Page 73 of Fly with Me

After a few minutes of silence, Stella spoke. “On a similar subject, and you definitely don’t need to answer this because I’m in no way entitled to know all your concerns and, please, tell me if I’ve overstepped by even asking. Because the last thing I want to do is make you more stressed or uncomfortab—”

“Stella?” Olive rested a hand over Stella’s.

“Yeah?”

“You can ask me whatever you want.”

One side of Stella’s mouth perked upward. “Okay.” She took another breath and then let it out. “The woman. The blonde at the hotel.”

Olive waited for the question.

Stella merely lifted her shoulders in an inquisitive movement.

“Lindsay.” Olive took a sip of coffee. She hadn’t been expecting to have this conversation, but she wanted to be honest. “She’s my ex. We were together four years. My brother loathed her, incidentally, though he tried to be nice about it. After Jake’s accident, I sort of fell apart. Lindsay got over it real fast.”

“What do you mean?”

“I—uh—I had… well, have. I still have panic attacks sometimes. And I battle depression. Always have. She didn’t really like that broken side of me.”

Stella’s fingers tightened on Olive’s. “You’re not broken, Olive.” She said the words with such defiant certainty that Olive almost believed them.

Unable to decide how to answer that immense statement, Olive finished the story of Lindsay. “Well… bottom line was she broke up with me. A few times. We’d still—um… like, get together once every few weeks.”

“For sex?” Stella said, in a slightly flat tone.

“Yup.” She hiccuped the word. Super poised. “But that stopped. And then we broke up for good. Six months ago, I had a really bad day. And we hooked up again. And… I don’t know… I realized it was bad for me. I told her how I felt and ended things.”

The server appeared again bearing plates of steaming breakfast.

“Makes sense.” Stella cut her toast with a somewhat excessive savagery. “But she came to Disney to see you?”

“She bought the bib to run it with me before everything happened with Jake, but I thought she sold it. She used to just text me sometimes, but since the viral video thing, she’s been kind of relentless.”

“About what?”

“About you.” Olive risked a glance at Stella.

“Ah. Okay.” Stella chewed for several seconds and then swallowed audibly. “But you aren’t still hoping for… to get back together with her?”

“God, no. Oh my god. Absolutely not. We were terrible. And she’s manipulative. I’m just embarrassed it took me so long to realize that.”

Eyes brightening slightly, Stella nodded. “Okay.”

“The ex-lovers talk. An important milestone in every fake relationship.”

Stella’s mouth drooped, cheeks flushing. “I mean, it’s important that we know these things, so the relationship is believable and credible.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right. That reminds me, I still need to finish the questionnaire.”

“Yes, you do…” Stella’s forehead bunched. “So, you’re sure you’re still up for this?”

Olive turned her palm over and squeezed Stella’s hand. “Yes. I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“You’re allowed to freak out about this. It’s a weird situation I’ve put you in.”

“Hey.” Olive shook her head. “I don’t feel like this is a situation you’ve put me in. You were amazing in the TV interview. I could never have done that without you. Never. And if I get to dress up, drink free booze, and eat a free meal, how can I complain?”

Stella’s smile reached her eyes this time. “They do usually have pretty good wine at the banquet.”

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