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She scoffed. “All it says is we don’t get laid enough. We both just came out of bad relationships.”
Stoney waved her off, blowing air between his lips in a raspberry. “Whatever. Look, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. If there’s smoke, there’s fire. You keep overlooking the ‘why’ of what’s making you want to sleep with him. Why don’t you just admit it? For all his grumpy exterior, you still see something in him that you like.”
Stella wasn’t ready to admit that, but she couldn’t deny that her brother might have a point. Richard outside of work mode was funny and cultured with a touch of kindness. Plus, he listened to her. She wasn’t even sure he was aware of it, but when she talked, he seemed to be absorbing the things that she was saying. Even taking a little bit of interest. That was refreshing to be with someone who was listening to her because he wanted to know more and not because he was planning on using what he learned against her one day.
She thought about the whole conversation about the marbles again and how interested she was in what kind of childhood he’d had. A door had been opened inside of her and she had no idea how to close it back again or even if she wanted to close it. Stella was interested in who Richard was and she wanted to know more.
“You know, all that sounds nice and everything, but it’s too early to tell if there’s anything between us,” she said to Stoney. “I mean, beyond the fact that we would be an incredibly bad match in the first place.”
Stoney chuckled. “If you say so, sis.”
There was a knock at the door. Stoney and Stella exchanged glances. “Who could that be?” she wondered aloud. She got up to answer it and Stoney stopped her.
“Let me,” he said. “Remember, you’ve got a crazy ex.”
Stella stayed behind in the kitchen while Stoney went to the door and bellowed in his deepest voice, “Who is it?”
When there was no answer, he opened the door a crack, looking out for a moment before going. “Oh, wow.”
She came walking into the living room as he opened the door and leaned out. When he leaned back in, he was holding a large clothing box. He brought it into the kitchen and set it down on the table. “I’m going to go ahead and guess this is for you.”
Stella tilted her head and started to open it, but Stoney grabbed her hands. “Hold on, we don’t know who this is from?”
She gave him a cross look, then opened the box. Inside was a beautiful cocktail dress. Blue and shimmering with spaghetti straps. Stella gasped as she took the dress all the way out of the bag to look at it in the light. The hem was laced with tiny, twinkling rhinestones, and the edges lined up with silver threading.
“Wow,” said Stoney. “That’s some dress. Blue is your color.”
Stella smiled to herself, looking at the shimmery jeweled tones. “It’s sapphire.”
“There’s a note,” said Stoney. He bent down the pick up a note that was in the bag. He read it as he stood up. “‘For the party. Something to match your eyes.’ Huh. You’re right, sis. You two would be a terrible match.”
Stella rolled her eyes at him, then looked back at the dress. It was the most lovely thing that anyone had ever given her.
Richard
Themeetingwiththelawyers was going to be quick, but that didn’t mean that Richard wasn’t nervous about it. He stood outside the lawyer’s office, Stella at his side. She was dressed as he’d instructed. A long pencil skirt and a nice loose blouse. Expensive and simple. That’s all that was needed.
“Stop pacing,” she said as she leaned against the wall.
He looked up at her and realized that was what he’d been doing in these minutes. Pacing. “Sorry,” he said finally. “I’m nervous, I guess.”
She smiled kindly up at him. “Nothing to worry about,” she said. “We’ve got this.”
The lawyer stuck his head out and smiled at them both. “Come on in,” he said.
They both walked into his office. The room smelled like paper and coffee and didn’t look like too much more than that. A desk and a bookcase behind the desk with a ton of law books. The lawyer’s desk had a computer and a blotter and a photo of his family. Typical of business as usual.
“All right,” he said. “I won’t take up too much of your time, I know you’re a very busy man. Ms…um…”
Stella came to life as they sat down in the chairs before the desk. “Durand,” she said, pronouncing it with the correct inflection. Richard had been worried about that.”
“Yes. Ms. Durand. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I just have a short series of questions to ask you if you don’t mind.”
“Fire away.”
Richard sat in relative silence as she was asked things that in their purview would suggest a relationship between them.Where did you meet? What’s Mr. Hollis’ middle name? Do you have any nicknames for one another?That last one Stella embellished and said, “He doesn’t have one for me, but I like to call him my little ‘Monkey’.”
The lawyer lifted his eyebrows but didn’t question it. Richard was glad. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she meant by that.
