely a stranger who had an intense attraction to her. What right did I have to ask her all the personal questions that were burning inside of me? One thing I did know was Stella’s husband sounded like an asshole, and whatever he’d done to her, I was sure she still had to be raw over it. I needed to keep that in mind when dealing with her.

“Once I find a new place, I can start to live, that is.” Stella set her menu down and stared across the table at her friend. “I have a feeling if I take too long, Pen will find me the house and furnish it for me, which doesn’t sound too bad now that I think about it.”

“I might have to if you never finish writing your book, but seriously, don’t test me. I think if you have some new scenery, it will get your writing juices flowing.”

“Ew,” Stella scrunched up her nose. “Please don’t ever refer to my stalled writing as juices again.” She paused for a minute while looking out at the water. “But I think you’re right. I need to get out of Oasis, away from all the pitiful looks and whispers and Brock. Most definitely away from him. Although he’s a great villain muse.”

They both laughed, making me smile at the two of them. I enjoyed the way they talked to each other. They gave each other a hard time, but also in a way that they knew it was done out of love.

“So, you’re an author?”

“Not really,” Stella said at the same time as Pen gave a resounding yes. “It’s my first book.”

“She’s always written, though. Since she was a little girl.”

“This will be my first time publishing.”

“I convinced her to send the first five chapters of something she’d been writing for years to a few publishers.”

“She’s not telling you the truth.” Stella narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Pen here went and sent them herself without my knowledge.”

“Only because I know how good her writing is and knew she’d never send it on her own,” Pen shot back with a smug look on her face. “They loved it and gave her a big advance. Now she only needs to finish writing it.”

A sense of pride filled me for Stella. Getting published wasn’t easy. “What’s the book about?”

Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Stella answered with a slight duck of her head and not meeting my eyes. “About a wife who starts to suspect her husband of the murders happening in their small town.”

Wait. Was her ex a murderer?

Both Stella and Pen started laughing hysterically. Pen was doubled over while Stella practically laid the top half of her body on the table as she cackled.

After a minute of them losing it, Stella straightened herself up and cleared her throat. “Brock, my ex, isn’t a killer. He may be a total douche and asshole, but not that. He is the inspiration, and some of what he’s done to me has been translated into the book. It’s been cathartic. A way for me to deal with what he’s put me through.”