Page 8 of Hello Trouble

DELLA

Hayes rode that damn motorcycle to the diner—without a helmet—every day that week. Of course, I couldn’t ignore it when my office window overlooked Main Street and the diner. Especially since his motorcycle was so loud, it was like an alarm alerting me to his presence.

So every day, I walked a sticky note across the street with a fact about motorcycle accidents—each tidbit gnarlier than the one before it.

It was fun to rib him—to see the annoyed look on his face when he picked up the note and shoved it in his pocket. But even though Hayes and I teased each other, I’d hate to see him hurt. He was as much family as anyone else in Cottonwood Falls.

Although, my concern seemed to do no good. Until Friday.

I stared out the window in disbelief as he drove up to the diner and parked. Saying a quick “Be right back” to my boss, I scurried across the street to eyeball the thing sitting atop the black leather seat of his motorcycle.

I grinned at the red and black helmet.

That’s when I noticed a yellow sticky note on the side, but it didn’t have a message on the front. I plucked it from the helmet, turning it over to read Hayes’s messy scrawl.

Happy now?

I grinned, knowing he was watching me. I’d won. Basking in my glory, I looked back at the helmet and saw what the sticky note had been covering—a sticker of a middle finger.

I rolled my eyes and pulled my phone out of my dress pocket. (Those were seriously the best. Who even wore dresses without pockets anymore?)

Della: Rude.

Hayes: Exactly what I call getting adhesive on a brand-new leather seat.

If I kept rolling my eyes at this rate, they’d unscrew from the sockets. So I sent back another text instead.

Della: You’re welcome for protecting your head.

Hayes: *smirk emoji* I’m already good at making sure that’s covered.

My cheeks flamed bright red.

Hayes: Want to see?

Della: Keep it in your pants.

I turned and walked away from his motorcycle, knowing he was probably laughing inside the restaurant. I was tempted to raise a middle finger as I walked away, but between all the other innocent people in the diner and my boss inside the office, I restrained myself.

Barely.

Hayes Madigan knew how to press all my buttons. Maybe it was time I pushed some of his too.

* * *

I was back at the office, working through a stack of paperwork when my phone started vibrating like crazy.

Group Chat

Della, Henrietta, Larkin, Liv, Maggie

Liv: EMERGENCY MEETING AT DELLA’S HOUSE. TONIGHT @ 6. Ya bitches better be there.

Private text message

Liv: You’re MOVING?

I swallowed hard, seeing the flurry of text messages coming through my phone. Liv had found out I was leaving—before I had a chance to tell her. Now, not only did I feel like a shit friend for moving. I was a shit friend for keeping it from her.

Della: How did you find out?

Liv: I saw your mom at the grocery store. She thought I knew already. LIKE I SHOULD HAVE. wtf Del?

I set my phone on my desk and rubbed my temples. I was guilty. Liv was pissed. And now I had to explain. This wasn’t what I had in mind.

Della: I was going to tell you all on Saturday, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud... I’m really sorry you had to find out this way. Forgive me?

Liv: We can talk all about it tonight.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I locked my phone and tried to focus on the rest of the paperwork I had to do this afternoon.

This was already the part of my job I enjoyed the least, but now it was like torture, knowing I only had a couple hours before all my friends would be at my house demanding answers it hurt to give.

I even put on a podcast recapping the latest The Great British Bake Off —a.k.a. GBBO —fan predictions, but that did nothing to distract me from my worry. Eventually, I finished up my papers and crossed the lobby to my boss’s office.

I knocked on the doorframe, and the older woman with light brown hair and giant Coke-bottle glasses looked up at me. She pushed the frames up her nose and smiled. “All done for the week?”

I nodded. “Any plans for the weekend?”

She tilted her head to the side, but her hair stayed in place thanks to gallons of Aqua Net. “Other than coming up with a scheme to keep you here?”

My lips curved into a sad smile. “Having a boss like you already makes the decision hard enough.” Edna had taken a chance on me fresh out of college. I’d grown here as a professional. As a woman. “It’s going to be hard not seeing your face every day.”

“Oh hush.” She waved her hand at me, wearing a satisfied smile that deepened her wrinkles. “Have a good weekend, Dell.”

“I will,” I said, mentally adding, I hope.

There would be four extra women at my house soon who all needed answers. And since I didn’t have much at my house, I stopped at the store to grab a meat and cheese tray and some wine. Multiple bottles of wine. Plus some of that sparkling water Liv liked to drink while pregnant.

When I got to my place a few blocks away, I uncorked a bottle first, pouring myself a glass and taking a long sip of the liquid courage.

Gah, maybe this was why I was single. I could handle conflict with people like Hayes all day every day. But my friends, my family? I ran from hard conversations like they were zombies and I was barefoot in a nightgown trying not to die.

But this conversation couldn’t be avoided. Not now that I could see headlights shining through my front window, cars parking in my driveway and along the street.

My friends were here, and I had some explaining to do.

Liv walked inside first, carrying a giant notepad and a tripod. I didn’t have a chance to ask her what that was about before Henrietta, Larkin, and Maggie followed her inside.

