“You mean you don’t have a car because you live here in the City?”
“No, I mean I don’t have a driver’s license. I had a permit once, and my ex tried to teach me years ago, but I hit a fire hydrant rounding a corner and, well, that was the end of that.”
We inched our way uptown slowly. At one point, a car came out of nowhere and cut me off, so I had to slam on my brakes. Stella and I both had our seatbelts on, so we were fine, but her purse flew off the seat and dumped onto the floor. It landed upside down, and when she went to pick it up, the contents spilled all over the place.
“Sorry about that,” I said.
When she leaned forward to collect her belongings, I noticed the box with the diary from yesterday.
“My ex-wife used to write in one of those every once in a while. I’d find her writing in it after we argued. Pretty sure all she did was bitch. Isn’t that mostly what people use that for? To vent?”
“Sometimes they’re like that,” Stella said. She straightened the book in its box and put the top back on. “I’ve gotten a few of those. The seller usually posts some screenshots of pages to give you a sample. That helps me rule out a lot, but occasionally you can’t tell from just a short excerpt.”
“Have you started reading Nico’s secrets?”
“It’s Marco, and yes, I did.”
“Well…how was it?”
Stella sighed. “I read almost half the diary in one night.”
I laughed. “That good, huh?”
She held her hand to her chest. “He’s in love with an older woman. Amalia is nineteen years his senior and the librarian for the small village they live in. He’s a grape farmer. She thinks it’s just infatuation and will pass, but he sounds like he’s head over heels for her. He’s thinking about bringing another woman around, hoping to spark some jealousy to make her admit she has feelings for him, too. But I’m worried it’s going to backfire and push her further away.”
“I think Amelia, or whatever her name is, is probably right. Marco is just a horny kid. It’ll pass. Every young guy’s fantasized about a hot librarian at some point. He’s not in love with her. He’s in lust.”
“You didn’t even read the diary. How can you know how he feels?”
I shrugged. “Most relationships end up in the same place anyway.”
“Someone’s extremely cynical…”
“I’m not cynical; I’m a realist. Even if they get together, what do you think the chances are that a guy at forty isn’t going to be looking elsewhere when his librarian bride is sixty?”
“Not when he loves her as much as Marco loves Amalia.”
I scoffed. “It all starts out as fun and games…”
“Whatever.”
“You said your ex was sleeping with someone else. And yet you still believe in fairytales?”
“Just because I’ve been burned doesn’t mean I don’t believe in love. I was devastated when Aiden and I broke up. It took me a long time to move on and find happiness again. Heck, I’m still working on finding my happiness. But one of the things that keeps my spirits up is to believe we’re all meant to have a happily ever after. Mine just wasn’t supposed to be with Aiden.”
My eyes flashed to hers and then back to the road. “Whatever you say…”
“If you’re so bitter about relationships, why did you ask me out?”
“Do I have to stay celibate just because I don’t think everything ends in hearts and roses?”
“Oh.” She rolled her eyes. “So you just wanted to get laid. I’m glad we cleared that up. I actually prefer to get to know someone and spend time with him, in addition to physical intimacy.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth. I enjoy spending time with a woman, too. Sometimes we just have different expectations of where things will end up.”
Stella shook her head. “You know what you need? To try my happiness system.”
“Your happiness system?”
Stella nodded. “I know—it needs a better name.”
I grumbled. “I can think of a few.”
“I heard that, but I’m choosing to ignore it. Anyway, when I was struggling and feeling grumpy all the time, I made a list of things that make me happy. Small things—not things that were out of my reach and difficult to accomplish. For example, I try to give someone a compliment every day. That might not seem like much, but it causes you to find something good in at least one person each day. After a while, it helps change your mindset. Another thing I do is set aside ten minutes to meditate each morning. I also watch the sunrise or sunset at least once a week. And I try to do something I’ve never done before every single weekend.”
I smirked. “If you need help doing someone you’ve never done this weekend, just let me know.”