“What are you doing?”
“I want to go home.”
“Stell.” I sit on the edge of the bed. “You caught everyone by surprise. Give him the night to calm down.”
“No. I can’t stay here and listen to them talk about what a shitty guy he is.” She waves a hand toward the living room. She’s not wrong. They are talking smack about Beau. “He is a good guy.”
“I believe you,” I say.
“You do?”
“Yeah.” I inch closer. “I wish you would have told me.”
“I wanted to. I almost did a hundred times. But I didn’t want you to have to keep something from Felix. It was hard enough for me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have no idea. But tonight, I want to curl up with Whiskers and sleep in my old bed.”
“Are you sure? We can stay in here, watch a movie in bed or get really drunk.”
“I’m sure. I want to go home and wake up tomorrow and forget this entire trip happened. Please?” she pleads and then sighs. “Oh crap. I’m sorry. You want to stay for Teddy.”
“No. I mean, yes, but it’s okay.”
“Holl—” Her brown eyes are filled with so much pain, it makes my chest ache.
“If you want to go home, then let’s go home. Whatever you need.” I squeeze her hand for reassurance. “Let’s go home.”
It takes no time to pack up. Felix tries to talk us out of going back tonight, but he’s still so pissed, he isn’t very convincing. They both need time to cool off.
Our goodbyes are stiff, the entire mood of the cabin so different than it’s been all week.
Teddy comes outside as I’m putting our stuff in the back. His shirt is untucked and the top two buttons are undone. His hands are shoved in his front pockets. “Is she okay?”
I shut the back and lean against it. “She’s pissed. I can’t blame her.”
“Yeah.” His jaw flexes.
I cross my arms at my stomach. “I can’t believe Garrison.”
Teddy’s head tilts. “What do you mean?”
“Hepunchedhim. Without even hearing what he had to say. It just made everything worse. Now Felix and Stella are pissed at each other. It’s a mess.”
“He was looking out for Stella.”
“Is that what he was doing? It seemed like he was just getting payback for his own shit.”
One of Teddy’s shoulders lifts in a shrug. “Maybe so, but can you really blame him? Ricci cost him his season and maybe next year’s.”
“You said yourself that the hit was clean.”
“I said it was a tough call, but if I were Garrison, I’d have wanted to do the same thing. And he knew dating Stella was going to piss us off. Coming here was ballsy.”
“How can you say that? You don’t even know him.”
He doesn’t quite meet my eye as he says, “Drive safe. Get some rest.”