“Anyone care for wine?” I asked. “I have some charcuterie on the table too.”

I helped pour drinks, watching while Liv set up the tripod with the notepad. She clicked the lid of a big black marker in her fingers, waiting for us all to be ready. She meant business.

“Enough with the snacks,” Liv said, tightening the ponytail at the back of her head. “Everyone sit down. We have a problem to solve.”

“What do you mean?” Larkin asked, her gaze tracking between Liv and me.

Liv gave me a pointed look. “Tell them.”

Everyone went to sit down in my living room while I stood awkwardly in the dining area. All eyes were on me, and despite hating all the attention, I raised my chin up high. “I got a new job in Dallas at Griffen Industries. I’m moving in two and a half months.”

There was a mix of gasps, worried smiles, and frowns. Henrietta said, “That’s not so bad. Dallas is just two hours away.”

“Thank you,” I mouthed to her. She’d moved to Texas from California, so at least she had a different perspective. Not like Liv and I, who had spent most of our lives in Cottonwood Falls.

“Not so bad?” Liv countered. “It’s terrible!”

Henrietta said, “It’s a good job, right?”

I nodded, thankful for her prompting. Wringing my hands around the stem of my wine glass, I said, “It’s a significant bump in pay. I’ll even be leading a team for the first time.”

Liv frowned. “That’s all fine and good, but...” She uncapped the marker and wrote a headline on the paper. REASONS DELLA SHOULD STAY

Maggie held a cube of cheese in her hand and said, “No more random drop-ins if she leaves.”

I gave her a betrayed look, and she gave me an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, I’ll miss you!” Maggie said.

Larkin nodded. “It’s been fun having a girlfriend in town to talk to.”

Liv said, “All your nieces and nephews love you.”

My heart ached as Liv wrote each reason on the board, and finally, I’d had enough of the ambush. I went and stood by Liv, taking the marker. “Look, it’s not like I want to leave!”

Now everyone looked confused, but Liv voiced it. “You don’t?”

I shook my head and started pacing anxiously.

“Of course not! I love it here. I have you all. My parents. My job is great. And my house.” I gestured around me.

I had decorated it exactly how I liked, using peel-and-stick floral wallpaper and window clings that caught the light and cast little rainbows on the floor.

Even my hanging plants had character, with pots that looked like disco balls.

It was a bona fide Della Dreamhouse. Finding its match in the city would be nearly impossible, even with my new and improved salary.

Liv’s hands extended out at her sides. “Then why the hell are you moving?”

“Because I’m lonely!” I nearly shouted, embarrassed but hoping they would understand. “All of you have found your person. And each day I’m reminded that I don’t have one.” Humiliated tears pricked at my eyes, and I quickly pressed at the corners to keep them at bay.

Matching looks of sympathy found their faces, which I hated almost as much. I didn’t want them to be sorry for me. I already felt sorry enough for myself. Everyone said you should feel “complete” on your own. But I’d lived almost forty years alone, and I wanted more.

“Look,” I explained, “the dating pool in Cottonwood Falls is very small. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, I’ve tried staying here.

I’ve tried waiting for love to find me. Now, I have to change something to find my person too. ”

Liv flipped over a new sheet of paper. “But that doesn’t mean you have to move to find him. We just need to catch with a wider net, right?”

I eyed her doubtfully while my other friends nodded in agreement.

Liv said, “Let’s make a list of all the eligible bachelors. We have two and a half months to make something stick.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” This wasn’t some high school revenge movie. It was my life.

But Liv came up to me, taking both my hands in hers. “I know you said you haven’t found your person yet... but you’re my person, Della. I can’t let you leave without at least trying.”

My throat felt tight with emotion, and I blinked back tears. I wanted to stay here too—even if the plan to make it happen was a moonshot. “Okay, we’ll try.”

A cheer erupted around the room. And for the next half hour, my friends listed every single, non-terrible guy within a sixty-mile radius.

Once we accounted for no major age gaps, there were only four on the list. And that was the problem.

I didn’t want non-terrible. I didn’t want bottom of the barrel.

I wanted real, heart-stopping, all-consuming, lifelong love .

Liv frowned at the paper. “Only four guys? I could have sworn there were more.”

“Oh!” Larkin said. “Give me the marker.” She got up from the couch and took the marker from Liv. In steady strokes, she wrote HAYES MADIGAN.

Maggie whooped, and Hen giggled. Liv only frowned. “We have two and a half months,” Liv said. “It’ll take a lot longer than that for him to be ready for a woman like Della.” She crossed his name off the list.

Hen replied, “It’s a solid start.”

Larkin nodded. “You only need one, right?”

I tried to act positive for their sake, but looking at the names on the list, I wasn’t so sure. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe Hayes was right. Maybe I was stupid to hope for a happily ever after.

Bennett Smith

Ethan Miller

Joshua Jones

Matteo Garcia

Hayes Madigan

All the guys listed had lived here for over five years, and nothing had happened yet. But even so, a small glimmer of hope battled for a hold on my heart. I didn’t want to end up grumpy and cynical like Hayes. I wanted more.

Maybe we could find a way to make this work.

And if not... Dallas was waiting.