Page 12 of When Hairy Met Stella

“Yeah,” Stella responded as she leaned across the table, her competitiveness fortifying her even though she had to really focus to even clap to a beat. Didn’t matter. Fake it ‘til you make it, right? “Let the best couple—wait.”

She shot back from the table so quickly the metal chair scraped along the tile floor, sending a loud squeak echoing through the busy cafe. “It’s going to be all couples at the lodge,” she whispered, the words Lucy had said moments ago finallyclicking in her under-caffeinated brain. Her head snapped in the direction of her cousin, who suddenly found her coffee cup the most interesting thing at the café. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, well…” Lucy twisted the cup back and forth on the table, still not meeting Stella’s eyes. “A couple people from the salon backed out, so it’ll just be Hannah and Max, Johnny and Angie, obviously Eric and me?—”

Stella crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her cousin. “And Nate and me.”

“That’s right!” Her reply was bubblier than it had been last night when she’d so casually mentioned she and Eric couldn’t make it to help with the popcorn balls.

“But we’re not a couple.”

“Well, no, but everyone else who will be at the lodge is already married or engaged.” As she spoke, the light danced off the ring on her left hand, and she remembered why they were doing this. Why they were having this weekend in the first place. To celebrate her cousin and the fact that she’d found the love of her life. “And you guys will be okay hanging out together, right? I mean, you already work together. And you worked fine together last night when you made the popcorn balls, right?”

At the mention of last night, her stomach swooped like she’d fallen out of a plane. She took a pull of her coffee. And then another. And then cursed in her head that she was out of caffeine. It was Nathan’s fault she’d needed it so badly today to begin with. Thoughts of him had kept her up most of the night. The warmth of his body behind her was something she could still feel hours later. Or maybe that was the coffee coursing through her body. Yeah, that made more sense.

Johnny waved a hand in front of her face. “Are you, uh…with us, Stella Bella?”

She blinked, shaking her head, wondering why the backs of her hands still tingled. Why where he’d touched her still held the warmth of his skin. Her cup was halfway to her mouth before she remembered it was empty, and before she could set it on the table, she dropped it to the floor.

“Okey dokey,” Johnny said, bending to pick up the empty cup. “I think you’re officially cut off from caffeine for today.”

Funny, she’d only had the one cup. Yet her hands were shaking like she’d had ten times that amount.

“Are you okay?” Lucy asked, her voice lower and not nearly as peppy as before.

“I’m fine. Just thinking, that’s all.” They didn’t need to know what she was thinking about. Theycouldn’tknow. She had no business daydreaming about Nathan like this. He was her employee—and a good one at that. Dependable. Hardworking.

Attractive.

But so what? There were lots of attractive men in town. Take Johnny, for instance. As she turned to him, she noticed the foam mustache had somehow migrated to his nose, so maybe this wasn’t the best example.

The point was, just because Nathan was good looking, it didn’t mean she had any kinds of feelings for him. The shaking hands, the clamminess, the inability to focus…those were all the telltale signs of a caffeine deficit. Ask any medical web browser, and they would have all agreed. Stella just needed a refill. That would cure…all this.

She walked to the counter and ordered another PSL. When the barista came back with the filled cup, she placed another drink on the counter.

“This one is yours, and this one is for Griddy Granny.”

Stella’s eyes bounced around the café, wondering when her grandma had snuck in. It wasn’t like her to fly under the radar. Take her name here, for instance. Thanks to her record-settingperformance playing Plinko onThe Price is Rightthis summer, she was the only patron at Mountain Brew who didn’t get a celebrity name…because she already was one—well, a local one. But she was a big enough deal to have a small parade down Main Street and little touches honoring her around town, like the signed, framed photo of her griddying down to Contestant’s Row next to the register. That was, after all, how she’d gotten the nickname…and been the subject of a viral hashtag…and gotten an interview onThe Today Show.

“Well, look who it is,” a voice boomed as a small, wrinkled arm reached around her to grab a cup.

“Grandma Millie!” They exchanged a one-armed hug, careful not to spill their beverages. But even half a hug from Grandma Millie had twice the umph of a full hug from anyone else.

“What’s my girl doing here this morning? Care to sit and chat a bit?”

Stella looked back at her table. Johnny was gone, and Lucy was on her phone, probably sorting through some wedding business. “That sounds good, yeah.”

They walked to a table by the window, patrons smiling at and saying hello to the town’s most famous resident. And like the ham that she was, Gram ate up every single second.

“You’re a piece of work, you know that?” Stella joked as they took their seats.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It was only when Gram leaned back in her seat that she noticed herPucker Up, Dreamy Drewshirt, the one she’d worn during her viral moment. She knew the shirt well, not because it lived on the internet for weeks after the show but because Gram had given her a matching one for the trip. Because when Grandma Millie says, “Let’s have an adventure,” you say yes…embarrassing outfits included.

“So,” Gram said, leaning forward on the table. “How’s your biz?”

She sucked in a breath, knowing Grandma Millie was talking about the salon.Stella’ssalon. “Things are going well. Thanks to you.”

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