Page 14 of Searching for Sunshine (Crestbrook Cove #1)

WYATT

“ H ow’s married life treating you?” Bennett asks as I slide into a booth at The Sand Bar.

Stella and I have been married a few weeks now, and we’ve settled into a pretty great routine.

Basically, it feels like I have my old best friend back.

We work our respective jobs during the day, and then usually spend the afternoon working on the hotel.

We’ve managed to repaint most of the rooms in our free time.

We also brought in a company to refresh the pink exterior paint, and we’ve done a decent amount of work to upkeep the flowers and trees around the pool.

But despite launching the website and social media campaign almost two weeks ago, they’ve yet to get any bookings through the new system.

I shrug and murmur, “Fine. She and Avery are meeting us here in a little bit. They were waiting for their one guest to check out so they could close everything down.”

“Shit, man, that’s rough. I sure would love for business to pick up around here. The shop has been completely dead for weeks. If we can’t drum up some business, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Bennett tells me.

“Yeah. Same here. Shit absolutely sucks. But hopefully, we’ll get some momentum heading into the Fourth of July. That’s always our busiest week of the year.”

“I thought so too, but you saw how slim the crowds were for Memorial Day.”

“I guess you’re right,” I mumble.

Bennett looks over the glass of his beer and eyes me suspiciously. “Man, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing,” I insist. “Just stressed about work.”

“Are you sure that’s it? Because I’ve said at least ten things that would normally have you completely pissed since we met up earlier this afternoon, and you haven’t responded to any of them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of this more mellow Wyatt, but I’ve never seen you act like this.

So what is it? Are you and Stella fighting or something? ”

“No, we’re not fucking fighting. Can we just fucking drop it please?” I growl and he holds his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, I'll take it back. I knew that same old grumpy asshole was in there somewhere,” Bennett says with a laugh just as Avery and Stella appear behind the booth we’re sitting in.

“Hey, Stels.” I reach out to pull her into the booth next to me and kiss her forehead.

I tell myself I do it because half the town is currently in here for dinner, but there’s a small part of me that wonders if that’s really all there is to it.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m definitely more than a little attracted to Stella, but I’ve promised myself I would never try anything, at least until after the year's deadline has passed. I would never forgive myself if she ever felt forced into anything with me, and with the current setup of our relationship, I don’t want her to feel like she has to do anything with me as a thank you for helping her out.

I know she thinks that spending this year married to her was a huge inconvenience, but really, it’s the happiest I’ve been in a long time.

“Hey, y’all. Sorry to keep you all waiting. We had a late checkout, and it took a little bit longer than usual,” Stella apologizes.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bennett tells her, and Avery slides into the booth next to him.

“Oh my god, I’m starving,” Avery groans. “And I’ve been dreaming about that pineapple vodka lemonade since lunchtime.

“Ugh, same,” Stella groans. “I don’t know what the hell your brother puts in those things, but they’re so damn good. Have y’all ordered? I don’t mind going to the bar and putting our drink orders in if that’s easier.”

“Yeah, we grabbed some beers when we came in, but I don’t mind getting you and Avery whatever you want,” I offer, and Stella shakes her head.

“Nope, I got it. I’ll be right back,” she says, bouncing off to the bar where my brother’s working.

“So, how was today at the Hideaway?” Bennett asks Avery, causing her to go into detail about the new ways she’s trying to get the hotel’s name out there. I zone out for a minute and turn when I hear a squeal over by the bar next to where Stella is standing.

“Oh my god, Stella, is that you?” a girl calls from across the bar, but there are too many people in between for me to tell who it is.

Avery and I both crane our necks to look for whoever yelled at Stella, and finally, after a moment I see Chloe Hill emerging from the crowd of locals who just came in the door and running to give my wife a hug.

“Who’s that?” Avery asks me, looking over at the two of them.

“Chloe Hill. She supervises the lifeguards for all of Crestbrook Cove, and she and Stella used to be great friends when she visited, but I don’t know if they kept in touch,” I admit, watching as Stella grabs her drinks and leads Chloe over to our table.

“Oh my god, I could not believe it when I heard you were back in town! It shouldn’t have surprised me when I heard you married this guy but I just can’t believe how fast it happened.

I was gone for a few weeks attending some training, and I heard you were back and married in the time I’d been gone,” Chloe rambles as Stella gestures for me to scoot further into the booth so Chloe can sit with us.

I do as she asks, trying to act like I’m annoyed, but I’m mostly excited to have an excuse to have her so close to me. Sure enough, as she slides into the booth, she presses her small body against mine, and I wrap my arm around her to pull her close.

“Gosh, if you two aren’t just the cutest thing,” Chloe says with a giggle as Stella hands Avery her lemonade.

“Thanks, babes,” Avery tells her before Stella pauses to introduce the two of them.

“Avery, this is Chloe. Chloe, meet Avery. Avery and I have been roommates for the last several years, and she moved down here with me to help me take over the Hideaway. And Chloe and I were great friends when I spent my summers down this way. I’m so glad we finally ran into each other.

I thought about you the other day and I was thinking you must have moved away from Crestbrook Cove since I hadn’t seen you yet. But I’m so happy to know I was wrong.”

Chloe and Avery smile politely at each other from across the table, and Stella keeps babbling away excitedly.

“We have to have a girls’ night or something soon. I know there’s not a ton of options in Crestbrook, but I bet we could still come up with something really fun to do together.”

“I’m totally in,” Avery agrees. “We’ve been working so hard on the hotel. I feel like we still haven’t done a very good job of exploring the town. I’ve lived here for almost three weeks now, and I still haven’t been to the beach!”

“Oh yes, that would be so much fun! I’d absolutely love—” she starts but is cut off when Avery checks her phone and squeals loud enough that the whole restaurant turns to look at us.

“We just got our first booking!” she yells. “Five rooms and the bachelorette package!”

Stella screams at the announcement and jumps over Chloe to get out of the booth and hug her best friend. Bennett and I shake our heads as they jump around excitedly.

“Wait, when is it?” Stella asks, her eyes wide.

Avery pauses, reaching across the table for her phone. “God, I was so excited we finally got something, I didn’t even think to check. Let me look.”

She taps away at her phone for a second before she looks up, and I realize she looks slightly pale.

“Uh, well they check in the day after tomorrow,” she says, looking at Stella. “Shit, how the hell are we going to pull this off? That’s literally less than forty-eight hours until they’re here, and we still have so much to do at the Hideaway before it’s ready.”

“Great question, but we’re just gonna have to make it work,” Stella says.

Before the girls can say anything else, Chloe interjects. “Hey, it’ll be great. I have the day off tomorrow, so I’m happy to come help.”

“Yeah, Stels. I don’t think we have but one charter tomorrow so you can put Trent and me to work too,” I tell her.

Bennett nods in agreement. “Yeah, I should be able to slip away from the shop tomorrow afternoon too. We’ll make it work.”

“God, I love living in this town,” Avery whispers to Stella, causing her to giggle.

“Yeah, I don’t mind it either,” Stella agrees. “Let’s drink up and get something to eat, so we can head back. We have a weekend to plan.”