I drove down the road turning over everything Daisy had said to me. I knew she was right, but the hard part was going to be for me to take a back seat. I’d never been good at sitting back and letting things come to me. That’s never how my life worked. I didn’t get to lounge back and have everything fall into my lap, but it was that same personality trait that put me in the situation I was in now.
Even if it killed me, I knew I had to take her advice.
I pulled up into my driveway and turned off my car. I started for the porch, running down the things I wanted to get accomplished before dinnertime rolled around, and I figured I could slip a note underneath Christian’s office door. Not a romantic note, but an update telling him the things I was getting done so he didn’t have to talk to me until he was ready.
I was serious about letting him come to me.
But, when I got to my walkway I noticed a bunch of red petals on the ground. I bent over to pick one up and felt the soft, velvety texture rolling over my fingertips. I brought it to my nose and sniffed deep before I furrowed my brow and looked up at my front door.
My front door that was wide open.
Why the hell were there rose petals in front of my house?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Christian
I heard Stella’s car pull up while I was cooking her favorite meal. I tossed the last of the stir-fry in the wok before I set it off to the side to let it cool, then I popped open a bottle of red wine. I could hear her footsteps approaching the porch before they stopped, and I knew she had to be confused as to why red rose petals were lining her sidewalk. My hands shook in anticipation while I poured the glasses, and as I set them on the table, I heard her walk in the front door.
“Hello?” she called out.
I had rose petals trailing throughout the main level of her home. When I got here, things were an absolute wreck: her pain pills were spilled everywhere, her doctor’s orders were crumpled and on the floor, her dirty clothes were everywhere. It broke my heart. I wanted her to see I’d cleaned up so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. I wanted her to know I had her, that I was going to take care of her.
I wanted her to know how much I’d missed her, and I’d be here to take care of her while she continued to grieve and recuperate.
I heard her gasp walking around her house while I set everything on the table for dinner. I put the rest of the bottle of wine between the two place settings just before I turned around, and when I did, Stella was standing in the doorway.
With tears in her eyes.
“Christian?” she asked.
“Hey, Stella,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Cooking. I thought you could use a decent meal. Figured you probably weren’t eating much with everything going on.”
She looked down at feet while her tears dripped to the floor. I wanted to rush over and take
her in my arms. To hold her close, so she knew she was protected and loved. I wanted her to know how sorry I was.
I wanted her to know that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Stella.”
“Yeah?” she asked breathlessly.
“What happened to you?”
She slowly raised her gaze before her eyes fell on dinner, and a slight smile crossed her cheeks. Just seeing her smile because of something I put together made my heart soar. It felt like forever since I’d seen that genuine smile cross her cheeks. But, when her eyes got back to me, I saw the shame from the courtroom roll back over them.
“Stella, please talk to me,” I said.
“When everything happened.”
She swallowed hard, and I took a step toward her to see what she would do. Her gaze whipped up, but she didn’t step back. I took another step forward. A small one, so I didn’t scare her. The last thing I wanted to see was her turning and running for another room. I’d seen enough of her backside. Enough of both of us walking away from one another.
I wanted to run toward her. For us to run toward each other.