Page 54 of When We Dare

Just when I thought I might’ve skated by, Parker happened to overhear Graham. “So what are you gonna do about Stella?”

I slid my gaze to Graham’s. “I’m gonna fix it.”

“Fix what?” Parker asked, catching my comment as he sat down across from me.

“I’m gonna fix things with Stella, or try to,” I hedged.

Parker’s gaze bounced from Graham to me. “She dumped you,” he pointed out.

I cleared my throat, shifting my shoulders. Maybe Graham knew better, but he threw me to the wolves here. “Hudson’s not ready to admit it, but he’s in love with Stella. He needs to make sure she knows that.”

Parker’s eyes narrowed. “Is that why she dumped you?”

I felt myself flinch and knew it gave me away.

“What the fuck?” Parker muttered. “So, technically, she dumped you, but it’s because you’re a coward.”

I cleared my throat. “Graham said I was an idiot, so we can split the difference. I guess I’m an idiot who might be a coward.”

Graham chuckled. Parker’s eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened.

“Dude, cut me a little slack. This all took me by surprise. I have never—” Panic clawed in my chest and I sucked in a breath. “I’ve never been in love.”

Graham took pity on me. “I’m here to tell you being in love is not easy.”

Parker opened his mouth, as if he were about to argue the point, when Graham looked straight at him and asked, “Haveyoubeen in love?”

“No,” Parker muttered. “But Stella’s my sister.”

Graham shrugged. “You can be pissed off, but give a guy a chance to get it right. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna have to grovel. You can ask him to do it publicly,” Graham offered dryly.

Although I felt a tiny surge of panic at that idea, I would do it.

I met Parker’s eyes again, squaring my shoulders. “I’ll get down on both knees. I didn’t dump her, but I wasn’t ready to face my feelings. I am now. Maybe I can’t fix it, but I’m sure as hell gonna try.”

Parker was quiet, pressing his tongue in his cheek. “Don’t break her heart.”

He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night, but after he walked off, Graham rested his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You can handle this.”

“Did you screw up with Madison?”

Graham’s lips teased at the corners. “The details are different, but I wasn’t ready either. By the time Madison came into my life, I’d been a single dad for so long that I couldn’t even imagine something different. Madison scared the hell out of me, but we figured it out. Now that we’ve been together a while, I can say you have to get through a few bumpy patches before it works out. You learn how much it matters. The hard parts are what makes relationships stronger. If it’s always easy…” He shrugged. “There’s nothing to fight for.”

Chapter Forty-One

STELLA

It annoyed me how much I missed Hudson. I was relieved that Tish called me to remind me that she was hosting card night at her place. I needed some distraction, near desperately.

I eyed Butter and Biscuit who were waiting patiently in the kitchen. They had an automated feeder, but we spoiled them with canned food. I filled their bowls and gave them each a chin scratch. “I’ll be back,” I said as if they understood me.

Butter twitched his tail, while Biscuit was too focused on her food to notice when I left the kitchen. I glanced out over the lake as I pulled out of the driveway. Although spring was on the way, the lake was still frozen. Growing up in Alaska, I was accustomed to spring not really happening until late May, or thereabouts.

When I arrived at Tish’s place, there was plenty of food. Someone had brought two large casserole pans of homemade mac and cheese.

“Oh, my God,” I said, my mouth watering just looking at it. “That looks amazing. Can I help?” I asked Tish as she set stacks of paper bowls and plates in the middle of the table.

Tonight’s potluck was a hodgepodge. Sometimes we were organized enough to have a theme, but not always. In addition tothe mac and cheese, Casey had brought a box of the new donuts that Janet was selling at Firehouse Café now.

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