Page 43 of Fly with Me

“So, I might have told her yes.” She spread her fingers in a jazz hands surprise! motion.

Derek walked over to the legal pad, tore off the pro/con list, and basketball-style dunked it in the trash. “Of course you did.”

Chapter 18

“I love your place.” Stella handed over her coat.

Gus lumbered over to the door. He was old and lazy but still managed to get thoroughly excited whenever a new friend came.

“And oh my god, Gus is even more adorable in person.” Stella kneeled and let Gus lick her a couple of times on the face while scratching his chin. Olive was pathetic. Truly pathetic because she was currently jealous of her goddamn dog.

Stella stood and walked farther into the apartment with Gus trotting behind her. “But seriously though, your place is amazing.”

Olive laughed as she hung Stella’s coat on the antique rack by the door. “Thank you.”

“Why’d you laugh?” Stella asked as she checked that the coat was straight on the hook and plucked a piece of invisible lint from the shoulder.

“I guess it’s a little cluttered compared to what I think you’d like.”

“Oh, well, it’s not like I’m some uptight…” She stopped in the process of straightening and restraightening her shoes beside the closet door so that they were perfectly perpendicular to the wall. She kicked the one shoe so it was intentionally crooked. “I’m not.”

Olive cocked an eyebrow. “Okay.”

Stella’s attention immediately caught on the wall above Olive’s velvet tufted couch. “Wow.” She let out a breath.

“You like it?”

“You have good taste.” Stella’s finger hung in the air, drifting over the eclectic gallery wall as if she were tracing. “It all fits. I love the colors. I could never put something like that together. The vintage European cities travel posters with the art. Wow.”

“Thank you.” Smiling, Olive watched the curtain of Stella’s hair sway as she appraised the wall as if it were a masterpiece in a great museum. “Do you want wine or gluten-free beer?”

Stella whipped her head around. “You have gluten-free beer?”

“My brother liked it, so I thought you might. But if you’re not a beer person, no pressure at all.”

“I’d love it. I haven’t had a beer in years. It smells amazing in here, by the way.”

“It’s Dijon chicken with wild rice. With green beans. Nothing fancy. Sound okay?”

“Like heaven. I’ve been living on gluten-free freezer meals and bananas.”

“You don’t cook?” Olive handed her the beer, enjoying the touch of Stella’s fingers on her hand as they grazed hers.

“Not much. I work a lot. We have a service that brings meals for my father.” She sighed. “My dad and I got spoiled having my grandmother living with us. She was an amazing cook. The only thing I used to cook with her were tamales at Christmas. It’s not that I don’t like cooking. I can use a recipe but sometimes I get impatient when it doesn’t turn out like it should. It’s a cliché but nothing tastes the way my grandmother made it.”

“Recipes are tricky. I don’t cook from recipes much. Baking, sure. But—” Olive’s phone dinged. “Sorry. Let me silence…”

DEREK

You made her the pound cake, didn’t you?

She clicked the phone on vibrate, but Olive didn’t put it down quick enough to avoid seeing his next text.

DEREK

So this isn’t operation fake dating, so much as operation make Stella your actual girlfriend.

DEREK

---